Book explores life of Vera Miles, Oklahoma-born actress

The question: Which Oklahoma-born actress was in two of the most revered films in motion picture history?

In 2008, the American Film Institute updated its list of the top 100 American-made movies.

At No. 12: “The Searchers,” the highest-ranking western on the list.

At No. 14: “Psycho,” the highest ranking horror film on the list.

Miles had prominent roles in both films — and was oh-so-close to being in three of AFI’s top 14 films.

At No. 9 on AFI’s 2008 list is “Vertigo.” Miles was supposed to star in “Vertigo” opposite Jimmy Stewart, but she had Tarzan’s baby instead and the part went to another actress.

At the time, Miles was married to Tarzan actor Gordon Scott, which you would know if you read Christopher McKittrick’s upcoming book about Miles.

Available Tuesday, March 25, “Vera Miles: The Hitchcock Blonde Who Got Away” is the first full-length biography of Miles’ life and extensive body of work.

McKittrick’s previous books were music-related, focusing on artists like the Stray Cats, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones, but the author’s background is film-heavy. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is among films that had a major impact on McKittrick when he was a youth and, as time went by, he got deeper into film and gained an appreciation for filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford. Hitchcock directed Miles in “The Wrong Man” and “Psycho.” Ford directed Miles in “The Searchers” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.”

McKittrick, in a phone interview with the Tulsa World, said he was amazed Miles had such a stellar career and no one had written a book about her.

“I just think she really was a remarkable actress who didn’t get her due,” he said. “And I just felt compelled to write the book to shed more light on a woman who worked with Albert Hitchcock, John Ford, Walt Disney, Bob Hope — all these major names of the mid-20th century that are still well known and revered today. There’s one person that kind of connects to all of them, and she’s that person.”

Among conversation topics during the interview:

Vera Ralston (she changed her name to Vera Miles after marrying the first of her three husbands) was born in Boise City, Oklahoma. Her father was born in pre-statehood Oklahoma. Her time in Oklahoma was limited. She was raised in Kansas and attended high school in Wichita.

Being a pageant girl put Miles on a path to stardom. She was Miss Kansas in 1948 and finished as third runner-up (one spot ahead of Miss Oklahoma Donna Jane Briggs) at the 1948 Miss America pageant. It was typical then for Hollywood to scour pageants for talent, sort of like an NFL combine for actresses.

“I believe kind of the point of view of Hollywood at the time was we can teach a beautiful woman how to act, but we can’t always teach an actress how to be beautiful,” McKittrick said.

“There were a fair amount of actresses that came out of that Miss America competition around that time.”

Cloris Leachman was “discovered” at the 1946 Miss America pageant and became an Oscar winner.

Miss Kansas married the first man she met in Hollywood.

The pageant queen signed a contract with RKO Studios, then owned by Howard Hughes. Hughes kept tabs on his actresses by assigning them drivers. Vera’s driver, Bob Miles, picked her up at the airport. They began dating and were wed in November of 1948.

“That just insulted the hell out of Howard Hughes,” David Boushey, a friend of Bob Miles, says in the book. “Here Miles was seeing one of Hughes’ top girls, and of course, Hughes wanted to play a bit with Miss Ralston. But she wasn’t into that.”

Hughes fired the driver and sold Vera’s contract to another studio.

“In 2016, Warren Beatty made a movie (‘Rules Don’t Apply’) about a young woman who comes to Hollywood to work for Howard Hughes and ends up getting romantically involved with one of her drivers,” McKittrick said, recognizing that as part of Vera’s story.

“The movie, of course, is a highly fictionalized take. But I just found that so interesting that here was kind of the setup of Vera Miles’ introduction to Hollywood, and it’s all in this movie.”

From 1950 through 1995, Miles appeared in 40-plus films and 100-plus television series and TV movies.

“What’s interesting is nowadays it’s so common for actors to do television and film,” McKittrick said, noting that big-name actors appear in streaming series. “Back then, it wasn’t as common for film actors to jump in both worlds, film and television. I think one of the main reasons Vera Miles did so much television is because it was so centered in Hollywood, and she was able to stay close to her family. She could shoot a TV show in maybe two or three days or less, especially as a guest star.”

McKittrick said the number of shows Miles appeared on is impressive. He joked that, with the exception of “Batman” and “Gilligan’s Island,” she seemed to be on every classic TV show.

It was mentioned to McKittrick during the interview that, once upon a time, it was considered slumming for a movie actor to be on TV.

“Absolutely,” he said. “That was actually maybe one of the reasons why she never wanted to be a regular on a television series. She always wanted to be a guest star or do a three-episode stint. But that was (a common perception back then that) unless you were a star like Lucille Ball or Jackie Gleason, that TV was the lesser of the visual arts.”

TV didn’t just pay the bills. TV got Miles noticed.

“Both Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford discovered her from television roles,” McKittrick said. “Alfred Hitchcock had seen her on a show where she portrayed a breast cancer patient, which was pretty compelling television at a time when they didn’t deal with medical issues like that. And John Ford’s wife saw Vera Miles on TV and said, ‘I think you should probably think about working with that actress.’”

