VAN JOHNSON
Information from IMDb
Date of Birth
25 August 1916,
Newport, Rhode Island, USA
Date of Death
12 December 2008,
Nyack, New York, USA (natural causes)
Birth Name
Charles Van Dell Johnson
Nickname
King of Dinner Theater
The Voiceless Sinatra
Height
6' 1" (1.85 m)
Spouse
Evie Wynn Johnson (25 January 1947 - 3 May 1968) (divorced) 1 child
Trade Mark
Always wears red socks
Trivia
He had skin cancer surgery in 1963.
He made his Broadway debut in 1936 in "New Faces of 1936," (an annual revue that had also introduced Imogene Coca and Henry Fonda in 1934). Van would appear in a total of 7 Broadway shows to date, including the original cast production of "Pal Joey" in 1940-1941 and last appearing in "La Cage aux Folles" in 1987.
He was Gene Kelly's understudy in the Broadway production of "Pal Joey".
He was driving to a special screening of Keeper of the Flame (1942) when he was involved in the road accident that left him with a metal plate in his forehead.
He first received top billing in 1944 with Two Girls and a Sailor (1944).
After Van Heflin turned down the role of Elliot Ness on "The Untouchables" (1959) it was offered to Johnson. He turned it down as well.
His wife, Eve, was first married to Keenan Wynn. She married Johnson on the very day of her divorce from Wynn, only four hours after that divorce was finalized. Johnson had spent more a month recuperating from his near-fatal car accident at the Wynn's home (Keenan was his best friend) during his recovery and word got back to Louis B. Mayer that sparks had flown. The film mogul saw this relationship as a way to dispel rumors circulating about Johnson's sexuality. Despite Mayer's earlier attempts at matchmaking (he'd arranged dates with Gloria DeHaven, June Allyson and even Sonja Henie without making a love connection) only Evie Wynn appealed to him. Although they were genuinely in love, Mayer cemented the deal by providing unusual career concessions for Keenan: a better contract, no standard 12-week layoffs, and better roles... all areas that would benefit her and her children. He later left her for her male tennis instructor according to her son, Ned Wynn.
The scars from the injury received in a car crash described in his biography are very evident in The Caine Mutiny (1954).
Daughter Schuyler V. Johnson born January 6, 1948.
His father's name was Charles Johnson, a realtor. His mother's first name was Loretta.
Stepfather of Ned Wynn and Tracy Keenan Wynn.
His mother, Loretta Neumann was an alcoholic who abandoned him as a child. In November 1954, she resurfaced and sued him for nine hundred dollars monthly support. He fought back, saying she did not help raise him so, although he was willing to give her money, she was not entitled to court-ordered support. It was eventually settled out of court and he agreed to pay her four hundred dollars a month.
His mother had been a dietitian at MGM.
His mother was born in 1893.
It was Rosalind Russell who helped him overcome his fear of live audiences after goading him into performing in nightclubs. He made his Las Vegas debut in the 1950s.
While on the nightclub act tour in 1963, he was forced to stop after having to undergo operations for skin cancer on his left thigh. A second operation to remove a lymph gland was successful in curbing the disease.
Was once considered for the lead role in the TV show "The Untouchables" (1959) but turned it down. Robert Stack became a TV star as a result.
Lucille Ball was a good friend to him for decades. Van guest-starred on her classic TV show on one of her "trip to Hollywood" episodes where they dueted on the song "How About You?" Ball later insisted he take a prime role in her film Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) with Henry Fonda.
Was stagestruck himself and was often found with an autograph book in his hand.
His bobbysoxer popularity was such that he was nicknamed "The Voicelss Sinatra.".
His mother, Loretta Neumann Johnson, was born February 5, 1893. She died January 1978 in Palo Alto, CA.
Van is referenced in the song "Prehistoric Man" from the musical On the Town (1949).
Referenced in the second episode of "American Horror Story" (2011). Jessica Lange's character says that her husband looked like Van Johnson.
