Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.

Subject: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: GUEST,Joy Bringer
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 04:31 AM

Van Johnson, Hollywood star of the movies' golden age, has died.

Johnson died on Friday at an assisted living centre in Nyack, New York. He was 92.

Johnson was known for his boy-next-door wholesomeness and was a major heart-throb in the 1940s. Many of his early films had Second World War themes, including 30 Seconds Over Tokyo.

Among his films were Brigadoon, A Guy Named Joe and The Caine Mutiny. His co-stars included Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor and June Allyson.

With his tall, athletic build, handsome, freckled face and sunny personality, the red-haired Johnson starred opposite Esther Williams, June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor and others during his two decades under contract to MGM.

He proved to be a versatile actor, equally at home with comedies (The Bride Goes Wild, Too Young to Kiss), war movies (Go for Broke, Command Decision), musicals (Thrill of a Romance, Brigadoon) and dramas (State of the Union, Madame Curie).

During the height of his popularity, Johnson was cast most often as the all-American boy. He played a real-life flier who lost a leg in a crash after the bombing of Japan in 30 Seconds Over Tokyo. He was a writer in love with a wealthy American girl (Taylor) in The Last Time I Saw Paris. He appeared as a post-Civil War farmer in The Romance of Rosy Ridge.

More recently, he had a small role in 1985 as a movie actor in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo.

A heart-throb with young girls in the '40s - he was called the non-singing Sinatra - Johnson married only once. In 1947 at the height of his career, he eloped to Juarez, Mexico, to marry Eve Wynn, who had divorced Johnson's good friend Keenan Wynn four hours before.

The marriage produced a daughter, Schuyler, and ended bitterly 13 years later.

May he rest in peace

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: Genie
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 04:42 AM

I rememer Van Johnson well.

Now I know I'm REALLY OLD!

Genie ; D

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: fat B****rd
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 05:33 AM

RIP Mr. Johnson

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: Girl Friday
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 08:27 AM

There are a lot of films being shown on TCM. They seem to specialise in MGM movies

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 08:40 AM

Great acting is always transparent. Van Johnson's was anything but..........However, he was representative of many a star from the MGM "Studio System" glory days and had a long career.   RIP.......One of the last of the breed.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 09:32 AM

I've always thought Van was very watchable. He's one of those actors, from the olden age of Hollywood, that I assumed died years ago!Interestingly, there was one of his films on tv, "The Siege at Red River" yesterday, and another, "23 Paces to Baker Street" the day previous.

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 10:56 AM

Who the heck would name their daughter "Schuyler"? A Hollywood actor, that's who! If I was a Hollywood actor I would have 5 children...2 boys, 3 girls. I would name them:

Davenport
Twist
Freemantle
Vase
Lawyer

It's up to you to determine which of the above names would be the daughters and which would be the sons. ;-) I figure it could go any which way, given present trends.

I remember Van Johnson, mostly from some of the war movies. He was usually playing the number 2 part opposite Humphrey Bogart or some other big star of the day.

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 11:00 AM

I saw him live in The Music Man (complete with famous trademark socks). He was great, and handled the songs very well. I always enjoyed his work, and am sorry to see him go. But he had a good innings -

Rest in Peace

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: Alice
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 11:07 AM

I just saw one of his movies on TCM recently, In The Good Old Summertime. It was a musical remake of the Jimmy Stewart classic, The Shop Around The Corner, more recently copied by "You've Got Mail".

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: JennieG
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 11:50 PM

I remember seeing him in 'Brigadoon' - they don't make movies like that anymore. I loved the old musicals.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 12:03 AM

He was a friend of my mother's, in the years at the end of and right after WWII, when many of these Hollywood folks were still coming apart at the seams after the war. A lot of them were in the military, and they needed help just like a lot of the others. She was a WAC psychiatric social worker stationed at a hospital in California (DeWitt). Billy Rose and Stan Freburg were there and she also counted them as friends, at the time, but years passed and she never kept in touch.

Van Johnson was part of that larger-than-life studio system, and I saw all of his comedies and musicals. And who could forget The Caine Mutiny? He may not have been classically great, but he was very good in his time.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: GUEST,DWR
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 01:12 AM

Tunesmith said it, he was very watchable. I'd add very enjoyable as well.

One musical discussion we've had recently which featured Van Johnson concerned the catchy song, Tapioca which was a key element in his 1954 film Siege At Red River. thread.cfm?threadid=106813&messages=10

Thanks, Van.

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 01:52 AM

Van Johnson was a favorite of my mother's. I liked him, too, but better in his military roles. I remember, several years ago, watching "Too Many Girls", the movie that introduced Lucille and Desi one to the other, and thinking that one of the dancers looked like a real young Van Johnson...and it turns out it was he performing in his first film.
I thought that his later guest turns on TV were a bit bombastic, but that was perhaps the direction he was given.
BTW, he turned down the role of The Untouchables', Elliot Ness, which made Robert Stack a huge star.

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: goatfell
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 06:18 AM

a good acotor, but the one of the worst films ever made was Brigadoon. Americans trying to Scots, what a lot of rubbish.

But that's is what some Americans think what Scotland is like.

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 10:25 AM

And it seems at least one Scot doesn't know that most Americans know better. It was filmed entirely indoors in a studio in Hollywood with an American cast. Duh. You might as well view The Thief of Baghdad or Kismet and complain that Americans think they were filmed in Baghdad with Iraqis. They don't.

The point is, don't blame the messenger, the actor. It was the style of the day filmed in a studio system when cultural accuracy or sensitivity was the last thing on their minds.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 11:36 AM

DOWN Ma

LOL(;<))

Spawggie.....DOWN.......Down now.....That's a good girl.......

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 12:25 PM

Thanks Van...
Rest in Peace..
BR

Subject: RE: Obit: Van Johnson, Hollywood star.
From: kendall
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 12:42 PM

Goatfell, only the Americans who have never been to Scotland.
America doesn't have a monopoly on ignorance either.