Miles credited TV for teaching her how to act. Said McKittrick: “TV was shot so much quicker, on such a rapid pace. She had to learn her lines and get her stuff in very quickly because, in some instances, some of the shows she did early in her career were broadcast live or live to tape. She had to be on her toes for television and she felt that helped her train her for film.”

In “The Searchers,” characters played by John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter embark on a years-long search to find Wayne’s abducted niece. Miles’ character, Laurie Jorgensen, has a romantic interest in Hunter’s character, but how long can a girl wait?

McKittrick interviewed cast member Patrick Wayne (son of John Wayne), who shared that “The Searchers” role was a different one for his father. In other films, John Wayne was almost always heroic, even if rough around the edges. In “The Searchers,” he has a darker edge.

“And just everything else about that film is absolutely gorgeous,” McKittrick said. “The cinematography in Monument Valley is just stunning. And it’s kind of a mystery film. The whole movie, you’re wondering what Ethan Edwards — John Wayne’s character — is going to do when he finds his niece. And Vera Miles was just stunning in that movie, as well. From what I understand, she really had a lot of fun making that because they were all on set in Monument Valley. Even today, there’s nothing around there for miles. So, you’re there with the crew and you hang out and have a good time. They had tea every day with John Ford.”

McKittrick was pitched this question: Before starting research on this book, if someone mentioned Vera Miles, what would have sprang to mind?

“To me, ‘Psycho,’ because there’s that unbelievable scene at the end of ‘Psycho’ — and I hope I’m not giving away a movie that came out in 1960. But there’s this stunning scene where she’s coming down the stairs in Norman Bates’ house, in the Bates mansion, looking for Mother, and she discovers Mother. That scene, to me, is so powerful, the scream that she does, on top of the revelation on who Mother really is. That really was a great role for her and probably the most financially successful movie she was in.”

Many people associate actress Janet Leigh with “Psycho,” said McKittrick, because of the famous shower scene. “But, to me, Vera Miles’ character is so much more compelling. She plays her sister and she’s investigating ‘What happened to my sister? Why did she disappear when she came to this roadside motel?’”

Twenty-three years after “Psycho,” Miles revisited her character in “Psycho II.”

Now it’s business as usual for a decades-later legacy sequel to hit theaters. Examples: “Ghostbusters.” “Top Gun.” That wasn’t the norm when “Psycho II” was on the horizon.

“‘Psycho II’ was a real roll of the dice because it was originally pitched as a TV movie on premium cable,” McKittrick said. “Universal said, ‘Yeah, whatever. You want to make another Psycho? Sure. Whatever. If we still make money off it, that’s fine.’ And then as more and more people from the original, like Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles and some of the behind-the-camera people got involved, it suddenly became a very special project, and it was very successful when it first came out. I think, over time, it has become even more successful, because people are impressed on how well made it is. It really could have been a cheap cash-in, and it wasn’t.”

Hitchcock signed Miles to a personal contract. She was pegged to be the female lead in “Vertigo.” The part went to Kim Novak because of multiple factors and delays, including Miles’ pregnancy.

How would Miles’ career have been impacted if “Vertigo” had been on her resume? That’s the big “what if” of Miles’ career.

“Hitchcock truly wanted to make her a big star,” McKittrick said. “She was game for it, to a degree. She was not going to give up her family life for her career. And that’s something I admire about her. She really wanted to find that balance. There’s a lot of talk today about work-life balance. That really wasn’t quite a thing back in the ’50s and the ’60s and even before that.”

“Vertigo” now is perceived as a Hitchcock masterpiece, but the film was not a financial success.

“Did he somewhat blame Vera Miles on the failure? Perhaps,” McKittrick said. “But, then again, when she was ready to make the movie before she became pregnant, Hitchcock wasn’t ready. The script wasn’t done, and he had medical issues of his own. So there were a lot of kind of perfect storm problems.”

Miles is 95. She retired from public life after her final film 30 years ago.

“That’s another reason why I wanted to write this book is because she has not lived a public life,” McKittrick said. “Certainly, I made attempts to reach out to her, but without success. While certainly she’s entitled to her privacy, I think that kind of hurts her overall legacy. I’ve read Hitchcock books that almost don’t even mention her, except as ‘oh, she was in this movie,’ which is a real shame, because she played major roles in several Hitchcock projects, as well as John Ford projects. Obviously actors and actresses, they tend to want the spotlight as long as they’re around. … There are not many actors and actresses we hear about that retire and stay quiet.”

McKittrick used historical interviews and archival materials in crafting the biography. In one of those interviews, Miles acknowledged hearing chatter that she didn’t fulfill her potential. She countered with this: “What in hell do they think was my potential? Who sets potential anyway? As far as I’m concerned, I fulfilled my potential. I had four children. I supported them well and didn’t leave them to be raised by anyone. That’s all I set out to do, and I did it.”