Mini Biography
He was the well-mannered nice guy on screen you wanted your daughter to marry. This fair, freckled and invariably friendly-looking MGM song-and-dance star of the 40s emerged a box office favorite (1944-1946) and second only to heartthrob Frank Sinatra during what gossipmonger Hedda Hopper dubbed the "Bobby-Soxer Blitz" era. Van Johnson's musical timing proved just as adroit as his career timing for he was able to court WWII stardom as a regimented MGM symbol of the war effort with an impressive parade of earnest soldiers. He may have been a second tier musical star behind the likes of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, but his easy smile, wholesome, boy-next-door appeal and strawberry-blond good looks earned him a solid shot at box-office stardom while the big boys (i.e., MGM stars) were off to war. When they returned, Johnson amiably relinquished his "golden boy" pedestal, but his popularity did not wane. In retrospect, his dramatic talent seemed overly scrutinized...for he was very capable. Besides, he worked another three decades on stage, screen and TV...and always as a star.
Born Charles Van Johnson on August 25, 1916, in Newport, Rhode Island, he was of Swedish (not Irish, as most fans thought) stock. He endured a lonely and unhappy childhood as the sole offspring of an extremely aloof father (who was both a plumber and real estate agent by trade) and an absentee mother (she abandoned the family when he was three, the victim of alcoholism). A paternal grandmother helped in raising the young lad. Happier times were spent drifting into the fantasy world of movies, and he developed an ardent passion to entertain. Taking singing, dancing and violin lessons during his high school years, he disregarded his father's wish to become a lawyer and instead left home following graduation to try his luck in New York.
Early experiences included chorus lines in revues, at hotels and in various small shows around town. A couple of minor breaks occurred with his 40-week stint in the "New Faces of 1936" revue (making his Broadway debut) and in a vaudeville club act (based around star Mary Martin) called "Eight Young Men of Manhattan" that played the Rainbow Room. He served as understudy to the three male leads of Rodgers and Hart's popular musical "Too Many Girls" in October of 1939 and eventually replaced one of them (actor Richard Kollmar left the show to marry reporter Dorothy Kilgallen.) He also formed a lifelong and career-igniting friendship with one of the other leads, Desi Arnaz. Johnson made an inauspicious film debut with Arnaz in Too Many Girls (1940) when the musical was eventually lensed in Hollywood, but he was cast in a scant chorus boy part.
Following a stint on Broadway in "Pal Joey" in 1940, Warner Bros. signed Van to a six-month contract. He went on to co-star with Faye Emerson in Human Sabotage (1942), but they dropped him quickly feeling that his acting chops were lacking. It was Arnaz's wife Lucille Ball, who had recently signed with MGM, who introduced Van to Billy Grady, MGM's casting head, and instigated a successful screen test. With the studio's top male talent off to war, Van served as an earnest substitute donning fatigues in such stalwart movies as Somewhere I'll Find You (1942) The War Against Mrs. Hadley (1942) and The Human Comedy (1943). Van also replaced actor/war pacifist Lew Ayres in the "Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie" film series after Ayres was unceremoniously dumped by the studio for his unpopular beliefs.
Stardom came, and at quite a price, for Van when he was cast yet again as a wholesome serviceman in A Guy Named Joe (1943). During the early part of filming, he was severely injured in a near-fatal car crash (he had a metal plate inserted in his skull, which instantly gave him a 4-F disqualification status for war service). Endangered of being replaced on the film, the two stars of the picture, Spencer Tracy (who became another lifelong friend) and Irene Dunne, insisted that the studio work around his convalescence or they would quit the film. The unusually kind gesture made Van a star following the film's popular release and resulting publicity.
Van's career soared during the war years. His boyish charm and fair, attractive features made him the resident heartthrob and he rode on a crest of popularity not only in musicals (Two Girls and a Sailor (1944), Easy to Wed (1946)), but in airy comedies (Week-End at the Waldorf (1945)) and, of course, more war stories (Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)). When the big stars such as Clark Gable, James Stewart and Robert Taylor returned to reclaim post-war stardom, Van willingly resigned himself to second dramatic leads, but he remained a high profile musical star opposite the likes of June Allyson, Esther Williams and Judy Garland. He continued to demonstrate his dramatic skills in such well-regarded films as Command Decision (1948), The World and His Wife (1948), Battleground (1949), Brigadoon (1954) and The Caine Mutiny (1954).
MGM's "golden age" phased out by the mid-1950s and, with it, Van's strong film career took a sharp decline. The studio released him after he co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor in The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954). While he continued to freelance and show strength in other pictures such as the English-made The End of the Affair (1955) with Deborah Kerr; Miracle in the Rain (1956) opposite Jane Wyman, Beyond the River (1956) with Joseph Cotten, 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956) co-starring Vera Miles, Kelly and Me (1957) partnered with a dog, and Beyond This Place (1959), the bloom was falling off the rose.
In the late 50s and early 1960s Van again capitalized on his musical talents by reinventing himself as a nightclub performer and musical stage star. He made a wonderful Harold Hill in several productions of "The Music Man" and graced a number of musical and light comedy vehicles on the regional and dinner theater circuits, including "Damn Yankees," "Guys and Dolls," "Bells Are Ringing," "On a Clear Day...," "Forty Carats," "Bye Bye Birdie," "There's a Girl in My Soup" and "I Do! I Do!"
He never delved heavily into TV until the 1970s and then appeared on a number of shows, earning an Emmy nomination for his participation in the mini-series "Rich Man, Poor Man" (1976). In later years he grew larger in girth but still continued to work. He earned respectable reviews after replacing Gene Barry as Georges in the smash gay musical "La Cage Aux Folles" in 1985. His last musical role was as Cap' Andy in "Show Boat" in 1991, and his last several movies were primarily filmed overseas in Italy and Australia.
Van was married only once but it was constantly dissected under a microscope by the tabloids as well as the public. The marriage ended quite bitterly. Typically in the closet as a high-ranking actor of the 1940s, he was extremely close friends to MGM actor Keenan Wynn and his wife. However, Van wound up marrying Wynn's ex-wife, one-time stage actress Eve Abbott, right after the Wynns divorced (within four hours) in 1947. To an unsuspecting public, this seemed quite heartless of Van and Van's popularity suffered in its aftermath. In the meantime the tabloids continued to throw out innuendos that it was a studio-arranged "marriage". Whatever the intention, Van and Eve did have daughter Schuyler in 1948, and were a popular Hollywood couple before separating in 1962, after fifteen years of marriage. The marriage lingered on for another six acrimonious years before the final divorce decree.
Van never married again and in later years Eve "spilled the beans" in a very bitter account of their marriage, which she admitted she went along with but maintained that it was an MGM-staged sham set up by Louis B. Mayer. Sadly, Van was estranged from his daughter Schuyler at the time of his death at age 92 at a senior living facility in Nyack, New York. In declining health, the popular actor had been residing there for several years.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh
Personal Quotes
[on Audrey Hepburn] She's a lady. When she participates in the Academy Awards, she makes all those starlets look like tramps. Thank you for your class, Audrey, you're quite a lady. If anyone said anything derogatory about her, I'd push them in the river.
[MGM] was one big happy family and a little kingdom. Everything was provided for us, from singing lessons to barbells. All we had to do was inhale, exhale and be charming. I used to dread leaving the studio to go out into the real world, because to me the studio was the real world."
I am the luckiest guy in the world. All my dreams came true. I was in a wonderful business, and I met great people all over the world.
By war's end, I'd been in every branch of the service, all at MGM. -- VJ, commenting on the vast number of soldiers he played on film during WWII.
I never turned down anybody for an autograph. I think it's up to the fans; it's up to the public. No amount of photoplay magazines or layouts puts you over the public unless the public buys you.
[on Joan Crawford, and the book, 'Mommie Dearest']: Some people said that Joan was better off being dead when Mommie Dearest came out, because it would have broken her heart, and this way she was spared all that pain. I'm not one of those people. I totally disagree. They didn't know Joan. I wish the book had never happened. But if it had happened when Joan was still alive, and not too sick, I know her well enough to know she would have fought back, in her way. She had a quiet strength, but she was strong, and she was determined. Nothing wishy-washy about her. I think if she could have, Joan would have protected her life and her body of work against that viper she had taken to her bosom.
Filmography
1992 Three Days to a Kill...Comm. Howard
1992 Clowning Around...Mr. Ranthow
1990 Delta Force Commando II: Priority Red One...Gen. McCailland
1984-1990 Murder, She Wrote (TV series)
Daniel Hannigan / Daniel O'Brien / Elliot Robinson
– Hannigan's Wake (1990) … Daniel Hannigan
– Menace, Anyone? (1986) … Elliot Robinson
– Hit, Run and Homicide (1984) … Daniel O'Brien
1990 Escape from Paradise...Old Narrator
1989 Killer Crocodile...Judge
1988 Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV series)– Killer Takes All (1988) … Art Bellasco
