Van Johnson

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Van Johnson (born Charles Van Dell Johnson on August 25, 1916 in Newport , Rhode Island , † December 12, 2008 in Nyack , New York ) was an American actor .

Life

Van Johnson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Johnson grew up with his father, a plumber, and appeared in musicals while still in school. After some success on Broadway , he went to Hollywood with a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . The tall, red-haired actor benefited from the fact that by that time almost all established stars were already serving in the army. Johnson was unfit for duty after an accident in which his close friend Keenan Wynn was also involved and which resulted in a metal plate in his head. He had one of his first roles as a replacement for Lew Ayres in the hospital film series Dr. Kildare alongside Lionel Barrymore .

Johnson's breakthrough came in 1943 with the war film Battle in the Clouds alongside Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne . Within two years he rose from small supporting roles, in which he often played the “nice young man next door”, to one of the ten biggest box office stars in the film industry. The studio often used him alongside June Allyson and Esther Williams in lavishly produced musicals and romances. In 1949 he was seen as a partner of Judy Garland in That Summer .

When the war ended, Johnson was able to maintain his popularity for a few years. When it waned noticeably in the early 1950s, Johnson also turned to the dramatic subject. In 1954, he played one of his best roles alongside Humphrey Bogart in the war drama The Caine Was Fate and was also starred in the musical adaptation of Brigadoon alongside Gene Kelly . After the end of his contract with MGM Johnson could only be seen in the cinema in supporting roles or mediocre films, but instead he turned more and more for television and was successful in the theater with the musical The Music Man, among others .

In 1976 Johnson was nominated for an Emmy for his participation in the television series Rich and Poor , which remained the only consideration for a major film award in his career. Afterwards he was on television in three episodes of the crime series Murder is her Hobby alongside Angela Lansbury . In 1992 he played his last movie role alongside Fred Williamson in the thriller Three Days to a Kill .

Johnson married Eve Lynn Abbott (1914-2004) in 1947 shortly after she divorced Johnson's close friend Keenan Wynn. This marriage lasted until 1961 and produced a daughter. According to Eve in 1999, the marriage of MGM boss Louis B. Mayer had been arranged in order to conceal Johnson's homosexuality from the public. The actor died as one of the last male movie stars of his time in 2008 at the age of 92. On the Hollywood Walk of Fame Johnson received a star, height 6600 Hollywood Boulevard .

Filmography

cinemamovies

watch TV

  • 1957: The Pied Piper of Hamelin
  • 1959: Adventures in the Wild West (Zane Gray Theater) series
  • 1966: The flight of Secrets ( The Doomsday Flight )
  • 1976: rich and poor (Rich Man, Poor Man)
  • 1984–1990: Murder is her hobby ( Murder, She Wrote ; TV series, 3 episodes)

literature

Web links

Commons : Van Johnson  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Van Johnson | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved June 28, 2018 .
  2. ^ Van Johnson | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved June 28, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Evie Wynn Johnson . In: The Independent . ( independent.co.uk [accessed June 28, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Johnson, Van
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johnson, Charles Van Dell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Newport (Rhode Island) , Rhode Island
DATE OF DEATH December 12, 2008
Place of death Nyack , New York (State)