Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Virginia as an infant moved with her parents, Earil and Margaret Briggs, to Fargo, North Dakota. The city directory of Fargo documents that the Briggs family lived there at 421 14th Street South. After Virginia graduated from Fargo Central High School in 1928, she moved with her family to Los Angeles intending to enroll in the University of California, Los Angeles when a friendly wager sent her seeking film work. Her first screen work was in 1929 as an extra for Paramount in Why Bring That Up? In 1930 she appeared on Broadway in the musical Smiles at the Ziegfeld Theatre, followed by another Broadway production, America's Sweetheart, in 1931. Bruce returned to Hollywood in 1932, where at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in early August she began work on the film Kongo starring Walter Huston. During production on that project, on August 10, she married John Gilbert with whom she had recently costarred in another MGM film, Downstairs. The entertainment trade paperThe Film Daily reported that the couple's "quick" wedding was held in Gilbert's dressing room on the studio lot. Among the people attending the small ceremony were the head of MGM production Irving Thalberg, who served as the groom's best man; screenwriterDonald Ogden Stewart, whose wife Beatrice acted as matron of honor; MGM art director and set designer Cedric Gibbons; and his wife, actress Dolores del Río. Bruce retired briefly from acting after the birth of their daughter Susan Ann, although she returned to a hectic schedule of film appearances after her divorce from Gilbert in May 1934. Gilbert died two years later. Bruce is credited with introducing the Cole Porter standard "I've Got You Under My Skin" in the 1936 filmBorn to Dance. That same year she costarred in the MGM musical The Great Ziegfeld. She also performed periodically on radio. In 1949, for example, Bruce starred in Make Believe Town, a 30-minute afternoon drama broadcast daily on CBS Radio. Much later, in the early 1960s, the veteran actress retired from films but emerged from retirement in 1981 for a final screen appearance, portraying the title character in Madame Wang's, a "bizarre" production directed by Paul Morrissey in association with Andy Warhol.
