CINEFILER

Vera Miles

Born
August 23, 1929
Vera June Miles (born August 23, 1929) is an American actress. Born in Boise City, Oklahoma, Vera Miles attended school in Pratt, Kansas and Wichita, Kansas. The patrician beauty of Miss Miles won her the title of "Miss Kansas" in 1948, leading soon to small roles in Hollywood films and television series. Fame came to the forthright, spirited Miles when she attracted the attention of two master directors, Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford. Ford cast her in the classic western The Searchers (1956) and Hitchcock, who put her under personal contract and hailed her as his "new Grace Kelly", paired her with the great Henry Fonda in The Wrong Man (1956). Hitchcock cast Miles in the potentially star-making role of Judy Barton in Vertigo (1958), but Miles withdrew from the film when she became pregnant. Hitchcock gave Miles a supporting role in another masterpiece Psycho (1960), as did Ford when he cast her opposite John Wayne and James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), She also starred in such films as Beau James (1957) opposite Bob Hope, The FBI Story (1959) opposite Stewart, Back Street (1961) opposite Susan Hayward and John Gavin and Sergeant Ryker (1968) opposite Lee Marvin, as well as showing her consistently remarkable and versatile talent on dozens of popular television movies and series including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962), Twilight Zone (1959), The Outer Limits (1963), The Fugitive (1963), My Three Sons (1960), Bonanza (1959), "Columbo" and Murder, She Wrote (1984). In 1983, she reprised her role as "Lila Crane" in the film sequel Psycho II (1983), starring Anthony Perkins. Although, too often, the stunningly beautiful Miles' gifts were underutilized, before her retirement in 1995, hers was a most intriguing and enduring Hollywood career.
Known For
Psycho
(1960)
Lila Crane
Psycho II
(1983)
Lila Loomis
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
(1962)
Hallie Stoddard
The Searchers
(1956)
Laurie Jorgensen
The Wrong Man
(1956)
Rose Balestrero
Wichita
(1955)
Laurie McCoy
Into the Night
(1985)
Joan Caper
Hellfighters
(1968)
Madelyn Buckman
The Initiation
(1984)
Frances Fairchild
Mazes and Monsters
(1982)
Cat
Those Calloways
(1965)
Lydia (Liddy) Calloway
BrainWaves
(1983)
Marian Koonan
The Castaway Cowboy
(1974)
Henrietta MacAvoy
International Airport
(1985)
Elaine Corley
Travis McGee
(1983)
Julie Lawless
Sergeant Ryker
(1968)
Ann Ryker
Full Filmography
Acting
The Screen Writer
(1950)
Young Actress (uncredited)
When Willie Comes Marching Home
(1950)
Laughing Sergeant's Date (uncredited)
Two Tickets to Broadway
(1951)
Showgirl (uncredited)
For Men Only
(1952)
Kathy
The Rose Bowl Story
(1952)
Denny Burke
The Charge at Feather River
(1953)
Jennie McKeever
So Big
(1953)
Girl (uncredited)
Pride of the Blue Grass
(1954)
Linda
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
(1955)
Jill Hardy
Wichita
(1955)
Laurie McCoy
Man on the Ledge
(1955)
Virginia
Rookie of the Year
(1955)
Ruth Dahlberg
The Searchers
(1956)
Laurie Jorgensen
The Wrong Man
(1956)
Rose Balestrero
Autumn Leaves
(1956)
Virginia Hanson
23 Paces to Baker Street
(1956)
Jean Lennox
The House Without a Name
(1956)
Beau James
(1957)
Betty Compton
The FBI Story
(1959)
Lucy Ann Hardesty
Web of Evidence
(1959)
Lena Anderson
Psycho
(1960)
Lila Crane
A Touch of Larceny
(1960)
Virginia Killain
Five Branded Women
(1960)
Daniza
Back Street
(1961)
Liz Saxon
The Lawbreakers
(1961)
Angela Walsh
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
(1962)
Hallie Stoddard
A Tiger Walks
(1964)
Dorothy Williams
The Hanged Man
(1964)
Lois Seeger
The Unknown
(1964)
Kassia Paine
Those Calloways
(1965)
Lydia (Liddy) Calloway
Follow Me, Boys!
(1966)
Vida Downey
One of Our Spies Is Missing
(1966)
Madame Raine De Sala
The Spirit Is Willing
(1967)
Kate Powell
Gentle Giant
(1967)
Ellen Wedloe
Hellfighters
(1968)
Madelyn Buckman
Kona Coast
(1968)
Melissa Hyde
Sergeant Ryker
(1968)
Ann Ryker
Mission Batangas
(1968)
Joan Barnes
It Takes All Kinds
(1969)
Laura Ring
Journey to the Unknown
(1969)
June Wiley
The Wild Country
(1970)
Kate Tanner
In Search of America
(1971)
Jenny Olson
A Howling in the Woods
(1971)
Rose Staines
Cannon
(1971)
Diana Langston
Baffled!
(1972)
Andrea Glenn
A Great American Tragedy
(1972)
Gloria Wilkes
Molly and Lawless John
(1972)
Molly Parker
Jigsaw
(1972)
Lilah Beth Cummings
One Little Indian
(1973)
Doris
Runaway!
(1973)
Ellen Staffo
The Castaway Cowboy
(1974)
Henrietta MacAvoy
The Strange and Deadly Occurrence
(1974)
Christine Rhodes
Live Again, Die Again
(1974)
Marcia Carmichael
The Underground Man
(1974)
Eleanor Strom
Smash-Up on Interstate 5
(1976)
Erica
Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys
(1976)
Mrs. Horton
State Fair
(1976)
Melissa Bryant
Fire!
(1977)
Martha Wagner
Run for the Roses
(1977)
Clarissa Stewart
And I Alone Survived
(1978)
Irene Elder
The Horror Show
(1979)
(archive footage)
Roughnecks
(1980)
Ida McBride
Our Family Business
(1981)
Patricia
Mazes and Monsters
(1982)
Cat
Psycho II
(1983)
Lila Loomis
BrainWaves
(1983)
Marian Koonan
Travis McGee
(1983)
Julie Lawless
The Initiation
(1984)
Frances Fairchild
Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues
(1984)
Kate Keller
Into the Night
(1985)
Joan Caper
International Airport
(1985)
Elaine Corley
The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro
(1989)
Sophie Kubacki
24 Hour Psycho
(1993)
Lila Crane (archive footage)
Separate Lives
(1995)
Dr. Ruth Goldin
The Psycho Legacy
(2010)
Self (archive footage)
Psychos
(2014)
Lila Crane
Data provided by TMDB