1988 Taxi Killer...Capt.
1986 Laggiù nella giungla
1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo...Larry
1984 The President of Love (TV movie)...P. Lazlo Plum
1984 Glitter (TV series)– Pilot (1984) … Mark Hughes
1983 Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)– Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1983) … Gerry T. Armstrong
1983 Fantasy Island (TV series)– Revenge of the Forgotten/Charo (1983) … Charles Woodruff
1983 The Forgotten Story (TV series)...Perry
1982 Assassinio al cimitero etrusco...Mulligan - Joan's father
1978-1982 The Love Boat (TV series)
Victor Moncrief / Bert Wilder
– Musical, The/My Ex-Mom/The Show Must Go On/The Pest/My Aunt, the Worrier: Part 1 (1982) … Victor Moncrief
– Musical, The/My Ex-Mom/The Show Must Go On/The Pest/My Aunt, the Worrier: Part 2 (1982) … Victor Moncrief
– Man of the Cloth/Her Own Two Feet/Tony's Family (1978) … Bert Wilder
1982 One Day at a Time (TV series)– Grandma's Nest Egg (1982) … Gus Webster
1981 Aloha Paradise (TV series)– Alex and Annie/Blue Honeymoon/Another Thing (1981)
1980 The Kidnapping of the President...Vice President Ethan Richards
1979 Da Corleone a Brooklyn..Lieutenant Sturges
1979 Concorde Affaire '79...Captain Scott
1978 Getting Married (TV movie)...Phil Lawrence
1978 Black Beauty (TV mini-series)...Horace Tompkins
1978 Superdome (TV movie)...Chip Green
1977 Quincy M.E. (TV series)
– Snake Eyes: Part 1 (1977) … Al Ringerman
– Snake Eyes: Part 2 (1977) … Al Ringerman
1976 Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II (TV series)
– Chapter V (1976) … Marsh Goodwin
– Chapter I (1976) … Marsh Goodwin
1976 Rich Man, Poor Man (TV mini-series)
– Part VIII: Chapters 11 and 12 (1976) … Marsh Goodwin
– Part VII: Chapter 10 (1976) … Marsh Goodwin
– Part VII: Chapter 9 (1976) … Marsh Goodwin
1974 McMillan & Wife (TV series)– Downshift to Danger (1974) … Harry Jerome
1974 The Girl on the Late, Late Show (TV movie)...Johnny Leverett
1974 McCloud (TV series)– This Must Be the Alamo (1974) … Dan Kiley
1973 Wheeler and Murdoch (TV movie)...Buddy Shore
1972 Maude (TV series)– Flashback (1972) … Henry
1972 Man in the Middle (TV movie)
1972 Call Her Mom (TV movie)...President Hardgrove
1971 Love, American Style (TV series)
Don (segment 'Love and the House Bachelor')
– Love and the Particular Girl/Love and the Fountain of Youth/
Love and the House Bachelor/Love and the Waitress (1971) … Don (segment 'Love and the House Bachelor')
1971 L'occhio del ragno...Prof. Orson Krüger
1970-1971 The Doris Day Show (TV series)
– The Albatross (1971) … Charlie Webb
– Cousin Charlie (1970) … Charlie Webb
1971 Company of Killers (TV movie)...Sam Cahill
1971 The Virginian (TV series)– The Angus Killer (1971) … Alonzo
1971 Nanny and the Professor (TV series)– Separate Rooms (1971) … Uncle Bob Everett
1968-1970 The Red Skelton Show (TV series)
Harry Haynes / Movie Director
– Hiring the Secretary (1970) … Harry Haynes
– Guess Whose Dinner Is Coming to Freddie? (1968) … Movie Director
1970 San Francisco International Airport (TV series)– San Francisco International (1970) … Lester Scott
1968-1970 The Name of the Game (TV series)
Jack Newell / Sullivan
– The Brass Ring (1970) … Jack Newell
– High on a Rainbow (1968) … Sullivan
1969 Texas...President James Garfield
1969 La battaglia d'Inghilterra...Air Marshal George Taylor
1968 Yours, Mine and Ours...Warrant Officer Darrel Harrison
1968 Where Angels Go Trouble Follows!...Father Chase: The 'In' Group
1967 The Danny Thomas Hour (TV series)– Is Charlie Coming? (1967) … Charlie Snow
1967 Divorce American Style...Al Yearling
