Van Heflin

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Van Heflin (born Emmett Evan Heflin Jr. , December 13, 1908 in Walters , Oklahoma , † July 23, 1971 in Hollywood , California ) was an American actor . For his appearance in The Dead Lives , he was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1943.

Life

Van Heflin was the son of a dentist and after graduating from high school he worked as a sailor on a tramp ship . He began acting while studying law in a theater company at the University of Oklahoma . This path finally led him to Broadway in the late 1920s , where he appeared regularly in the years that followed. In 1936 he received a studio contract with RKO Pictures in Hollywood , where he shot his first film, the literary adaptation A Defiant Girl with Katharine Hepburn . With Hepburn he played the role of reporter Mike Connor in the hit comedy The Philadelphia Story on Broadway in the late 1930s , which was portrayed in the film adaptation of the same name by James Stewart .

Heflin was not a classic hero actor and therefore never became a glamorous Hollywood movie star . Rather, he was convincing in angular, often energetic character roles and was seen both as the main actor and in supporting roles. At the Academy Awards in 1943 , he was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the gangster film The Dead Lives ( Johnny Eager ). Here he embodied the intellectual and Shakespeare -citing, but alcoholic friend of leading actor Robert Taylor . Heflin starred in numerous westerns , including George Stevens ' cult star My great friend Shane (1953). In 1948 he starred in The Three Musketeers alongside Gene Kelly . He had one of his last roles as a depressed suicide bomber threatening to blow up an airplane in the commercially successful disaster film Airport (1970).

Van Heflin was married twice and had three children. In 1971, the 62-year-old suffered a heart attack while swimming in his swimming pool . Heflin died after a seventeen day coma . His sister Frances Heflin (1920–1994) and his niece Marta Heflin (1945–2013) also worked as actresses.

Awards

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Derek Sculthorpe: Van Heflin: A Life in Film . McFarland 2016, ISBN 978-0-7864-9686-0 .
  • Gregor Hauser, Peter L. Stadlbaur: Prairie bandits: The gripping world of B-Westerns . Verlag Reinhard Marheinecke 2018, ISBN 978-3-932053-98-6 . Pp. 161-163.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Van Heflin | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved February 18, 2018 .
  2. ^ Van Heflin at the Internet Broadway Database
personal data
SURNAME Heflin, Van
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heflin Jr., Emmett Evan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Walters , Oklahoma
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1971
Place of death Hollywood , California