Virginia Patton Moss, the last surviving adult cast member from the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life, has died. She was 97.
Her death was confirmed by the Mathews Funeral Home.
Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu Bailey in the film, told Fox News Digital “another bell has rung,” referencing the quote from the movie, “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.”
Patton Moss was born on June 25, 1925 in Cleveland. She was raised in Portland, Oregon before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.
She signed with Warner Bros. and made her film debut in 1943 in Thank Your Lucky Stars. She starred in several other small roles before starring in Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life.
While attending USC she starred in a play written by William C. De Mille, brother of Cecil B. De Mille. She was recommended to audition for Capra’s film, and “I read for him, and he signed me,” she said in 2013.
“I was the only girl he ever signed in his whole career.”
Patton Moss, niece of World War II general George Patton, got the role of Ruth Dakin Bailey, the sister-in-law of Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey.
After starring in It’s a Wonderful Life, Patton Moss filmed four more movies and then retired from Hollywood. She married Cruse W. Moss in 1949 and the two moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where they had three children.
The couple were married for 69 years until Cruse’s death in 2018.
Hollywood to Ann Arbor
Despite Capra asking Patton Moss to reconsider her decision to give up acting, she was satisfied with her decision and she knew the director supported her too.
“I have a beautiful letter that (Capra) wrote me because I kept in touch with him and he said, ‘I just knew you’d be a wonderful mother with three little bambinos and a wonderful husband,’” she said in 2012.
Following her seven year acting career, Patton Moss raised three children in Ann Arbor. She served as a docent at the University of Michigan Museum of Art for more than 25 years, as well as president and director of the Patton Corp., an investment and real estate holding company, per her obituary.
She was “an accomplished pianist.”
Patton Moss is survived by two children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
So many great names have died this year. It is so sad to hear.
Rest in peace, Virginia.
