Robert Jack Stein, known by his legalized stage name Bobby Van, was a musical actor and dancer, best known for his career on Broadway, in films and television from the 1950s through the 1970s.
21 Facts About Bobby Van
2.
Originally, Bobby Van took King as his stage name.
3.
Bobby Van finally opted for Van, after seeing a Van Johnson poster hanging in his sister's bedroom.
4.
When his band played a venue in the Catskills, Bobby Van was asked to fill in as a song and dance man for another act.
5.
Bobby Van's act drew rave reviews and gave Van a thrill performing live as a solo act.
6.
Bobby Van went on to appear in several Broadway musicals.
7.
Bobby Van appeared in three episodes of Rooney's Mickey sitcom on ABC in the role of a freeloading brother-in-law.
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Van Johnson 8.
Bobby Van did some choreography, as had his father years earlier.
9.
Bobby Van frequently appeared with his second wife, Elaine Joyce, on 1970s game shows such as Tattletales and Match Game.
10.
Bobby Van hosted the game shows Showoffs, The Fun Factory, and Make Me Laugh.
11.
Bobby Van starred in the 1971 Broadway revival of No, No, Nanette, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.
12.
In June 1977, Bobby Van appeared in the musical Anything Goes as Billy Crocker at the Kenley Players in Dayton, Ohio.
13.
Bobby Van married starlet Diane Garrett in September 1952, though the marriage was kept secret until January 1953.
14.
Garrett said she was unable to move for three weeks after the accident; both she and Bobby Van claimed back injury.
15.
Bobby Van had returned to town as his son was undergoing emergency hip surgery, not to reconcile.
16.
In November, a blurb in a Hollywood column said that Bobby Van said he and Joyce planned to marry on December 2,1967, but her brother, Frank Pinchot, had chosen that date to get married, so they would choose another date.
17.
One week later, Bobby Van filed for an annulment citing "fraud" and non-consummation, and that the actress "told him she wanted to have children but this was only to induce him into marriage".
18.
In February 1980, as recalled by his wife in December 1981, Bobby Van began having headaches that continued for two weeks.
19.
Bobby Van chose to hide his illness and continued to work as long as possible, including as host of that year's Mrs America Pageant.
20.
Bobby Van later lost control of his left side and was in a wheelchair.
21.
Bobby Van is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Los Angeles.