Van Johnson

American actor Van Johnson (1916-2008) was a red-haired, freckle-faced and invariably friendly-looking song-and-dance star in MGM films. In the mid-1940s he emerged as a box office favourite and was second only to heartthrob Frank Sinatra during the 'Bobby-soxer' era. Playing earnest soldiers and boy-next-doors made him a solid box-office attraction while MGM's major stars were off to war.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 220.


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2007. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Van Johnson and Phyllis Thaxter in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (Mervyn LeRoy, 1944).


Dutch postcard. Photo: M.G.M. Sent by mail in 1953.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 460. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Hume Cronyn, June Allyson and Van Johnson in The Bride Goes Wild (Norman Taurog, 1948).


Spanish postcard by Soberanas (Sobe), no. 12012. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Van Johnson in The Bottom of the Bottle (Henry Hathaway, 1956).

The Voiceless Sinatra

Van Johnson was born Charles Van Dell Johnson in Newport, Rhode Island in 1916. His father, Charles E. Johnson was a plumber from Sweden and later a real estate salesman. His mother, Loretta Neumann (or Snyder), was a homemaker and had been a dietitian at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She was an alcoholic who abandoned him when he was three.

Johnson endured a lonely and unhappy childhood. Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "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."

Van made his Broadway debut in 1936 in 'New Faces of 1936', an annual revue that had also introduced Henry Fonda in 1934. Van would appear in a total of seven Broadway shows, including the original cast production of 'Pal Joey' in 1940-1941 In 1942, Van Johnson got a contract with MGM and went to Hollywood. The tall, red-haired actor took advantage of the fact that all established stars were in military service. Johnson was exempt from army service after being injured in a car accident driving with his close friend Keenan Wynn to a screening of Keeper of the Flame (George Cukor, 1942). He had a metal plate placed in his forehead.

One of his first roles was as a replacement for Lew Ayres in the hospital film series Dr Kildare alongside Lionel Barrymore. Johnson's breakthrough came with the war film A Guy Named Joe (Victor Fleming, 1943) 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 highest-grossing stars in the film industry.

Van Johnson was known for his red socks and his bobbysoxer popularity was such that he was nicknamed "The Voiceless Sinatra". The studio often placed him alongside June Allyson or Esther Williams in big-screen musicals and romantic films. He first received top billing with the musical Two Girls and a Sailor (Richard Thorpe, 1944) opposite June Allyson and Gloria DeHaven.


Belgian collector card by Kwatta, no. C. 163 (Series C. 99 - 196). Photo: M.G.M. June Allyson and Van Johnson in The Bride Goes Wild (Norman Taurog, 1948).


Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois-d'Haine, no. C. 222 (Serie C. 197 - C. 228). Photo: M.G.M.


Belgian postcard, no. 61. Photo: M.G.M. Van Johnson and Janet Leigh on the set of The Romance of Rosy Ridge (Roy Rowland, 1947).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 462. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Van Johnson, June Allyson (left), and Arlene Dahl in The Bride Goes Wild (Norman Taurog, 1948).


Big Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Duchess of Idaho (Robert Z. Leonard, 1950).

Arranged marriage

After the end of World War II, the big stars such as Clark Gable, James Stewart and Robert Taylor returned to reclaim their post-war stardom. Van Johnson willingly relinquished his 'golden boy' pedestal, but he remained a high-profile musical star. He was the partner of Judy Garland in the musical In the Good Old Summertime (Robert Z. Leonard, Buster Keaton, 1949) and was also seen in the musical Brigadoon (Vincente Minnelli, 1954) alongside Gene Kelly.

He also turned to dramatic films and played such well-known roles as Holley in Battleground (William A. Wellman, 1949), Charles Wills in The Last Time I Saw Paris (Richard Brooks, 1954) starring Elizabeth Taylor, and Lieutenant Steve Maryk in The Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk, 1954) with Humphrey Bogart and José Ferrer.

In November 1954, his mother suddenly resurfaced and sued him for nine hundred dollars in 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. Johnson played his last leading roles in Hollywood in the 1960s and appeared in several Italian films from the end of the decade.

Johnson made guest appearances in TV series such as Batman (as the minstrel in 2 episodes in 1966), Here's Lucy and The Love Boat and the Miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976), for which he was nominated for an Emmy. He had success in the theatre with the musical 'The Music Man'. In 1985, he made a minor comeback. He starred in the Broadway musical 'La Cage Aux Folles' and had a supporting role in Woody Allen's comedy The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). His last musical role was as Cap' Andy in 'Show Boat' in 1991. A year later, he played his last cinema role alongside Fred Williamson in the thriller Three Days to a Kill (Fred Williamson, 1992).

Johnson was married to Eve Lynn Abbott in 1947, on the day of her divorce from actor Keenan Wynn. The couple produced one daughter, Schuyler V. Johnson (1948) and divorced in 1961. According to Eve in 1999, MGM boss Louis B. Mayer had arranged the marriage to conceal Johnson's homosexuality from the public. He later left her for her male tennis instructor according to her son, Ned Wynn. Van Johnson underwent skin cancer treatment in 1963. He died in 2008 at a senior living facility in Nyack, New York, at 92. He had been one of the last surviving matinee idols of Hollywood's 'golden age'.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Esther Williams and Van Johnson in Thrill of a Romance (Richard Thorpe, 1945).


Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 2315. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Publicity still for The Bride Goes Wild (Norman Taurog, 1948).


Vintage postcard, no. 457. Van Johnson and Denise Darcel in Battleground (William A. Wellman, 1949).


British postcard in the Star Souvenir Series, edited by Peter Noble, no. 15, published by Jarrold & Sons LTD. Norwich, England. Photo: M.G.M. (M.G.M. 25th anniversary souvenir). Caption: The Idol of the bobby-soxers, red-haired, freckle-faced Van has starred for M.G.M. in a score of films, including High Barbaree, The World and his Wife, Command Decision, The Good Ols Summer Time and Scene of the Crime.


French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès "Carboplane", no. 318. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer, 1954.


Dutch postcard, no. 11. Photo: M.G.M. Van Johnson in Action of the Tiger (Terence Young, 1957).

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.