29 Facts About John Vivyan

John Vivyan was an American stage and television actor, who was best known for portraying the title character in the television series Mr Lucky.

John Vivyan's family moved to Chicago when he was an infant.

John Vivyan attended the Serbian Orthodox Church on Schiller Street as a boy, where he sang in the choir.

John Vivyan was employed by the Continental Can Company in Chicago during October 1940, when he registered for the draft as John Vukayan.

John Vivyan's enlistment papers carried the name "John R Vukayan", and noted he was a citizen, single, had completed one year of high school, and was semi-skilled in metal working.

John Vivyan was assigned to the 132nd Infantry Regiment, which deployed overseas to Australia in January 1942.

John Vivyan's regiment was sent to take part in the Battle of Guadalcanal on December 8,1942, and within a week was engaged in fighting off Japanese infiltrators.

The battalion suffered heavy casualties during the fighting, one of whom was John Vivyan, his left leg hit by gunfire.

John Vivyan later recounted that the Army doctors had several times considered amputating the leg.

John Vivyan was eventually moved stateside to a hospital in Michigan, where he recalled meeting actress Loretta Young when she visited wounded soldiers.

The Barter Theatre performers entertained at local social clubs; John Vivyan sang Serbian folk songs at one such event.

John Vivyan later told an interviewer that this was a grim period in his life.

John Vivyan found work in the new television industry, doing a couple of minor roles each year from 1949 thru 1954.

John Vivyan followed this success with a late summer engagement in a Noel Coward play, On Approval, with the popular Arthur Treacher casting reflected glory on his younger co-star.

Joan Blondell was the star of a multi-city tour for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, with John Vivyan playing her romantic interest.

John Vivyan had only a few weeks acting during August 1953 with the musical Lady in the Dark, performed al fresco at Pitt Stadium, which starred Billie Worth and included Lee Bergere and a young Shirley Jones among the cast.

John Vivyan had an uncredited role in his first film, a Hitchcock docudrama called The Wrong Man.

John Vivyan still traveled between the coasts for stage work, but that ceased with 1957, when he did episodes of eight television shows in Hollywood, followed by eight more in 1958.

John Vivyan did a second film, Imitation of Life, before being cast as the star in a new Blake Edwards series.

John Vivyan thrived on the fast pace and handling different characters, but faced a physical challenge with the many Western shows he was doing.

John Vivyan had no prior experience at riding a horse, and the necessity for a rider's left leg being the focal point for mounting and dismounting limited his ability to do so.

John Vivyan played a dealer on the Fortuna II then its maitre d' after the casino yacht was converted to a restaurant.

John Vivyan once complained to a columnist that being on CBS limited the guest spots he could accept for that network's own shows.

John Vivyan did another film, Rider on a Dead Horse, and voice-over work for an animated short in 1963.

John Vivyan had a brief recurring role as the gangster Lepke Buchalter on The Lawless Years, but most of his other television work was for single appearances.

John Vivyan did no performing work for seven years after open heart surgery, at age sixty, in 1975.

John Vivyan told a newspaper columnist that he had tried marriage once, but it did not work out.

John Vivyan lived in a modest apartment on Sweetzer Avenue in West Hollywood during most of his peak popularity.

John Vivyan told an interviewer that he had not gambled since his Army days as "I get no kicks out of it".