It’s a Wonderful Life Star Virginia Patton Dies at 97 | Celebrities

Virginia Patton has died at the age of 97.

The “It’s a Wonderful Life” actress, who played Ruth Deakin Bailey in the classic 1946 comedy, is said to have died at a hospital on August 18 in Albany, Georgia.

Matthews Funeral Home announced the death of the Hollywood star.

Fellow Virginian Carolyn Grimes delivered the eulogy.

She wrote on Facebook: “We have another angel! Virginia Patton Moss. She was 97 years old. Now she is with her lover Cruz. She will be missed!”

Virginia was born in Cleveland, Ohio in June 1925 and graduated from Jefferson High School in Portland before moving to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California.

After her role in It’s a Wonderful Life, the movie star went on to star in 1947’s Burning Cross and 1948’s Black Eagle.

However, she decided to give up her acting career in the 1940s to take care of her family, and her final big screen appearance was in 1949’s The Lucky One.

In 1949, she tied the knot with auto industry executive Cruz W. Moss, with whom she had three children, and the couple were married for nearly seven decades.

However, he unfortunately died in 2018.

Away from the acting world, Virginia became an associate professor at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, president and director of real estate and investment firm Patton Corp.

The businesswoman was the niece of General George S. Patton.