# Vera Miles

Vera June Miles (née Ralston; born August 23, 1929) is an American retired actress. She is known for appearing in John Ford's Western films The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and for playing Lila Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and Richard Franklin's sequel Psycho II (1983).
Miles' other film credits include Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955), The Wrong Man (1956), A Touch of Larceny (1959), Follow Me, Boys! (1966), Hellfighters (1968), Sergeant Ryker (1968), and Molly and Lawless John (1972).

## Early life

Vera June Ralston was born in Boise City, Oklahoma, on August 23, 1929.
She grew up first in Pratt, Kansas, and later lived in Wichita, where she worked nights as a Western Union operator-typist and graduated from Wichita North High School in 1947. She was crowned Miss Kansas in 1948 and was the third runner-up in the Miss America contest.

## Career

Miles moved to Los Angeles in 1949 and landed small roles in television and film, including a minor role as a chorus girl in Two Tickets to Broadway (1951), a musical starring Janet Leigh, with whom Miles would co-star nine years later in the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. She used her first husband's name, Miles, because there already was a Vera Ralston film actress. Miles eventually was put under contract at various studios. She once recalled, "I was dropped by the best studios in town."
Miles's first credited film appearance was in The Rose Bowl Story (1952), a romantic comedy in which she played a Tournament of Roses queen. While under contract to Warner Bros., Miles was cast alongside her future husband Gordon Scott in the 1955 film Tarzan's Hidden Jungle as Tarzan's love interest. The following year, she was cast by director John Ford as Jeffrey Hunter's love interest in the John Wayne Western The Searchers (1956), and appeared in the movies Wichita, directed by Jacques Tourneur and 23 Paces to Baker Street with Van Johnson. Also in 1956, Miles starred as Rose Balestrero, the fragile wife of Manny Balestrero, a musician falsely accused of a crime and played by Henry Fonda, in the film The Wrong Man. The movie was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and is one of only a few Hitchcock films based on real-life events.
Signing a five-year personal contract with Hitchcock in 1957, Miles was widely publicized as the director's potential successor to Grace Kelly. Two years prior, Hitchcock had directed Miles in the role of Ralph Meeker's emotionally troubled new bride in "Revenge", the pilot episode of his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Vertigo (1958), a project Hitchcock designed as a showcase for his new star, was met with production delays. Miles's subsequent pregnancy would cost her the lead role, which eventually went to Kim Novak. Vertigo (which also starred James Stewart) was not a financial or critical success at the time, with Hitchcock claiming that Novak was miscast. Despite Hitchcock's disappointment regarding Vertigo, he continued to work with Miles, eventually casting her in what is arguably the role for which she is most remembered, that of Lila Crane in Psycho. In the film, she portrayed the determined sister of the doomed motel guest Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), who teams up with Marion's boyfriend and a private investigator to find her. Miles later appeared in two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (in 1962 and 1965).
In 1962, Miles reunited with director John Ford for the film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Starring alongside her former co-star from The Searchers, John Wayne, she is courted by both Wayne and James Stewart, two very different men competing for her hand in marriage.
In addition to her film appearances, Miles was featured in many popular television shows throughout her career, including Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Laramie, The Twilight Zone, and the Western series Riverboat, starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds. She co-starred in the first episode of ABC's The Fugitive (titled "Fear in a Desert City") and guest-starred in episodes of The Outer Limits, Burke's Law, The Eleventh Hour, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Ironside.
In 1965, Miles had a supporting role in three episodes of the CBS series My Three Sons. The same year, she co-starred with lead actors Robert Culp and Bill Cosby in the pilot episode of the TV series I Spy entitled "Affair in T'Sien Cha" (although the pilot was not actually broadcast until midway through the series's first season).
Other notable films in which Miles appeared included the Walt Disney film Follow Me, Boys! (1966) with Fred MacMurray. In Hellfighters (1968), she played Katharine Ross' mother, although she is only nine years Ross's senior. The film also reunited her with John Wayne. Miles had filmed scenes with Wayne for the movie The Green Berets (also 1968), playing Wayne's character's wife. However, with Warner Bros. wanting more action in the film, her scenes were cut.