1966 The Doomsday Flight (TV movie)...Capt. Anderson
1966 Batman (TV series)
– Barbecued Batman? (1966) … The Minstrel
– The Minstrel's Shakedown (1966) … The Minstrel
1965 Ben Casey (TV series)– A Man, a Maid, and a Marionette (1965) … Frank Dawson
1964 American in Paris (TV movie)...James Devlin
1963 Wives and Lovers...Bill Austin
1960 The DuPont Show with June Allyson (TV series)– The Women Who (1960) … Joe Robertson
1960 The Ann Sothern Show (TV series)– Loving Arms (1960) … Terry Tyler
1960 The Enemy General...Allan Lemaire
1960 General Electric Theater (TV series)– At Your Service (1960) … Jimmy Devlin
1959 Subway in the Sky...Maj. Baxter Grant
1959 Beyond This Place...Paul Mathry
1959 Zane Grey Theater (TV series)– Deadfall (1959) … Frank Gilette
1959 The Last Blitzkrieg...Sgt. Hans Von Kroner/Sgt. Leonard Richardson
1957 The Pied Piper of Hamelin (TV movie)...Pied Piper / Truson
1957 Action of the Tiger...Carson
1957 Kelly and Me...Len Carmody
1957 Slander...Scott Ethan Martin
1956 23 Paces to Baker Street...Phillip Hannon
1956 Miracle in the Rain...Pvt. Arthur 'Art' Hugenon
1956 Beyond the River...Donald Martin/Eric Bell
1955 The End of the Affair...Maurice Bendrix
1954 The Last Time I Saw Paris...Charles Wills
1954 Brigadoon...Jeff Douglas
1954 The Caine Mutiny...Lt. Steve Maryk
1954 Men of the Fighting Lady...Lt. (jg) Howard Thayer
1954 Siege at Red River...Capt. James S. Simmons/Jim Farraday
1953 Easy to Love...Ray Lloyd
1953 Remains to Be Seen...Waldo Williams
1953 Confidentially Connie...Joe Bedloe
1952 Plymouth Adventure...John Alden
1952 Target for Scandal...Joseph T. Gresham
1952 When in Rome...Father John X. Halligan
1952 Invitation...Daniel I. 'Dan' Pierce
1952 The Greatest Show on Earth...Spectator (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
1951 Too Young to Kiss...Eric Wainwright
1951 It's a Big Country...Rev. Adam Burch
1951 Go for Broke!...Lt. Michael Grayson
1951 Three Guys Named Mike...Michael Lawrence
1951 Grounds for Marriage...Dr. Lincoln I. Bartlett
1950 Duchess of Idaho...Dick Layne
1950 The Big Hangover...David Muldon
1949 Battleground...Holley
1949 In the Good Old Summertime...Andrew Delby Larkin
1949 Scene of the Crime...Mike Conovan
1949 Mother Knows Best...Professor Richard Michaels
1948 Command Decision...Tech. Sgt. Immanuel T. Evans
1948 The World and His Wife...'Spike' McManus
1948 The Bride Goes Wild...Greg Rawlings
1947 The Romance of Rosy Ridge...Henry Carson
1947 High Barbaree...Alec Brooke
1946 Till the Clouds Roll By...Bandleader in Elite Club
1946 No Leave, No Love...Sgt. Michael Hanlon
1946 Easy to Wed...William Stevens 'Bill' Chandler
1945 Week-End at the Waldorf...Captain James Hollis
1945 Thrill of a Romance...Maj. Thomas Milvaine
1945 Between Two Women...Dr. Randall 'Red' Adams
1944 Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo...Ted Lawson
1944 3 Men in White..Dr. Randall 'Red' Ames
1944 The White Cliffs of Dover...Sam Bennett
1944 Two Girls and a Sailor...John Dyckman Brown III
1943 A Guy Named Joe...Ted Randall
1943 Madame Curie...Reporter
1943 Pilot #5...Everett Arnold
1943 Crazy to Kill...Dr. Randall 'Red' Adams
1943 The Human Comedy...Marcus Macauley
1942 Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant...Dr. Randall 'Red' Adams
1942 Somewhere I'll Find You...Lieutenant Wade Hall (uncredited)
1942 The War Against Mrs. Hadley...Michael Fitzpatrick
1942 For the Common Defense! (short)...Agent Pritchard
1942 Human Sabotage...Bert Bell
1942 Personalities (short) (uncredited)
1940 Too Many Girls...Chorus Boy (uncredited)