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Vera Ralston Profile
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Photo gallery |
| (Vera Helena Hruba) |
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| 12 July 20 / 23 | is born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to a catholic family. Later she will jubilantly shave three years off her age by giving her birthday as July 12th, 1923. Her father, Rudolf Hruba, is a jeweler and president of the Jewels Association. |
| grows up on the Berounka River, on the outskirts of Prague |
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| enrolls in ballet classes |
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| Summer 32 | goes to a German convent in Doksi, Czechoslovakia. She begins smoking. |
| Winter 32 | learns to ice skate; brother Rudy provides her with basic instructions |
| Summer 34 | spends her summer vacation in London, indoor skating |
| 35 | wins the British gold medal |
| 36 | is her country's entry to the Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Nazi Germany. She comes place 17. |
| 37 | tours the States in ice revues. RKO offers a screen test, but she refuses because she's getting married. Her engagement to a half-Jewish boy dissolves when his parents don't consent to his wedding a Catholic. |
| 15 March 39 | she and her mother embark on the last plane before Nazi troops take over Prague. Via Paris, they go to New York by ship. |
| tours the States with the Ice Vanities |
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| January 41 | gets 2,400 proposals when a Chicago newspaper runs the story that she may have to return to occupied Czechoslovakia after expiration of her visitor's permit |
| Summer 41 | Herbert J. Yates, president of Republic Pictures, casts her and the Ice Capades for his upcoming movie, Ice-Capades. He advises her to slim down and improve her English. |
| 43 | Yates offers her a long-term movie contract. She chooses Ralston, from the breakfast cereal, as her screen name. |
| 45 | to star with her in his upcoming Dakota, Yates promises actor John Wayne a percentage of the profits from his next movie starring Wayne. The success of Wake of the Red Witch will make Wayne a millionaire. |
| Early 46 | with her father flown in from Czechoslovakia, she reunites her family and makes her home in Sherman Oaks, California |
| 4 June 46 | becomes an American citizen |
| 47 | becomes lifelong friends with co-stars John Carroll and Blanche Yurka while filming The Flame |
| Late 47 | Yates leaves his wife and four adult children to be with her. He's 67; she's 27. Her father doesn't approve of the relationship and returns to Prague. |
| can't get rid of her Czech accent, no matter how hard she tries |
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| Christmas 48 | visits Prague with Yates and her mother, never to return to her homeland again |
| 15 March 52 | marries Yates at the Little Brown Church in the Valley in North Hollywood. They honeymoon in Europe for three months. |
| 54 | on their annual European trip with her mother, they obtain a special audience with Pope Pius XII in Vatican City |
| lives with Yates on a small estate in Santa Barbara, California, overlooking the sea |
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| 55 | Sterling Hayden is paid a special "bonus" inducement to appear opposite her in Timberjack |
| October 56 | two Republic stockholders file suit against Yates for having used company assets to promote his wife as a star and having given her brother producer status at salary far beyond industry worth |
| Summer 58 | she and her husband are off to Abano, Italy, for hot springs treatment for Yates |
| 58 | Yates relinquishes his $178,000-a-year Republic post |
| May 62 | she and Yates separate |
| June 62 | they reunite after a domestic estrangement suit at the Santa Monica Superior Court and are off on a second honeymoon |
| 63 | her father dies in Prague |
| 65 | Yates suffers the first of nine heart attacks aboard the S.S. Columbo bound for Italy |
| 2 February 66 | Yates dies at their Sherman Oaks home, age 85. He leaves her half of his estate, valued at more than $10 million. Soon after, she suffers a nervous breakdown. |
| goes to Hawaii to recuperate from Yates's death |
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| January 73 | her mother dies in Los Angeles |
| 16 June 73 | marries Charles L. Alva, a Santa Barbara businessman, at San Raque Chapel. He's 41; she's 52. |
| ? | lives in Santa Barbara, California |
| 9 February 03 | as Vera Ralston Alva, she dies at her Santa Barbara, California, home of cancer |
| Sources: The Glamour Girls by James Robert Parish and Don E. Stanke, Movie Stars of the '40s by David Ragan, www.Ancestry.com | |
| Recommended Books: | |
| Links: Filmography | |