Miles continued to appear in numerous TV films and TV series during the 1970s, including the pilot for the TV series Cannon (broadcast in March 1971) as the wife of a deceased war comrade of private investigator Frank Cannon's, played by William Conrad. Miles also appeared on the pilot of Hollywood Squares in 1966. She guest-starred in a further two episodes of the series in different roles during its run. In 1973, she appeared alongside Peter Falk in "Lovely but Lethal", an episode of NBC's Columbo, playing a cosmetics queen who commits murder. She also made guest appearances in episodes of Hawaii Five-O, The Streets of San Francisco, and Fantasy Island.
In 1983, more than 20 years after Psycho, Miles reprised the role of Lila Crane in Psycho II, joining Anthony Perkins in the sequel. Miles and Perkins were the only stars of the original film to appear in this second installment. Miles continued to appear in a number of TV and film productions during the 1980s, with appearances in the movies The Initiation (1984) and Into the Night (1985), and guest-starring in episodes of the TV series The Love Boat (1982 and 1984) and Hotel (1984 and 1987). She appeared in three episodes of Murder, She Wrote (broadcast in 1985, 1990, and 1991). The 1991 episode, titled "Thursday's Child", was her final television role. Her last acting role was in the film Separate Lives (1995). She then retired from the industry.

## Personal life

Miles has been married three times. Her first husband was stuntman and bit-part actor Bob Miles. They were married from 1948 to 1954, and had two daughters, Debra and Kelley. Her second husband was actor and bodybuilder Gordon Scott, her co-star in Tarzan's Hidden Jungle. They were married from 1956 to 1960 and had one son, Michael. Her third husband was actor Keith Larsen. They were married from 1960 to 1971 and had one son, Erik.
One of her grandsons, actor Jordan Essoe, met with actress Jessica Biel in 2012 in preparation for Biel's portrayal of Miles in the film Hitchcock.
Miles is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She also has been a frequent visitor to Salt Lake City, Utah, was greatly involved in the Boy Scouts of America, and is a member of the Hollywood California Stake.
Miles supported the re-election of Dwight D. Eisenhower during the 1956 United States presidential election.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1950 | When Willie Comes Marching Home | Laughing Sergeant's date | Uncredited |
| 1951 | Two Tickets to Broadway | Showgirl | Uncredited |
| 1952 | For Men Only | Kathy Hughes | |
| 1952 | The Rose Bowl Story | Denny Burke | |
| 1953 | The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms | Trailer Commentator | Uncredited |
| 1953 | The Charge at Feather River | Jennie McKeever | |
| 1953 | So Big | Schoolgirl | Uncredited |
| 1954 | Pride of the Blue Grass | Linda | a.k.a. Prince of the Blue Grass |
| 1955 | Tarzan's Hidden Jungle | Jill Hardy | |
| 1955 | Wichita | Laurie McCoy | |
| 1956 | The Searchers | Laurie Jorgensen | |
| 1956 | 23 Paces to Baker Street | Jean Lennox | |
| 1956 | Autumn Leaves | Virginia Hanson | |
| 1956 | The Wrong Man | Rose Balestrero | |
| 1957 | Beau James | Betty Compton | |
| 1959 | Web of Evidence | Lena Anderson | a.k.a. Beyond This Place |
| 1959 | The FBI Story | Lucy Ann Hardesty | |
| 1959 | A Touch of Larceny | Virginia Killain | |
| 1960 | Five Branded Women | Daniza | |
| 1960 | Psycho | Lila Crane | |
