Vera Ralston (born Věra Helena Hrubá; July 12, 1919 or 1920 or 1921 or 1923 February 9, 2003) was a Czech and American

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

and actress. She worked as an actress during the 1940s and 1950s.

Early life

Ralston was born Věra Helena Hrubá in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

to a Catholic family with a home on the Berounka River. Her father, Rudolf Hrubý, was a jeweler. Her year of birth has been given as 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1923. Her brother, Rudy Ralston, later became a film producer in the United States.

Skating career

As a figure skater, she represented Czechoslovakia in competition under her birth name ''Věra Hrubá''. She competed at the 1936

European Figure Skating Championships The European Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU). Medals are awarded in single skating, men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. The ...

and placed 15th. Later that season, she competed at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Nazi Ger ...

, where she placed 17th. During the games, she personally met and reportedly insulted

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

.Biography of Vera Ralston
retrieved June 5, 2006. Hitler asked her if she would like to "skate for the swastika." As she later boasted, "I looked him right in the eye, and said that I'd rather skate ''on'' the swastika. The Führer was furious." Hrubá competed at the 1937 European Figure Skating Championships and placed 7th. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a naturalized citizen in 1946.

Results

Acting career

Ralston moved to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

with her mother and signed a contract in 1943 with

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

. During her career she was known as Vera Hrubá Ralston and Vera Hruba Ralston, and, later, simply as Vera Ralston. She normally played an immigrant girl, because of her limited English skills. Among the 26 films Ralston starred in were '' Storm Over Lisbon'' with

Erich von Stroheim Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim, ; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, screenwriter, actor, and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of ...

(1944), '' Dakota'' (1945) with

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

, '' I, Jane Doe'' (1947) The Flame,(1948) with John Carroll and

Ruth Hussey Ruth Carol Hussey (October 30, 1911 – April 19, 2005) was an American actress best known for her Academy Award-nominated role as photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in '' The Philadelphia Story''. Early life Hussey was born in Providence, Rho ...

, '' The Fighting Kentuckian'', also with Wayne (1949), '' A Perilous Journey'' with

David Brian Brian James Davis (August 5, 1914 – July 15, 1993), better known as David Brian, was an American actor. He is best known for his role in '' Intruder in the Dust'' (1949), for which he received critical acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination. ...

and

Scott Brady Scott Brady (born Gerard Kenneth Tierney; September 13, 1924 – April 16, 1985) was an American film and television actor best known for his roles in Western films and as a ubiquitous television presence. He played the title role in the televi ...

(1953), and '' Fair Wind to Java'' with

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

(1953). She retired from films in 1958. Reportedly only 2 of her 20 films made money. In 1952, Ralston married Republic studio head

Herbert Yates Herbert John Yates (August 24, 1880 – February 3, 1966), a Hollywood mini-mogul, was the founder and President of Republic Pictures. With his contract, he had launched the film careers of such Western stars as Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and John ...

. Yates was nearly 40 years her senior, and reportedly left his wife, with whom he had two grown children, to be with Ralston. Yates used his position as the studio's head executive to obtain roles for Ralston; at one point he was sued by two studio shareholders for using company assets for his own gain by promoting his wife's career. It was alleged that 18 of her 20 films had been flops. Yates' and Vera's relatives were pushed out of Republic and the film business in 1959, the same year Republic's board decided to switch emphasis from film production to distribution. Yates died in 1966, leaving half of his estate ($8 million) to Ralston; she suffered a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

shortly thereafter. Eventually, she remarried a businessman 11 years her junior and lived quietly in southern California. She died on February 9, 2003, in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

, after a long battle with cancer. For her work in films, Ralston has a star in the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

Legacy

A registered Republican, she supported

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

during the 1952 presidential election.''Motion Picture and Television Magazine'', November 1952, page 34, Ideal Publishers

Filmography

References

External links

*
Ralston timeline
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralston, Vera Year of birth uncertain 2003 deaths American film actresses American female single skaters Czech female single skaters Czechoslovak female single skaters Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States Olympic figure skaters for Czechoslovakia Figure skaters at the 1936 Winter Olympics American people of Bohemian descent Figure skaters from Prague Deaths from cancer in California Actresses from Prague 20th-century American actresses Naturalized citizens of the United States California Republicans Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery 21st-century American women 20th-century American sportswomen