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Virginia Anna Adeleide Weidler (March 21, 1927 – July 1, 1968) was an American child actress, popular in Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s.

For the next several years, she would appear in many memorable films from the George Stevens directed Laddie (1935) to a pivotal supporting role in Souls at Sea (1938) starring Gary Cooper and George Raft. Despite being under contract to Paramount, just as many of her roles of the period took place while on loan to RKO-Radio Pictures. Her biggest role at Paramount was a starring role in the film Girl of the Ozarks, a story of a desperately poor mountain girl in a rural community.

Her first film for MGM was on loan from Paramount; she worked with their leading male star Mickey Rooney in Love Is a Headache (1938). The film was a success and, when Paramount did not extend her contract, she was signed by MGM later that year. Virginia was then cast as rough ridin' and ropin' gal with an eye for Andy, Jake Holt, in Out West with the Hardys. Virginia's reviews for this second effort with Rooney were good and she began to receive larger roles.

Like Paramount, MGM also made use of the practice of loaning Virginia out to other studios for projects. As a result, she appeared in nine films at four different studios in 1939. Her major role for the year was as one of the all-female cast of the film The Women, as Norma Shearer's character's daughter, Little Mary. Before the year was out, MGM gave Virginia her first starring role at the studio in Bad Little Angel. She played a young orphan who follows the Bible and flees into Egypt...New Jersey. The film shows how she uses her faith and changes hearts and minds in the small town.

1940 found Virginia having the biggest success of her career with The Philadelphia Story (1940) in which she played Dinah Lord, the witty younger sister of Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn). Her performance led Hepburn to later say, "[W]e got lucky again with the girl, this time little Virginia Weidler, who had me in stitches. She was so terrifyingly funny I truly had a difficult time doing scenes with her."

The success of The Philadelphia Story combined with her popular performances in Young Tom Edison, All This, and Heaven Too, Gold Rush Maisie and Keeping Company led to Virginia being named the Juvenile Performer of the year in a poll of movie exhibitors.

Her film career ended with the 1943 film Best Foot Forward.

At her retirement from the screen at age 16, she had appeared in more than forty films, and had acted with some of the biggest stars of the day, including Clark Gable and Myrna Loy in Too Hot to Handle, Bette Davis in All This and Heaven Too, and Judy Garland in Babes on Broadway.

Family
In addition to her parents, Virginia had three brothers and two sisters. Her brothers Warner (born Werner), Walter (born Wolfgang), and George were successful musicians after some child acting work, eventually owning their own recording studio. Her sisters, Sylvia (Waltraud) and Renee (Verena), also were involved in in show business prior to their marriages.

Her father turned his architectural skills into a career building miniature sets for 20th Century Fox.

Marriage
On March 27, 1947, aged 20, Weidler married Lionel Krisel. They had two sons, Ron and Gary.

Death
Weidler refused to be interviewed for the remainder of her life, living in private. She remained married to Krisel until her death at age 41 in Los Angeles from a lifelong heart ailment on July 1, 1968.

Legacy
While not the box office success of 20th Century Fox's Shirley Temple or Jane Withers, Virginia Weidler still has a loyal following to this day. In 2012, the Virginia Weidler Remembrance Society was created to honor her life and career.

In late 2016, the Los Angeles City Council honored Virginia by proclaiming March 21, 2017, which would have been her 90th birthday, as A Celebration of Virginia Weidler.

Filmography

 * Surrender (uncredited, 1931)
 * After Tonight (uncredited, 1933)
 * Long Lost Father (uncredited, 1934)
 * Stamboul Quest (uncredited, 1934)
 * Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934)
 * Laddie (1935)
 * Freckles (1935)
 * The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935)
 * Peter Ibbetson (1935)
 * Timothy's Quest (1936)
 * Trouble for Two (1936)
 * Girl of the Ozarks (1936)
 * The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936)
 * Maid of Salem (1937)
 * The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1937)
 * Souls at Sea (1937)
 * Love Is a Headache (1938)
 * Scandal Street (1938)
 * Men with Wings (1938)
 * Mother Carey's Chickens (1938)
 * Too Hot to Handle (1938)
 * Out West with the Hardys (1938)


 * The Great Man Votes (1939)
 * The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939)
 * Fixer Dugan (1939)
 * The Rookie Cop (1939)
 * Outside These Walls (1939)
 * The Women (1939)
 * The Under-Pup (1939)
 * Bad Little Angel (1939)
 * Henry Goes Arizona (1939)
 * Young Tom Edison (1940)
 * All This and Heaven Too (1940)
 * Gold Rush Maisie (1940)
 * The Philadelphia Story (1940)
 * Keeping Company (1940)
 * Barnacle Bill (1941)
 * I'll Wait for You (1941)
 * Babes on Broadway (1941)
 * Born to Sing (1942)
 * This Time for Keeps, aka Over the Waves (1942)
 * The Affairs of Martha (1942)
 * The Youngest Profession (1943)
 * Best Foot Forward (1943)