Van Johnson

'Van Johnson' (qv) was the fresh-faced, well-mannered nice guy on screen you always 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' (qv) during what gossip monger 'Hedda Hopper' (qv) dubbed the "Bobby-soxer Blitz" era. Johnson's musical timing proved just as adroit as his legit 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' (qv) and 'Gene Kelly' (qv), but his easy smile, wholesome, boy-next-door appeal and strawberry-blond good looks made him a solid box-office attraction while MGM's "big boys" were off to war.Born Charles Van Dell Johnson in Newport, Rhode Island, on August 25, 1916, Van was the only child of Loretta (Snyder) and Charles E. Johnson. His paternal grandparents were Swedish, and his mother was of German, and a small amount of Irish, ancestry. Johnson 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' (qv)) 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' (qv) left the show to marry reporter 'Dorothy Kilgallen' (qv).) He also formed a lifelong and career-igniting friendship with one of the other leads, 'Desi Arnaz' (qv).Johnson made an inauspicious film debut with Arnaz in _Too Many Girls (1940)_ (qv) 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' (qv) in _Murder in the Big House (1942)_ (qv), but they dropped him quickly feeling that his acting chops were lacking. It was Arnaz's wife 'Lucille Ball' (qv), 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 (along with 'Peter Lawford' (qv)) served as an earnest substitute donning fatigues in such stalwart movies as _Somewhere I'll Find You (1942)_ (qv) _The War Against Mrs. Hadley (1942)_ (qv) and _The Human Comedy (1943)_ (qv). In addition, he replaced actor/war pacifist 'Lew Ayres' (qv) 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)_ (qv). 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' (qv) (who became another lifelong friend) and 'Irene Dunne' (qv), 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, making him and Lawford the resident heartthrobs not only in musicals (_Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)_ (qv), _Easy to Wed (1946)_ (qv)), but in airy comedies (_Week-End at the Waldorf (1945)_ (qv)) and, of course, more war stories (_Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)_ (qv)).When the big stars such as 'Clark Gable' (qv), 'James Stewart' (qv) and 'Robert Taylor' (qv) returned to reclaim post-war stardom, Van willingly relinquished his "golden boy" pedestal, but he remained a high profile musical star opposite the likes of 'June Allyson' (qv), 'Esther Williams' (qv) and 'Judy Garland' (qv). He continued to demonstrate his dramatic mettle in such well-regarded films as _Command Decision (1948)_ (qv), _State of the Union (1948)_ (qv), _Battleground (1949)_ (qv), _Brigadoon (1954)_ (qv) and _The Caine Mutiny (1954)_ (qv) and remained a popular star for three more decades. When MGM's "golden age" phased out by the mid-1950s, Van's movie career took a sharp decline and the studio released him after he co-starred with 'Elizabeth Taylor' (qv) in _The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)_ (qv).While Van continued working as a freelancer in such as the English-made _The End of the Affair (1955)_ (qv) with 'Deborah Kerr' (qv); _Miracle in the Rain (1956)_ (qv) opposite 'Jane Wyman' (qv), _The Bottom of the Bottle (1956)_ (qv) with 'Joseph Cotten' (qv), _23 Paces to Baker Street (1956)_ (qv) co-starring 'Vera Miles' (qv), _Kelly and Me (1956)_ (qv) partnered with a dog, and _Web of Evidence (1959)_ (qv), he again capitalized on his musical talents by reinventing himself as a nightclub performer and musical stage star on the regional and dinner theater circuits, including "The Music Man," "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!"Van delved heavily into TV from the late 1960's on and served as a guest on such shows as "Laugh-In," "The Name of the Game," "The Red Skelton Show," "Nanny and the Professor," "The Virginian," "The Doris Day Show," "Love, American Style," "Maude," "Quincy," "McMillan & Wife," "The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island" and "Murder, She Wrote." He earned an Emmy nomination for his participation in the mini-series _Rich Man, Poor Man (1976)_ (qv), and co-starred or was featured in such TV movies as _Call Her Mom (1972)_ (qv), _Superdome (1978)_ (qv), _Black Beauty (1978)_ (qv), _Getting Married (1978)_ (qv) and _Three Days to a Kill (1992)_ (qv).In later years, he grew larger in girth but still continued to work. He earned respectable reviews after replacing 'Gene Barry' (qv) 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. Occasional featured roles on film in later years included _Das Concorde Inferno (1979)_ (qv), _Die Entführung des Präsidenten (1980)_ (qv), _The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)_ (qv), _Killer Crocodile (1989)_ (qv), _Delta Force Commando 2 (1990)_ (qv) and _Clowning Around (1992)_ (qv).Van was married only once but it was the constant source of tabloid news. Typically in the closet as a high-ranking actor of the 1940s, he was extremely close friends with fellow MGM actor 'Keenan Wynn' (qv) and his wife. Shockingly, Van wound up marrying Wynn's ex-wife, one-time stage actress 'Evie Wynn Johnson' (qv), immediately after the Wynn's divorced in 1947. Van and Eve went on to have one child, daughter Schuyler, in 1948, and were a popular Hollywood couple before separating after fifteen years of marriage. The marriage ended acrimoniously in 1968 and decades later Eve published a statement (after her death in 2004) confirming suspicions that MGM had engineered their marriage to cover up Johnson's homosexuality. In declining health, Van, who was estranged from his only child, died at age 92 on December 12, 2008, at a senior living facility in Nyack, New York.::Gary Brumburgh / [email protected]