| 1961 | The Lawbreakers | Angela Walsh | |
| 1961 | Back Street | Liz Saxon | |
| 1962 | The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance | Hallie Stoddard | |
| 1964 | A Tiger Walks | Dorothy Williams | |
| 1965 | Those Calloways | Lydia "Liddy" Calloway | |
| 1966 | One of Our Spies Is Missing | Madame Raine De Sala | |
| 1966 | Follow Me, Boys! | Vida Downey | |
| 1967 | The Spirit Is Willing | Kate Powell | |
| 1967 | Gentle Giant | Ellen Wedloe | |
| 1968 | Sergeant Ryker | Ann Ryker | |
| 1968 | Kona Coast | Melissa Hyde | |
| 1968 | The Green Berets | Mrs. Lee Kirby | Scenes deleted |
| 1968 | Mission Batangas | Joan Barnes | |
| 1968 | Hellfighters | Madelyn Buckman | |
| 1969 | It Takes All Kinds | Laura Ring | |
| 1970 | The Wild Country | Kate Tanner | |
| 1972 | Molly and Lawless John | Molly Parker | |
| 1973 | One Little Indian | Doris McIver | |
| 1974 | The Castaway Cowboy | Henrietta MacAvoy | |
| 1977 | Run for the Roses | Clarissa Stewart | a.k.a. The Thoroughbreds |
| 1982 | BrainWaves | Marian Koonan | |
| 1983 | Psycho II | Lila Loomis | |
| 1984 | The Initiation | Frances Fairchild | |
| 1985 | Into the Night | Joan Caper | |
| 1995 | Separate Lives | Dr. Ruth Goldin | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1951 | Fireside Theatre | | Episode: "The Seven Graces" |
| 1953–1958 | Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | Sarah Larkin / Julie | 4 episodes |
| 1954 | Crown Theatre with Gloria Swanson | Lois Wheeler | Episode: "This Day Is Yours" |
| 1954 | Lux Video Theatre | Herself - Intermission Guest | 2 episodes |
| 1954 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | | Episode: "The Immortal Oath" |
| 1954 | Four Star Playhouse | Julie Tolin / Maggie | 2 episodes |
| 1954 | Medic | Jane Agnes Caldwell | Episode: "The Wild Intruder" |
| 1954–1955 | The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse | Daughter / Nancy | 3 episodes |
| 1954–1955 | Ford Television Theatre | Angela / Nancy Carr | 2 episodes |
| 1954–1957 | Lux Video Theatre | Jenny / Christine Carroll Kimberly / Audrey O'Connor / Maureen O'Reilly | 4 episodes |
| 1954–1958 | Climax! | Janet Reese / Jan Michaels / Sally Jordan | 4 episodes |
| 1954–1960 | General Electric Theater | Debra Stone / Nora Douglas / Mrs. Eaton / Terry | 5 episodes |
| 1955 | City Detective | Carol Martin | Episode: "Goodbye Old Paint" |
| 1955 | Science Fiction Theatre | Dr. Jan Corey | Episode: "No Food for Thought" |
| 1955 | The Millionaire | Merle Roberts | Episode: "The Merle Roberts Story" |
| 1955 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Elsa Spann | Season 1 Episode 1: "Revenge" |
| 1955 | Screen Directors Playhouse | Ruth Dahlberg | Episode: "Rookie of the Year" |
| 1955 | The 20th Century Fox Hour | Virginia | Episode: "Man on the Ledge" |
| 1956 | Strange Stories | Susan Harris | Episode: "Such a Nice Little Girl" |
| 1956 | G.E. Summer Originals | | Episode: "The Great Lady" |
| 1957 | Playhouse 90 | Carolyn Cook | Episode: "Panic Button" |
| 1958 | Studio 57 | The Little Girl's Mother | Episode: "Emergency Call" |
| 1958 | Colgate Theatre | Judy Gregory | Episode: "Mr. Tutt" (or "Strange Counsel") |
| 1959 | Riverboat | Jeanette Mowbray | Episode: "About Roger Mowbray" |
| 1959 | Rawhide | Helen Walsh | Episode: "Incident at the Buffalo Smokehouse" |
| 1959–1965 | Wagon Train | Anne Reed / Janice Stuart / Sister Rita | 3 episodes |
| 1960 | Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre | Jenny Breckenridge | Episode: "Miss Jenny" |
