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Van Johnson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Van Johnson | |
|---|---|
 from the trailer for The Human Comedy (1943) |
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| Birth name | Charles Van Johnson |
| Born | August 25, 1916 Newport, Rhode Island, United States |
| Spouse(s) | Eve Lynn Abbott (1947-1968) |
Charles "Van" Johnson (born August 25, 1916) is an American film and television actor and dancer.
Contents |
Johnson was born in Newport, Rhode Island to Swedish born Charles E. and Loretta Johnson of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.
His acting career began in earnest in 1936 in the Broadway revue New Faces of 1936. In 1939, he landed a part in Rodgers and Hart's Too Many Girls in the role of a college boy (after being Gene Kelly's understudy in Pal Joey). RKO then signed him to a short-term contract to star in the film adaptation of the play which became Johnson's film debut. MGM picked up his contract from RKO soon after and cast him in several bit parts.
In 1942, while en route to a preview screening for Keeper of the Flame, he was involved in a car crash that left him with a metal plate in his forehead. This left him exempt from service in World War II. After this incident, MGM built up his image as the "all-American boy" by co-starring him in films with June Allyson and Esther Williams, among others. He also had serious roles in films such as A Guy Named Joe, Week-End at the Waldorf, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and Battleground.
When the studio system declined in the mid-1950s, Johnson's popularity did also. He left MGM for Columbia Pictures to co-star in The Caine Mutiny (1954) to much acclaim (His scar from the car crash is very visible in this film). Since 1960, his film career has been inconsistent. Johnson guest-starred on television shows such as Batman, Here's Lucy, and The Love Boat and in the 1970s ground breaking mini-series, Rich Man, Poor Man, with stars Peter Strauss and Nick Nolte. In 1985, he enjoyed something of a comeback. He toured with the hit Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles and appeared in a supporting role in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Van Johnson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6600 Hollywood Blvd.
Johnson married Eve Lynn Abbott on January 25, 1947, the day her divorce from actor Keenan Wynn was finalized. In 1999, Eve told a reporter that their marriage had been arranged by MGM because the studio "needed their star to be married to quell rumors about his sexual preferences".[1] In his 2005 biography of Louis B. Mayer, Lion of Hollywood, Scott Eyman quotes her as saying, "In retrospect I can see he (Mayer) was arranging my marriage to Van just as Universal did for Rock Hudson. That was a farce. Ours was a real marriage. I was in love with Van, but I wouldn't have married him if I'd known he was a homosexual." According to stepson Ned Wynn, the Johnsons separated in 1961 over an alleged affair by Eve with a young man, and divorced in 1968. Eve Lynn Abbott Wynn Johnson died in 2004 at the age of 90.
He is estranged from their daughter, Schuyler, born in 1948. She stated to the The Globe that he was a cold and detached father for most of her life.
He underwent treatment for skin cancer in 1963. In his later years, Johnson leads a quiet life in retirement in New York.
- Davis, Ronald (2001). Van Johnson: MGM's Golden Boy. University Press of Mississippi.
- Eyman, Scott (2005). Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743204816.
- Van Johnson at the Internet Movie Database
- Van Johnson at the TCM Movie Database
- Van Johnson at the Internet Broadway Database