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
Into the Night
(1985)
Joan Caper
The Wrong Man
(1956)
Rose Balestrero
The Initiation
(1984)
Frances Fairchild
Hellfighters
(1968)
Madelyn Buckman
Mazes and Monsters
(1982)
Cat
Wichita
(1955)
Laurie McCoy
The FBI Story
(1959)
Lucy Ann Hardesty
Full Filmography
Acting
When Willie Comes Marching Home
(1950)
Laughing Sergeant's Date (uncredited)
The Screen Writer
(1950)
Young Actress (uncredited)
Two Tickets to Broadway
(1951)
Showgirl (uncredited)
The Rose Bowl Story
(1952)
Denny Burke
For Men Only
(1952)
Kathy
The Charge at Feather River
(1953)
Jennie McKeever
So Big
(1953)
Girl (uncredited)
Pride of the Blue Grass
(1954)
Linda
Man on the Ledge
(1955)
Virginia
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
(1955)
Jill Hardy
Wichita
(1955)
Laurie McCoy
Rookie of the Year
(1955)
Ruth Dahlberg
Autumn Leaves
(1956)
Virginia Hanson
The House Without a Name
(1956)
The Wrong Man
(1956)
Rose Balestrero
The Searchers
(1956)
Laurie Jorgensen
23 Paces to Baker Street
(1956)
Jean Lennox
Beau James
(1957)
Betty Compton
Web of Evidence
(1959)
Lena Anderson
The FBI Story
(1959)
Lucy Ann Hardesty
Five Branded Women
(1960)
Daniza
Psycho
(1960)
Lila Crane
A Touch of Larceny
(1960)
Virginia Killain
The Lawbreakers
(1961)
Angela Walsh
Back Street
(1961)
Liz Saxon
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
Sergeant Ryker
(1968)
Ann Ryker
Kona Coast
(1968)
Melissa Hyde
Hellfighters
(1968)
Madelyn Buckman
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
A Great American Tragedy
(1972)
Gloria Wilkes
Baffled!
(1972)
Andrea Glenn
Jigsaw
(1972)
Lilah Beth Cummings
Molly and Lawless John
(1972)
Molly Parker
Runaway!
(1973)
Ellen Staffo
One Little Indian
(1973)
Doris
The Strange and Deadly Occurrence
(1974)
Christine Rhodes
The Castaway Cowboy
(1974)
Henrietta MacAvoy
The Underground Man
(1974)
Eleanor Strom
Live Again, Die Again
(1974)
Marcia Carmichael
Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys
(1976)
Mrs. Horton
State Fair
(1976)
Melissa Bryant
Smash-Up on Interstate 5
(1976)
Erica
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
Travis McGee
(1983)
Julie Lawless
BrainWaves
(1983)
Marian Koonan
Psycho II
(1983)
Lila Loomis
Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues
(1984)
Kate Keller
The Initiation
(1984)
Frances Fairchild
International Airport
(1985)
Elaine Corley
Into the Night
(1985)
Joan Caper
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