Virginia Patton, the last surviving adult actor on “The Good Life,” died Thursday at the age of 97.The actress’ death is confirmed in a Facebook post Starring co-star and former child actress Karolyn Grimes.
“We have one more angel! Virginia Barton Moss. She is 97 years old,” Grimes wrote. “She’s with her beloved Cruise now. She’ll be missed!”
Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1925 and raised in Portland, Oregon, Patton is best known for starring in Frank Capra’s classic 1946 holiday film It’s a Wonderful Life. She played Ruth Dakin Bailey, sister-in-law of James Stewart’s protagonist George Bailey.
“Virginia is the only girl who signed Frank Capra directly,” Moss’ husband, Cruise W. Moss, claimed in 2012 of his wife’s casting in the film, Variety Report. “Everyone else in that movie was borrowed from another studio.”
He added, “But Ginny wasn’t in the studio and Frank Capra actually signed her for that photo.”
Patton, the niece of legendary World War II general George Patton, would go on to star in four more films, 1947’s Burning Cross and 1948’s Black Hawk, before retiring in 1949. In his final role, Patton appeared in the 1949 comedy “Lucky Stiff” alongside Dorothy Lamour, Brian Donleavy and Claire Trevor.
That same year, Patton married Cruise W. Moss and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Moss began a career as a businesswoman and raised three children. The couple remained married until Cruise’s death in 2018.
‘I don’t see how I’ve been doing this my whole life,’ Moss told local news outlet Patch in 2012 While discussing her decision to quit show business. “I want exactly who I am. Ann Arbor, Michigan, a wonderful husband, wonderful children, a valued member of the community. I work hard for the community.”
