55 Facts About Van Johnson

Charles Van Dell Johnson was an American actor and dancer.

Van Johnson had a prolific career in film, television, theatre and radio, which spanned over 50 years, from 1940 to 1992.

Originally a Broadway dancer, Johnson achieved his breakthrough playing a rookie bomber pilot in A Guy Named Joe.

Van Johnson continued to maintain a regular presence in musical theatre, most notably as Professor Harold Hill in the West End productions of The Music Man and Georges in La Cage aux Folles, before retiring from acting in the early 1990s.

Van Johnson's father was born in Sweden and came to the United States as a child, and his mother had Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.

Van Johnson's mother was allegedly an alcoholic who left the family when he was a child, and he was not close to his father.

Van Johnson performed at social clubs in Newport while in high school.

Van Johnson moved to New York City after graduation in 1935 and joined the off-Broadway revue Entre Nous.

Van Johnson toured New England in a theater troupe as a substitute dancer, but his acting career began in earnest in the Broadway revue New Faces of 1936.

Van Johnson returned to the chorus after that and worked in summer resorts near New York City.

Van Johnson had an uncredited role in the film adaptation of Too Many Girls, which costarred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, then Abbott hired him as a chorus boy and Gene Kelly's understudy in Pal Joey.

Van Johnson was about to move back to New York when Lucille Ball took him to Chasen's Restaurant, where she introduced him to MGM casting director Billy Grady who was sitting at the next table.

Van Johnson was cast as a cub reporter opposite Faye Emerson in the 1942 film Murder in the Big House.

Van Johnson then had an uncredited part as a soldier in Somewhere I'll Find You.

Van Johnson attracted attention in a small part in The War Against Mrs Hadley, and this encouraged MGM to cast him in their long-running series Dr Kildare.

Van Johnson played Dr Randall Adams in Dr Gillespie's New Assistant.

Van Johnson returned as Randall Adams in Dr Gillespie's Criminal Case and was in uniform again for Pilot No 5.

Van Johnson had a small role as a reporter in Madame Curie.

Van Johnson recovered at the home of Keenan Wynn before returning to acting.

Van Johnson wore heavy makeup to hide the scars for the rest of his career.

Van Johnson had a smaller part in The White Cliffs of Dover, then reprised his role as Dr Adams in 3 Men in White.

Van Johnson played Ted Lawson in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo which told the story of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942.

Van Johnson played Dr Adams one last time in Between Two Women.

Van Johnson starred in Thrill of a Romance, a musical with Esther Williams, and Week-End at the Waldorf, a musical remake of Grand Hotel with Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, and Ginger Rogers.

Van Johnson was reunited with Williams in Easy to Wed, a musical remake of Libeled Lady.

Van Johnson supported Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in State of the Union, and he supported Clark Gable and Pidgeon in the war drama Command Decision.

Van Johnson next worked in Battleground, a movie about the Battle of the Bulge produced by MGM's new studio head Dore Schary.

Van Johnson made the comedy The Big Hangover, then was reunited with Williams in Duchess of Idaho.

Van Johnson appeared in the romantic comedy Three Guys Named Mike.

Van Johnson had a small part in It's a Big Country and was reunited with Allyson for Too Young to Kiss.

Van Johnson refused to allow concealment of his facial scars when being made up as Maryk, believing that they enhanced the character's authenticity.

Van Johnson next teamed with Gene Kelly as the sardonic second lead of Brigadoon.

Van Johnson had the lead in The Last Time I Saw Paris, his last film for MGM.

Van Johnson had a five-year contract with Columbia to make one film a year.

Unlike some other stars of that era, Van Johnson did not resent the restrictions of the studio system.

Van Johnson then appeared again on the May 22,1955, airing and was guessed by Fred Allen.

Van Johnson was in The End of the Affair at Columbia then made The Bottom of the Bottle at Fox.

Van Johnson received favorable critical notices for the 1956 dramatic film Miracle in the Rain, co-starring Jane Wyman, in which he played a good-hearted young soldier preparing to go to war, and in the mystery 23 Paces to Baker Street, in which he played a blind playwright residing in London.

Van Johnson returned to MGM for Slander and Action of the Tiger.

Van Johnson appeared as the title character of the highly rated "spectacular," The Pied Piper of Hamelin, a musical version of Robert Browning's poem, set to the music of Edvard Grieg.

Van Johnson is framed by Hugh Perry, a corrupt prosecutor played by Harry Townes, and Deputy Stover, portrayed by Bing Russell.

In 1959, Van Johnson turned down an opportunity to star as Eliot Ness in The Untouchables, which went on to become a successful television series with Robert Stack as Ness.

Van Johnson guest-starred as Joe Robertson, with June Allyson and Don Rickles, in the 1960 episode "The Women Who" of the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson.

In 1961 Van Johnson traveled to England to star in Harold Fielding's production of The Music Man at the Adelphi Theatre in London.

Van Johnson guest-starred on Batman as "The Minstrel" in two episodes in 1966.

Van Johnson played a lead character in the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, and was nominated for a prime time Emmy Award for that role.

Van Johnson appeared in a special two-part episode of The Love Boat, "The Musical: My Ex-Mom; The Show Must Go On; The Pest, Parts 1 and 2" which aired on February 27,1982, and co-starred Ann Miller, Ethel Merman, Della Reese, Carol Channing, and Cab Calloway.

Van Johnson married former stage actress Eve Abbott on January 25,1947, the day after her divorce was finalized from actor Keenan Wynn.

Johnson's biographer Ronald L Davis writes that it "seems to have been well known in the film capital" that Johnson had homosexual tendencies, but this was never reported or hinted at by newspaper columnists or movie magazine writers during the era when Johnson made movies.

Van Johnson reported that he had little tolerance for unpleasantness and would stride into his bedroom and seclude himself at the slightest hint of trouble.

Van Johnson had a difficult relationship with his father growing up, and he was estranged from his daughter at the time of his death.

Van Johnson retired from acting in the early 1990s and lived in a penthouse at 405 East 54th Street on Manhattan's East Side.

Van Johnson moved to Tappan Zee Manor, an assisted living facility in Nyack, New York.

Van Johnson died there on December 12,2008, at age 92.

Van Johnson was never nominated for an Academy Award and, during the height of his career, was noted mainly for his cheerful screen presence.