Virginia Christine

Virginia Christine Ricketts was born in Stanton, Iowa of Swedish descent. Upon her mother's remarriage, she changed her last name to "Kraft". The family later moved to Des Moines, the state capital, in central Iowa, where Virginia attended Elmwood Elementary School. The family relocated again to Des Moines County in the southeastern part of the state. There, Christine attended Mediapolis High School, where she aspired to be a concert pianist. Her family later moved to California, where she enrolled at UCLA.

In addition to her work in films, Christine appeared in numerous television series. In the 1950s, she appeared in multiple guest roles on The Abbott and Costello Show, Four Star Playhouse, Dragnet, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Ford Television Theatre, Gunsmoke, Science Fiction Theatre, Matinee Theatre, Father Knows Best, The Donna Reed Show, Trackdown, State Trooper, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Rifleman, Letter to Loretta, Adventures of Superman, and General Electric Theater. In November 1959, Christine co-starred as the wife of a verbally abusive hypochondriac in the first-season episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "Escape Clause". In 1960 and 1961, Christine guest-starred on episodes of Coronado 9, Rawhide, and The Untouchables. From 1961 to 1962, Christine had a recurring role as widow Ovie Swenson in the Western series Tales of Wells Fargo. She made four guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of defendant Beth Sandover in the season-six, 1962 episode, "The Case of the Double-Entry Mind", and murderer Edith Summers in the season-seven, 1963 episode, "The Case of the Devious Delinquent". For the remainder of the decade, she continued with guest-starring roles in such shows as 77 Sunset Strip, Ben Casey, Bonanza, The Fugitive, Hazel, Wagon Train playing the bereaved Mrs. Reed in S8E23 "The Katy Piper Story", The Virginian, ‘’The Big Valley’’, Going My Way, The F.B.I., and Daniel Boone. In 1969, Christine co-starred in the ABC television movie Daughter of the Mind. Her greatest fame came in 1965 when she began her 21-year stint as the matronly Mrs. Olson, who had comforting words for young married couples while pouring Folgers coffee in television commercials. They became a popular staple on television, whereupon the character began to be parodied by comedians and entertainers, including Carol Burnett, Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Ann-Margret, and Jackie Gleason. She went on to appear in over 100 commercials for Folgers. In 1971, Christine's hometown of Stanton, Iowa, honored her by transforming the city water tower to resemble a giant Swedish coffee pot. During the 1970s, Christine continued to work primarily in television. Her last role was on the 1979 animated series Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, in which she provided additional voices.

Christine retired from acting in 1979. After her retirement, she did volunteer work at Planned Parenthood, and served as a judge at the American College Theatre Festival. She was later appointed the honorary mayor of Brentwood, Los Angeles, where her husband and she resided for many years.

In November 1940, Christine married character actor Fritz Feld. The couple had two sons, Steven and Danny. Christine and Feld remained married until his death in 1993.

On July 24, 1996, Christine died at her Brentwood home of cardiovascular disease. Her interment was at the Jewish Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles.