Van Johnson Interview (February 10, 1977)

Persons Appearing: Van Johnson, Film(s) Discussed: Battleground, The Caine Mutiny, A Guy Named Joe, The Last Time I Saw Paris, An ebullient Johnson is in town touring in the play, "Send Me No Flowers" at the Midnight Sun Dinner Theatre in Atlanta. He discusses dinner theatre, touring theatre audiences, his early personal life and decision to go into show business, his film and television career, working at MGM under the studio system, signing his contract, Spencer Tracy as his mentor, favorite directors (Richard Brooks, Mervyn LeRoy, Frank Capra, William Wellman, Clarence Brown), and favorite performances of his (THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS, THE END OF THE AFFAIR, BATTLEGROUND, THE CAINE MUTINY, 23 PACES TO BAKER STREET)

Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor, singer, and dancer. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II.

Johnson was described as the embodiment of the "boy-next-door wholesomeness" which made him a popular Hollywood star in the 1940s and 1950s,[2] playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor, or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM films during the war years, with such films as Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, A Guy Named Joe, and The Human Comedy. He made occasional World War II films through the end of the 1960s, and he played a military officer in one of his final feature films in 1992. At the time of his death in 2008, he was one of the last surviving matinee idols of Hollywood's "golden age".[3]

Johnson was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the only child[5] of Loretta (née Snyder) and Charles E. Johnson, a plumber and later a real-estate salesman. His father was born in Sweden and came to the United States as a child, and his mother had Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.[5] His mother was allegedly an alcoholic who left the family when he was a child, and he was not close to his father.[6]

Johnson married former stage actress Eve Abbott (1914–2004) on January 25, 1947, the day after her divorce was finalized from actor Keenan Wynn. Their daughter Schuyler was born in 1948. By this marriage, Johnson gained stepsons Edmond Keenan (Ned) and screenwriter Tracy Keenan Wynn. In a statement by Eve, published after her death at age 90, she said MGM had engineered her marriage to Johnson to cover up his alleged homosexuality. "They needed their 'big star' to be married to quell rumors about his sexual preferences and unfortunately, I was 'It' – the only woman he would marry."[22] Commenting on their complicated relationships, Keenan Wynn's father Ed Wynn said, "I can't keep them straight. Evie loved Keenan. Keenan loves Evie. Van loves Evie. Evie loves Van. Van loves Keenan. Keenan loves Van."[22]

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.[23] Studio executive Louis B. Mayer made strenuous efforts to quash any potential scandal regarding Johnson and any of his actor-friends whom Mayer suspected of being homosexual.[23] Johnson's marriage to Eve Abbott ended four years after Mayer's death when Johnson, performing as Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man in the West End in London, is alleged to have begun an affair with a male dancer in the production, according to her son Ned Wynn. He claimed that Johnson left her "for a man – a boy, really. He's the lead boy dancer."[22] The couple separated in 1961 and their divorce was finalized in 1968.[24][25]

In contrast to his "cheery Van" screen image, Eve claimed that he was morose and moody because of his difficult early life. She reported that he had little tolerance for unpleasantness and would stride into his bedroom and seclude himself at the slightest hint of trouble. He had a difficult relationship with his father growing up, and he was estranged from his daughter at the time of his death.[4]

Later years and death

Johnson retired from acting in the early 1990s and lived in a penthouse at 405 East 54th Street on Manhattan's East Side. He moved to Tappan Zee Manor in 2002, an assisted living facility in Nyack, New York.[21] He died there on December 12, 2008, at age 92. His remains were cremated.[21][26]

Legacy
Johnson was never nominated for an Academy Award and, during the height of his career, was noted mainly for his cheerful screen presence. Reflecting on his career after his death, one critic observed that Johnson was "capable of an Oscar-worthy performance, and that's more than most movie stars can claim".[3] For his contribution to the film industry, Johnson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6600 Hollywood Blvd.