Victoria Shaw

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Family

Australian actress and astrologer. Victoria began modeling in March 1951 and was named Model of the Year by November. She made a minor film in Australia in June 1952, and was named Photographer's Model of the Year on 15 July 1955. Victoria was one of five kids. At age four, she had her tonsils out. Her dad enlisted in the military in 1940 and they saw little of him for a few years. Her grandmother died on 7 November 1946 and her granddad on 21 June 1949. She had her appendix out on 6 September 1948. Her dad died on 3 March 1974. On the heels of a disappointment in love, she went to Hollywood on 15 July 1955. She was quite naive and had no contacts but managed to get an appointment at Columbia within ten days, and was signed to a movie contract by 26 July 1955. Her Hollywood debut was in "The Eddie Duchin Story," with Tyrone Power. Later films included "Alvarez Kelly" and "I Aim At The Stars." On TV she performing in guest shots and on the soap, "General Hospital," 1974-1975. On 28 July 1956, she married Roger Smith, the love of her life. Thirty years later she said that there was never another who meant as much to her. They had a daughter in 1957 and a son in 1958. On 23 June 1959, Roger had brain surgery. She recalled 1961 as the most difficult year. They had lawsuits over the insurance for Roger's surgery and Roger's dad died. Both sets of parents visited and she was in an uncomfortable pregnancy. When Roger was under stress, he stopped talking and closed off. Their second son was born in December and on 3 March 1962, she started taking psychiatric therapy, feeling that everything was her fault and that she could not cope. She had childbed fever with pneumonia and was taking pills for everything, finally making a half-hearted suicide attempt sometime in November with pills. By June 1964, they began to speak of divorce and she was served with papers the day before Christmas, 1964. In 1965, she made $50,000 for "Alvarez Kelly," and had a substantial alimony from Roger, who was becoming well known for his TV series. She married Elliot on 12 March 1966, giving up her alimony, divorcing him two years later. In 1968, her house began slipping down a Hollywood hillside. She found out that Roger had not signed the house over to her or kept up insurance and it was a total loss. She moved to Thousand Oaks on 1 July 1968. She had neither business sense or practicality and the kids became increasingly difficult as they reached their teens. She had a hysterectomy in July 1971. At 15, her daughter ran away to Roger's house where he lived with his second wife, Ann-Margret, on 5 July 1972 and did not call her for three years. Roger filed for custody of the children and won his case on 31 August 1972, stating that she had been under the care of a psychiatrist and was unstable. Victoria's sense of self-worth was so battered that she began a relationship with an abusive man but left him when he beat her on 18 April 1973. She worked at a menial job outside of the entertainment industry from 1972-74, when she won a role in General Hospital. In 1976, she was honored in her native home with an Australian show, "This is Your Life," and she made a film in Australia that began shooting on 18 May 1977. From 1973 she worked as a professional astrologer, showing a fine quality as a counselor and a brilliant skill in rectification. Victoria was devoted to astrology, remarking that her grand-trine of ASC-Venus-Jupiter had given her a movie career but her Gemini Sun semi-sextile Uranus carried her increasingly toward astrology. She took an office job in October 1980 but on 2 April 1981, caught her heel in a frayed carpet and fell at work, injuring her knee. She started a lawsuit against the building and on disability, took on the job of managing her apartment building in Hollywood to pay for her apartment. By 1984, Victoria was increasingly limited by emphysema. She went into the hospital a half-dozen times, unable to breathe. Finally no longer able to take care of herself, she moved back to Sydney to live with one of her sisters in 1985. With less stress and better care than she had in the medical hospice system of a major metropolis, she lived quietly for several more years. Victoria died on 17 August 1988, 11:45 AM, Warrawee, Australia. Link to Wikipedia biography