Van Johnson was a baby-faced, redheaded, rather hammy film actor of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. He is perhaps best remembered as the executive officer who seized command from Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) in The Caine Mutiny. He also starred in Battleground with Ricardo Montalban, and Frank Capra's State of the Union.
His parents divorced when Johnson was a toddler, and his father was given custody due to the mother's alcoholism. Young Johnson was dancing in theatrical musicals while still attending high school, and made his Broadway debut as a chorus boy in 1936. He was still in the chorus for the 1939 Broadway production of Richard Rodgers' Too Many Girls, and he made his film debut dancing the same role when the play was filmed with Lucille Ball.
The accident may have been a lucky break for Johnson, as it left him unsuitable for military duty during World War II. While many of his contemporaries were at war, Johnson rose to prominence playing military men in features like A Guy Named Joe with Spencer Tracy, Two Girls and a Sailor with June Allyson and Gloria DeHaven, and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo with Robert Walker.
In 1947, the Wynns were divorced, and Johnson married the former Eve Wynn on the same day her divorce was finalized. They were separated in 1961 when, according to Johnson's stepson Ned Wynn, Johnson had an affair with a chorus boy during a stage production of The Music Man. In 1999, just a few years before her death, Eve Wynn Johnson told a reporter that her marriage to Johnson had been arranged at MGM's request, as the studio "needed their 'big star' to be married to quell rumors about his sexual preferences," and she was the only woman he would agree to marry.
[1] Tappan Zee Manor, Nyack, NY.
Father: Charles E Johnson (plumbing contractor)
Mother: Loretta Johnson (housewife)
Wife: Eve Lynn Abbott (b. 1914, m. 25-Jan-1947, sep. 1961, div. 1968, d. 19-Jul-2004, one daughter)
Daughter: Schuyler Johnson (proofreader, b. 1948)
Son: Ned Wynn (actor, stepson, b. 27-Apr-1941 to Abbott and Keenan Wynn)
Son: Tracy Keenan Wynn (screenwriter, stepson. b. 28-Feb-1945 to Abbott and Wynn)
High School: Rogers High School, Newport, RI
Draft Deferment: World War II
Risk Factors: Skin Cancer
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Clowning Around (1992)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1-Mar-1985)
The Kidnapping of the President (15-Aug-1980)
The Concorde Affair (23-Mar-1979)
Getting Married (17-May-1978)
Superdome (9-Jan-1978)
Rich Man, Poor Man (1-Feb-1976)
Company of Killers (1970)
Eagles Over London (20-Sep-1969)
Yours, Mine and Ours (24-Apr-1968)
Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (10-Apr-1968)
Divorce American Style (21-Jun-1967) · Al Yearling
The Doomsday Flight (13-Dec-1966)
Wives and Lovers (28-Aug-1963) · Bill Austin
Subway in the Sky (Nov-1959)
Web of Evidence (28-Apr-1959)
The Last Blitzkrieg (30-Jan-1959)
Action of the Tiger (30-Aug-1957)
Kelly and Me (1957)
23 Paces to Baker Street (18-May-1956)
Miracle in the Rain (31-Mar-1956)
The Bottom of the Bottle (1-Feb-1956)
The End of the Affair (23-Feb-1955) · Maurice Bendrix
The Last Time I Saw Paris (18-Nov-1954) · Charles Wills
Brigadoon (8-Sep-1954)
The Caine Mutiny (24-Jun-1954) · Lt. Steve Maryk
Men of the Fighting Lady (7-May-1954)
The Siege at Red River (2-Apr-1954)
Easy to Love (26-Nov-1953) · Ray Lloyd
Remains to be Seen (15-May-1953)
Confidentially Connie (13-Mar-1953)
Plymouth Adventure (14-Nov-1952)
Washington Story (1-Jul-1952)
When in Rome (11-May-1952)
Invitation (29-Jan-1952) · Dan I. Pierce
Too Young to Kiss (22-Nov-1951) · Eric Wainwright
It's a Big Country (20-Nov-1951) · Adam Burch
Go for Broke! (24-May-1951) · Lt. Michael Grayson
Three Guys Named Mike (1-Mar-1951) · Michael Lawrence
Grounds For Marriage (11-Jan-1951)
Duchess of Idaho (14-Jul-1950)
The Big Hangover (26-May-1950)
Battleground (9-Nov-1949) · Holley
In the Good Old Summertime (29-Jul-1949) · Andrew Delby Larkin
Scene of the Crime (28-Jul-1949)
Mother Is a Freshman (12-Mar-1949)
Command Decision (23-Dec-1948)
State of the Union (30-Apr-1948) · Spike McManus
The Bride Goes Wild (3-Mar-1948)
The Romance of Rosy Ridge (4-Aug-1947)
High Barbaree (May-1947) · Alec Brooke
Till the Clouds Roll By (5-Dec-1946) · Bandleader
No Leave, No Love (3-Oct-1946)
Easy to Wed (11-Jul-1946)
Weekend at the Waldorf (5-Oct-1945)
Thrill of a Romance (23-May-1945)
Between Two Women (28-Mar-1945)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (15-Nov-1944) · Ted Lawson
Three Men in White (25-May-1944)
The White Cliffs of Dover (11-May-1944) · Sam Bennett
Two Girls and a Sailor (27-Apr-1944)
A Guy Named Joe (23-Dec-1943)
Madame Curie (15-Dec-1943) · Reporter
Pilot #5 (24-Jun-1943) · Everett Arnold
Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case (May-1943) · Dr. Adams
The Human Comedy (2-Mar-1943)
Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (Nov-1942)
The War Against Mrs. Hadley (7-Aug-1942)
Murder in the Big House (11-Apr-1942)
Appears on the cover of:
Modern Screen, May-1945, DETAILS: "That's My Boy!" by Van Johnson's Dad
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AKA Charles Van Johnson
