Vera Ralston

Her age and date of birth are often uncertain; at various times some scholars gave her birthyear as 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1923 as her year of birth and in some cases her month of birth was listed as July versus June. Her accurate date of birth is July 12, 1923, as verfied by the social security death index as well as her burial records at Santa Barbara Cemetery, Santa Barbara, California.

Much like the Susan Foster Kane character in Citizen Kane (1941), Ralston is generally conceded to owe what stardom she had to her position as "protege" of Republic Pictures studio head Herbert J. Yates. Most of her films lost money, because audiences just never took to her (John Wayne, after having made a few films with her, refused to make any more as he believed that being identified as appearing in any more of her flops would damage his career). She and Yates were married in 1952. Significantly, she "retired" from the screen in 1958, the year Yates was deposed as head of the studio--mainly because of his insistence in starring her in expensive films even though they invariably lost money but also because of his refusal to sell Republic's films for TV broadcasting. Yates and Ralston remained married until Yates' death in 1966, at which point Ralston inherited half of his $10-million estate.

Became a naturalized United States citizen in 1946.

Interviewed by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), Maureen Stapleton was asked what she did to make herself feel better when she knew she'd given a bad performance. "I look through the TV Guide and try to find a Vera Hruba Ralston picture to watch," said Stapleton, "because I know, no matter how bad a performance I may have given, I could NEVER be as bad as she was!".