| 1960 | The Twilight Zone | Millicent Barnes | Episode: "Mirror Image" |
| 1960 | Startime | Jean Medwick | Episode: "Incident at a Corner" |
| 1960 | Laramie | Anne Andrews | Episode: "Three Rode West" |
| 1961 | The Asphalt Jungle | Angela Walsh | Episode: "The Lady and the Lawyer" |
| 1961 | Frontier Circus | Maureen McBride | Episode: "Lippizan" |
| 1961 | Checkmate | Zoe Kamens | Episode: "The Crimson Pool" |
| 1962 | The Detectives | Lucy | 2 episodes |
| 1962 | Sam Benedict | Midge Maddon | Episode: "Maddon's Folly" |
| 1962 | Route 66 | Ellen Barnes | Episode: "Where Is Chick Lorimer, Where Has She Gone?" |
| 1962 | The Dick Powell Show | Stella Calman | Episode: "Crazy Sunday" |
| 1962 | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Daphne | Season 1 Episode 2: "Don't Look Behind You" |
| 1962–1963 | The Eleventh Hour | Kate Sommers / Ann Costigan | 2 episodes |
| 1963 | The Fugitive | Monica Welles | Episode: "Fear in a Desert City" |
| 1963 | Arrest and Trial | Jean Forbes | Episode: "Isn't It a Lovely View" |
| 1963 | Kraft Suspense Theatre | Ann Ryker | 2 episodes |
| 1963 | The Fugitive | Monica Welles | Television film |
| 1963–1970 | The Virginian | Amelia Ballard / Maggie Menken / Miss Wallace | 3 episodes |
| 1963–1970 | Insight | Lucy / Mme Bernice / Sister Lucy Anne / Marion / Maria | 5 episodes |
| 1964 | The Unknown | Kassia Paine | Television film |
| 1964 | The Outer Limits | Kasha Paine | Episode: "The Forms of Things Unknown" |
| 1964 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Beth | Episode: "The Sojourner" |
| 1964 | Burke's Law | Claudia Sutton | Episode: "Who Killed the Horne of Plenty?" |
| 1964 | The Hanged Man | Lois Seeger | Television film |
| 1965 | Slattery's People | Lucy Hampton | Episode: "Question: How Long Is the Shadow of a Man?" |
| 1965 | Mr. Novak | Sister Gervaise | Episode: "There's a Penguin in My Garden" |
| 1965 | My Three Sons | Ernestine Coulter | 3 episodes |
| 1965 | I Spy | Rachel | Episode: "Affair in T'Sien Cha" |
| 1965 | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Nicky Revere / Monica Parrish | Season 3 Episode 20: "Death Scene" |
| 1966 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | Madame Raine De Sala | 2 episodes |
| 1966 | ABC Stage 67 | Adele | Episode: "The People Trap" |
| 1966–1971 | Bonanza | Mrs. April Christopher / Sarah Lowell | 2 episodes |
| 1967 | Run for Your Life | Rachel Pike | Episode: "The Inhuman Predicament" |
| 1967 | Off to See the Wizard | Gypsy Queen | Episode: "Gypsy Colt" |
| 1967 | Judd, for the Defense | Lydia Gray | Episode: "Everyone Loved Harlan But His Wife" |
| 1968 | Journey to the Unknown | June Wiley | Episode: "Matakitas Is Coming" |
| 1968–1970 | The Name of the Game | Hilary Vanderman / Tracy Cannon / Marisa Cummings | 3 episodes |
| 1968–1971 | Ironside | Gloria Campbell / Barbara Richards / Barbara Jones | 3 episodes |
| 1969 | The F.B.I. | Kate Burke | Episode: "The Swindler" |
| 1969 | Mannix | Jean McBride | S3-Episode 03: "Return to Summer Grove" |
| 1970 | Gunsmoke | Dr. Sam McTavish | Episode: "Sam McTavish, M.D." |
| 1970 | Dan August | Carla | Episode: "When the Shouting Dies" |
| 1970–1973 | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Janet Devaney / Helen Wagner | 2 episodes |
| 1970–1974 | Medical Center | Nora Crayton / Eva / Dr. Gloria Howell | 4 episodes |
| 1971 | Hawaii Five-O | Flora Whiting | Episode: "Dear Enemy" |
