Van Johnson

A red-haired, freckled-faced, boy-next-door actor, Van Johnson became a big star at MGM in the 1940s and 50s when he came to Hollywood from the Broadway chorus. A star-struck only child, Johnson was performing at local social clubs while in high school and got a job in an off-Broadway revue, "Entre Nous" (1935) while still a teenager. He appeared in several other shows ("Eight Men of Manhattan", "New Faces of 1936") before he was hired by legendary director-playwright George Abbott as a chorus member and understudy to the three male leads in Rodgers and Hart's "Too Many Girls" (1939). The following year Abbott cast him as a chorus boy and Gene Kelly's understudy in Rodgers and Hart's groundbreaking musical "Pal Joey".

Johnson made his film debut in the chorus of the screen adaptation of "Too Many Girls" (1940) and, after a pit stop at Warners, was signed by MGM. En route to a screening of "Keeper of the Flame" (1942), Johnson was injured in a car accident and needed a metal plate inserted in his forehead. Being unable to serve in WWII turned out to be a big career break for the boyish young actor. Filling the gap left by more established stars who were in the military, Johnson became an idol of bobbysoxers. He replaced Lew Ayres in the continuation of the popular Dr. Kildare series as "Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant" (1942), and played amiably idealized, small-town guys who fight in the war in the warm "A Guy Named Joe" (1943) and the gripping "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944). One film, "Weekend at the Waldorf" (1945), even indirectly dramatized his injury, with Johnson moving as a soldier endangered by shrapnel near his heart.

With his earnest manner and youthful good looks, Johnson became a major teen rave of his day. Because of such fans, Johnson, despite his very pleasant singing voice, acquired the nickname, 'the voiceless Sinatra'. He made the annual exhibitors' poll of top ten box-office stars in both 1945 and 1946, and over the next decade made five films each with two of MGM's most typically escapist stars, June Allyson and Esther Williams. His best films with Allyson included their first together, the peppy musical "Two Girls and a Sailor" (1944), and their last, the amusing mystery farce, "Remains to Be Seen" (1953). With Williams he teamed for the decent comedy remake "Easy to Wed" (1946) and got big laughs when he campily imitated her ultra-femme swimming backstroke in "Easy to Love" (1953). Johnson also partnered Judy Garland for the fair but disappointing "In the Good Old Summertime" (1949) and stole the show as the sardonic second lead of the poor musical adaptation, "Brigadoon" (1954).

Johnson also played in war films and other dramas; one of his best performances came in one of the finest of all war films, "Battleground" (1949), and he firmly partnered a sterling Dorothy McGuire in the soap opera, "Invitation" (1952). Sometimes, though, Johnson's attempts at more serious acting were hampered by his lightweight image. "State of the Union" (1948) emphasized Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and "The Caine Mutiny" (1954) gave all the acting meat to Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferrer and Fred MacMurray and left Johnson with routine heroics. As middle age dawned, Johnson's features became heavier and acquired a slightly worried look, but he did well in offbeat entries while free-lancing. "The Bottom of the Bottle" (1956) was unabashed melodrama but gave Johnson a complex role as an alcoholic. He also did very well as a blind detective in the fondly remembered "23 Paces to Baker Street" (1956); and he reteamed with Vera Miles from the latter for the British-made "Beyond This Place" (1959).

Films like "Kelly and Me" (1957), which teamed Johnson with a performing dog, didn't really help his film career, and feature film work since the 60s has been irregular. He played leads and supporting roles in family comedies ("Yours, Mine and Ours" 1968), sex farces ("Wives and Lovers" 1963), several thrillers ("Company of Killers" 1970, "Three Days to a Kill" 1992) and was very amusing as one of the actors within the film in Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985). Stage work filled in the gaps: a robustly hammy, tongue-in-cheek Johnson was ideal for "The Music Man" (1961) in London, he returned to Broadway in "Come on Strong" (1962) and through the 80s he was busy in dinner theater and the straw-hat circuit. In 1985, he received critical and box-office acclaim when he returned to Broadway as one of original star Gene Barry's replacements in the flashy but warm gay-themed musical, "La Cage aux Folles".

Johnson's air of sympathetic concern, still boyish energy and sometimes larger-than-life acting style marked him as a welcome reminder of old Hollywood on TV, too, from his guest villain spot as the Minstrel on the campy 60s "Batman" to his Emmy-nominated supporting role on "Rich Man, Poor Man" (1976). Other TV work included "Superdome" (1978), "Glitter" (1984) and "Clowning Around" (1992), and he also made regular appearances as a most genial interview subject on his lengthy showbiz career and the Hollywood of yore.