Virginia Gregg Biography

Virginia Lee Greg Burkett was born in Hairsburg, Illinois on March 6, 1916 to Edward William Greg a businessman and Dewey Alphaleta Todd a musician. She moved west with her parents at an early age and enrolled in the Fremont Grammar School in Long Beach, California.

She played sports in school and she excelled as a pitcher on the school's baseball team with her specialty pitch being the fast curve. And as a musician herself, Virginia first appeared professionally as a member of the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra.

In 1937 she joined the Singing Strings musical group on KHJ playing the double bass. She transitioned to radio acting in the 1940s. And her extensive radio career included roles in Gunsmoke, Have Gunroll Travel, Suspense, Dragnet, the Lone Ranger, yours truly Johnny Dollar, and let George do it.

She was in significant demand as she had the ability to play almost any role. As was a case with many of her contemporaries, she transitioned to movies and then to television as opportunities arose. Her first movie role was uncredited in the 1946 Hitchcock thriller, Notorious.

Her many subsequent appearances include the movie version of Dragnet in 1954, The Fastest Gun Alive in 1956, Operation Peticoat in 1959, and Spencer's Mountain in 1963. She also played the voice of Norma Bates, Norman's mother, in the classic Psycho of 1960, as as well as the sequels, Psycho II in 1983 and Psycho III in 1986.

However, she was uncredited for each of these roles. Virginia had a long and distinguished television career, commencing in 1952 with several episodes of Dragnet and The Public Defender, and ending with Dynasty in 1983. In between, she performed in one or more episodes of most of the major hit series of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.