Virginia Admiral

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Virginia Admiral

Birth name	Virginia Holten Admiral
Born	February 4, 1915 Oregon, U.S.A.
Died	July 27, 2000 (aged 85) New York, U.S.A.
Nationality	American
Movement	Painter

Virginia Admiral (or Virginia De Niro; February 4, 1915 – July 27, 2000) was the mother of Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro, and the wife of painter Robert De Niro, Sr.

[edit] Biography

Virginia Holton Admiral was born in Oregon, the daughter of Donald Admiral and Alice Caroline Groman. In 1920, Virginia was recorded in the census residing in Danville, Illinois, with her parents and younger sister Eleanor. Her father was working as a grain broker. By 1930 Virginia's parents had divorced and she was living with her mother and sister in Berkeley, California. Here (according to the 1930 Census) Alice Admiral was employed as a school teacher.

Virginia Admiral was of Dutch, German, English, and French origin. She was a Presbyterian-raised atheist. Her grandfather Nicholas Admiral (originally Admiraal) immigrated to America from Schoorl, North Holland, with his parents Jacob Admiraal and Neeltje Bakker. In Danville, Illinois, he wed a Kentucky-born Missouri native, Virginia Moseby Holton. Virginia's maternal grandparents were Dr. August Groman and Gesina Marie Beckman, of Odebolt, Iowa. Both were second-generation German immigrants.

Virginia was a painter, and met Robert De Niro, Sr., an aspiring artist, at one of Hans Hofmann's painting classes in Provincetown, Massachusetts, they married in 1942. One year later Virginia gave birth to their son, award-winning actor and director, Robert De Niro, Jr. They divorced in 1945.

Virginia Admiral died on July 27, 2000, in New York.