Vera Miles (Hardback)

Captivating, talented, and beautiful, Vera Miles was destined for fame. Within a few years of making her way to Hollywood in 1949, she starred in such films as The Rose Bowl Story (1952), Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955), and Wichita (1955). Her frequent television performances so enthralled Alfred Hitchcock that he chose her to be Grace Kelly's successor for roles in The Wrong Man (1956) and the iconic film Psycho (1960). She also starred in John Ford's The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Miles's illustrious film and television career spanned nearly fifty years in Hollywood, and yet she is still considered one of the most unsung film actresses of her era. Vera Miles: The Hitchcock Blonde Who Got Away is the first full-length biography of the talented performer's life and extensive body of work. Integrating historical interviews and archival materials, author Christopher McKittrick reveals the struggles Miles faced as a working mother in the 1950s and 1960s and why she was compelled to step away from the lead role in Vertigo—a choice that irrevocably sundered her relationship with Hitchcock. Yet Miles would go on to appear in nearly two hundred television shows, including The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, Ironside, and The Virginian, as well as numerous Disney films. She would work with some of the most talented actors in Hollywood—John Wayne, Bob Hope, and James Stewart among them—and would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. By highlighting Miles as the lead in her own story, McKittrick amplifies the voice of this remarkable and prolific actress who was far more than just a footnote in Hitchcock's film legacy.