The Brief But Prolific Career of Virginia Vance

Virginia Vance (1902-1942) was in nearly 100 comedies between 1922 and 1929, almost all of them, naturally, silent.

Born in Chicago, raised in Toronto, Vance was 20 years old when she made her first comedy Crash, with Jimmie Adams. Much of her work was for Educational Pictures and Mack Sennett. Other co-stars included Cliff Bowes (in Cameo Comedies helmed by Jack White), Lupino Lane, Andy Clyde, Lloyd Hamilton, and Jack Cooper (no relation to the younger Jackie Cooper) in his “Dan the Taxi Man” comedies. She also had good roles in some features, such as The Fighting Marine (1926) starring boxer Gene Tunney, and Undressed (1928) with Hedda Hopper et al. The latter picture also featured Bryant Washburn, whom Vance was to marry soon thereafter, retiring after 1929. The pair had one child, who went on to become a nun. Vance was only 40 when she died of a heart attack in 1942.

For more on silent and classic film comedy please read  Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.