VIRGINIA CHRISTINE

'Virginia Christine' (March 5, 1920 - July 24, 1996) was an American film and television actress and voice artist.
She was born 'Virginia Christine Kraft', in Stanton, Iowa. Ms. Christine had a long career as a character actress in film and television, but she is best remembered as "Mrs. Olson" or the "Folgers Coffee Woman", a fictive Swedish character, in a number of television commercials.
Virginia began work in radio while attending UCLA. She was trained for a theatrical career by actor/director Fritz Feld, whom she married in 1940. In 1942, she signed a contract with Warner Bros., and started appearing in various films. Her first film was ''Edge of Darkness'' (1942), in which she played a Norwegian peasant girl called "Miss Olson".
She was adept at imitating foreign accents when the role required it. In a 1953 episode of ''Adventures of Superman'' called ''The Lady in Black'', she appeared as the title character, effecting a stereotypically mysterious eastern-European accent.
Over the years she appeared in prestigious films such as ''High Noon'' (1952) and ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' (1961), as well as horror films such as ''The Mummy's Curse'' (1944) and ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' (1956). She was a favorite of director Stanley Kramer, appearing in a number of his films. One of her most memorable roles was as Hilary St. George, the racially intolerant co-worker of the Katharine Hepburn character in the film ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' (1967).
Her greatest fame came in 1965 when she started her 21-year stint as the matronly "Mrs. Olsen", who always had comforting words for young married couples while pouring Folgers Coffee in the TV commercials. In 1971, Virginia's hometown honored its most famous citizen by transforming the city water tower to resemble a giant coffeepot.

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★ Des Moines ''Register'' writeup on Virginia Christine