Some Facts
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.
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!".
The surname Ralston was taken from the name of a popular breakfast cereal.
Escaped her native Czechoslovakia on the last plane out before the Nazis closed the borders.
Sister of Rudy Ralston.