| 1971 | In Search of America | Jenny Olson | Television film |
| 1971 | Cannon | Diana Langston | Television film |
| 1971 | Alias Smith and Jones | Belle Jordan | Episode: "The Posse That Wouldn't Quit" |
| 1971 | A Howling in the Woods | Rose Staines | Television film |
| 1971–1973 | Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law | Nancy Hodges / Joan Baldwin | 2 episodes |
| 1972 | Jigsaw | Lilah Beth Cummings | Television film |
| 1972 | A Great American Tragedy | Gloria Wilkes | Television film |
| 1972–1975 | Cannon | Vivian Cabe / Dr. Adams | 2 episodes |
| 1973 | Baffled! | Andrea Glenn | Television film |
| 1973 | Journey to the Unknown | June Wiley | Television film ("Matakitas is Coming" segment) |
| 1973 | Columbo | Viveca Scott | Episode: "Lovely But Lethal" |
| 1973 | Runaway! | Ellen Staffo | Television film |
| 1974 | Live Again, Die Again | Marcia Carmichael | Television film |
| 1974 | The Underground Man | Eleanor Strom | Television film |
| 1974 | The Strange and Deadly Occurrence | Christine Rhodes | Television film |
| 1975 | The Wonderful World of Disney | Kate Tannen | Episode: "Wild Country: Part 2" |
| 1975 | The Streets of San Francisco | Catherine Wyatt | Episode: "Men Will Die" |
| 1976 | Ellery Queen | Celeste Wakefield | Episode: "The Adventure of the Two-Faced Woman" |
| 1976 | Movin' On | Sheila Powers | Episode: "Sing It Again, Sonny" |
| 1976 | McNaughton's Daughter | Grace Coventry | Episode: "McNaughton's Daughter" |
| 1976 | Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys | Mrs. Horton | Television film |
| 1976 | State Fair | Melissa Bryant | Television film |
| 1976 | Smash-Up on Interstate 5 | Erica | Television film |
| 1977 | Fire! | Martha Wagner | Television film |
| 1977 | Barnaby Jones | Diane Magnus | Episode: "The Reincarnation" |
| 1978 | How the West Was Won | Beth | 2 episodes |
| 1978 | Fantasy Island | Martha Tate | Episode: "Superstar/Salem" |
| 1978 | The Runaways | Joan Larkin | Episode: "Lies We Live With" |
| 1978 | And I Alone Survived | Irene Elder | Television film |
| 1980 | Buck Rogers in the 25th Century | Tora | Episode: "Flight of the War Witch" |
| 1980 | Roughnecks | Ida McBride | Television film |
| 1981 | Our Family Business | Patricia | Television film |
| 1981 | Magnum, P.I. | Joan Gibson | Episode: "Mad Buck Gibson" |
| 1982 | Mazes and Monsters | Cat Wheeling | Television film |
| 1982–1984 | The Love Boat | Eve Springer / Arlene Kemper / Bess Hensinger | 3 episodes |
| 1983 | Little House: A New Beginning | Ruthy Leland | Episode: "The Last Summer" |
| 1983 | Trapper John, M.D. | Liz Waleska | Episode: "Blue Genes" |
| 1983 | Travis McGee | Julie Lawless | Television film |
| 1984 | Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues | Kate Keller | Television film |
| 1984 | Matt Houston | Mary Haywood | Episode: "The High Fashion Murders" |
| 1984–1987 | Hotel | Ruth / Grace Harlan / Millie Broom / Teresa Clayborne | 4 episodes |
| 1985 | Finder of Lost Loves | Joanna Shaw | Episode: "Deadly Silence" |
| 1985 | International Airport | Elaine Corley | Television film |
| 1985 | Crazy Like a Fox | Georgina | Episode: "Requiem for a Fox" |
| 1985–1991 | Murder, She Wrote | Nancy Landon / Charmaine Calloway Thompson / Elizabeth Gates | 3 episodes |
| 1988 | Simon & Simon | Catherine Van Alder-Vicente | Episode: "The Richer They Are the Harder They Fall" |
| 1989 | The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro | Sophie Kubacki | Television film |