Miles moved to Los Angeles in 1949 and landed small roles in television and film, including a minor role as a chorus girl in Two Tickets to Broadway (1951), a musical starring Janet Leigh, with whom Miles would co-star nine years later in the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. She used her first husband's name, Miles, because there already was a Vera Ralston film actress. Miles eventually was put under contract at various studios. She once recalled, "I was dropped by the best studios in town."[3]
Signing a five-year personal contract with Hitchcock in 1957,[4] Miles was widely publicized as the director's potential successor to Grace Kelly.[9] Two years prior, Hitchcock had directed Miles in the role of Ralph Meeker's emotionally troubled new bride in "Revenge", the pilot episode of his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.[10]
Vertigo (1958), a project Hitchcock designed as a showcase for his new star, was met with production delays. Miles's subsequent pregnancy would cost her the lead role which eventually went to Kim Novak. Vertigo (which also starred James Stewart) was not a financial or critical success at the time, with Hitchcock claiming that Novak was miscast.[11] Despite Hitchcock's disappointment regarding Vertigo, he continued to work with Miles, eventually casting her in what is arguably the role for which she is most remembered, that of Lila Crane in Psycho.[12] In the film, she portrayed the determined sister of the doomed motel guest Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), who teams up with Marion's boyfriend and a private investigator to find her. Miles later appeared in two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (in 1962 and 1965).
In 1962, Miles reunited with director John Ford for the film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Starring alongside her former co-star from The Searchers, John Wayne, she is courted by both Wayne and James Stewart, two very different men competing for her hand in marriage.[4]
In 1965, Miles had a supporting role in three episodes of the CBS series My Three Sons. The same year, she co-starred with lead actors Robert Culp and Bill Cosby in the pilot episode of the TV series I Spy entitled "Affair in T'Sien Cha" (although the pilot was not actually broadcast until midway through the series's first season).[13]
Miles in The Twilight Zone, 1960
Other notable films in which Miles appeared included the Walt Disney film Follow Me, Boys! (1966) with Fred MacMurray.[14] In Hellfighters (1968), she played Katharine Ross' mother although she is only nine years Ross's senior. The film also reunited her with John Wayne.[15] Miles had filmed scenes with Wayne for the movie The Green Berets (also 1968), playing Wayne's character's wife. However, with Warner Bros. wanting more action in the film, her scenes were cut.[16]
Miles continued to appear in numerous TV films and TV series during the 1970s, including the pilot for the TV series Cannon (broadcast in March 1971) as the wife of a deceased war comrade of private investigator Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad. Miles also appeared on the pilot of Hollywood Squares in 1966. She guest-starred in a further two episodes of the series in different roles during its run. In 1973, she appeared alongside Peter Falk in "Lovely But Lethal", an episode of NBC's Columbo, playing a cosmetics queen who commits murder. She also made guest appearances in episodes of Hawaii Five-O, The Streets of San Francisco, and Fantasy Island.
In 1983, more than 20 years after Psycho, Miles reprised the role of Lila Crane in Psycho II, joining Anthony Perkins in the sequel. Miles and Perkins were the only stars of the original film to appear in this second installment.[17] Miles continued to appear in a number of TV and film productions during the 1980s, with appearances in the movies The Initiation (1984) and Into the Night (1985), and guest-starring in episodes of the TV series The Love Boat (1982 and 1984) and Hotel (1984 and 1987). She appeared in three episodes of Murder, She Wrote (broadcast in 1985, 1990, and 1991, respectively). The 1991 episode, titled "Thursday's Child", was her final television role. Her last acting role was in the film Separate Lives (1995). She then retired from the industry.[18]
Personal life
Miles has been married three times. Her first husband was stuntman and bit-part actor Bob Miles.[19] They were married from 1948 to 1954, and had two daughters, Debra and Kelley. Her second husband was actor and bodybuilder Gordon Scott, her co-star in Tarzan's Hidden Jungle.[20] They were married from 1956 to 1960 and had one son, Michael. Her third husband was actor Keith Larsen.[21] They were married from 1960 to 1971 and had one son, Erik.[4]
One of her grandsons, actor Jordan Essoe, met with actress Jessica Biel in 2012 in preparation for Biel's portrayal of Miles in the film Hitchcock.[22]
