With her luxurious blonde hair, almond-shaped hazel eyes and comely figure, Virginia Madsen initially specialized in playing either femme fatales or imperiled heroines in unambitious made-for-cable movies, but her consistently strong performances ultimately earned her a career second act that included an Oscar nomination.
Early in her career, Madsen gained attention playing glamorous companions of larger-than-life men in several telefilms. As actress Marion Davies, she played opposite Robert Mitchum as newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst in “The Hearst and Davies Affair” (ABC, 1985). Madsen made for a golden blonde version of the historically dark and brooding Claretta Petacci opposite George C. Scott’s Italian dictator in the miniseries “Mussolini: The Untold Story” (NBC, 1985). She was a more apt choice to play a tough-as-nails beauty queen in “Long Gone” (HBO, 1987), a well regarded comedy-drama about a minor league baseball team in the 1950s.
