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      • At the height of his career, Van Johnson seemed to have it all: All-American charm and good looks, fame and riches beyond compare, and the love of an entire nation. His untimely and unexpected fall from grace made one thing clear, though: He had some serious skeletons in his closet and a heavy weight on his shoulders.
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  2. Dec 19, 2008 · Near the end of “The Caine Mutiny” (1954) there’s a startling close-up of Van Johnson in which his pronounced facial scars from a 1943 car accident, so carefully hidden by studio makeup...

    • She Didn’T Want Him
    • He Craved Attention
    • His Dad Didn’T Approve
    • No One Believed in Him
    • He Felt Trapped
    • He Left It All Behind
    • It Was Awkward
    • He Had A Tough Time
    • They Took Him For A Ride
    • He Got A Call

    Van Johnson came from humble, but tumultuous, beginnings. His father Charles was a Swedish plumber who fancied the simpler things in life, while his mother Loretta was a housewife…with a serious penchant for drinking. Van’s birth did little to help their already turbulent relationship, and Loretta abandoned the family when he was just three years o...

    An absent mother and an emotionally distant father made for a lonely little boy, and Van wanted nothing more than to feel like someone actually loved him. He found a solution to this problem in a surprising place. When Charles took him to the circus one night, Van saw how much the audience loved the performers. After that, knew what he was going to...

    Van wanted to be a star, but unfortunately, “I want to be famous” isn’t what most parents want to hear when they ask their kids about their plans for the future. Charles didn’t understand Van’s sudden obsession with celebrities and movies, and while he didn’t stop the boy from pursuing his passions, he didn’t hold back from insulting them either. W...

    Charles didn't believe in Van and told him that the only stage he’d ever be on would be a house painter’s. But Charles wasn’t the only one casting doubts on Van’s dreams. The shy youth gathered enough courage to start auditioning for plays in high school, but he never got any parts. A teacher eventually pulled him aside and told him that he just di...

    Van graduated high school with one goal: get out of dodge. But as much as he despised the man, the thought of leaving Charles alone in Newport wracked him with guilt. The guilt eventually won, and Van put his dream on hold to work as his father's accountant. And while this thrilled the senior Johnson, Van, shockingly, was more miserable than ever. ...

    Van’s dreams had a knack for kicking off in odd places.He quit working for his father after a year, but his ambitions seemed farther away than ever—until he started working at a restaurant. It was there that he befriended one of the managers, who was one of the first and only people to encourage him to pursue acting. And with her help, he did just ...

    Van naively hoped that seeing Loretta again would help heal the wounds of her abandonment—only he didn’t realize just how deep those wounds had cut. Their reunion was tense and awkward, and Van jumped ship after sleeping on her living room floor for a few days. But the pain went with him, and it would be something he carried for the rest of his lif...

    Van quickly learned that the Big Apple had tough skin, and he struggled to break through. The small parts he got—including a role in the film version of Too Many Girls—were all fine and dandy, but nothing that warranted a big break. Times got tough.He often struggled to pay for groceries and rent, but Van, determined to prove his father wrong, neve...

    The stars finally seemed to be aligning for Van during a run of Broadway’sPal Joeyin 1940. Impressed with his passion and presence on stage, Columbia Pictures invited him to Hollywood to do a screen test. Unfortunately, the results were less than stellar, and Van returned to New York heartbroken and without a contract. All hope seemed lost—and then...

    A dejected Van returned to Newport after the closure of Pal Joeyin 1941, and he was seriously reconsidering his career choice. It had been six long years since his move to New York, and he had nothing to show for it—or so he thought. Two days into the trip he got a call he had waited years for: Warner Bros wanted to give him a six-month contract. W...

  3. 1 day ago · Van Johnson was the boy next door, but his untimely and unexpected fall from grace made one thing clear: He had some serious skeletons in his closet. ... did was check if Van was wearing his ...

  4. Apr 12, 2013 · Near the end of The Caine Mutiny (1954) there's a startling close-up of Van Johnson in which his pronounced facial scars from a 1943 car accident, so carefully hidden by studio makeup artists for so many years, are revealed more fully than they'd ever been on screen.

    • David Lobosco
  5. en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Van_JohnsonVan Johnson - Wikipedia

    Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American actor and dancer. He had a prolific career in film, television, theatre and radio, which spanned over 50 years, between 1940 and 1992.

  6. Van Johnson was an American actor, singer and dancer, who became a box-office favorite for his freckled-faced boy next door image in the 1940s. Read this biography to know his birthday, childhood, achievements, family life and timeline.

  7. Dec 12, 2008 · Everybody remembers Bogart playing with his ball bearings in The Caine Mutiny — including the Academy, which nominated him for an Oscar — but it’s Van Johnson who gave the film its most ...