Biography
Distinctive Features
Always wore Red Socks
Friends and Family
Jane Wyman
[Friend]
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Janet Leigh
[Friend]
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Eddie Bracken
[Friend]
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Kathryn Grayson
[Friend]
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Dennis Morgan
[Friend]
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Rosalind Russell
[Friend]
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Paul Stewart
[Friend]
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Peter Lawford
[Friend]
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Katharine Hepburn
[Friend]
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Spencer Tracy
[Friend]
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Lucille Ball
[Friend]
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Esther Williams
[Friend]
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June Allyson
[Friend]
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Keenan Wynn
[Friend]
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Tracy Keenan Wynn
[Step Father]
::
Ned Wynn
[Step Father]
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Schuyler Johnson
[Father]
Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 [on Audrey Hepburn] She`s a lady. When she participates in the Academy Awards, she makes all those starlets look like tramps. Thank you for your class, Audrey, you`re quite a lady. If anyone said anything derogatory about her, I`d push them in the river. [MGM] was one big happy family and a little kingdom. Everything was provided for us, from singing lessons to barbells. All we had to do was inhale, exhale and be charming. I used to dread leaving the studio to go out into the real world, because to me the studio was the real world."
I am the luckiest guy in the world. All my dreams came true. I was in a wonderful business, and I met great people all over the world.
By war`s end, I`d been in every branch of the service, all at MGM. -- VJ, commenting on the vast number of soldiers he played on film during WWII.
I never turned down anybody for an autograph. I think it`s up to the fans; it`s up to the public. No amount of photoplay magazines or layouts puts you over the public unless the public buys you.
I’ve been there and done it all.
(About 1943 car accident) “[MGM] was one big happy family and a little kingdom. Everything was provided for us, from singing lessons to barbells. All we had to do was inhale, exhale and be charming. I used to dread leaving the studio to go out into the real world, because to me the studio was the real world.
“[MGM] was one big happy family and a little kingdom. Everything was provided for us, from singing lessons to barbells. All we had to do was inhale, exhale and be charming. I used to dread leaving the studio to go out into the real world, because to me the studio was the real world.”
Keep the calls coming, ... You might be saving your own home, your own car, your own property tomorrow if you do it for your neighbor today.
(thinkexist.com)
I don`t think it`s what many people are putting it out to be.
(thinkexist.com)
I see Africa as a market that is the next market to be tapped,
(thinkexist.com)
I can`t help but feel we are being used as a pawn in the political game, and I`m not going to take it,
(thinkexist.com)
We were looking to do something to make a difference ... She [Masekela] said she`d be happy to do it.
(thinkexist.com)
I thought we were doing a regular SBA loan. I did not know it come under the terrorism program.
(thinkexist.com)
[on Audrey Hepburn] She`s a lady. When she participates in the Academy Awards, she makes all those starlets look like tramps. Thank you for your class, Audrey, you`re quite a lady. If anyone said anything derogatory about her, I`d push them in the river.
OTHER
(on Audrey Hepburn)
Trivia
He had skin cancer surgery in 1963.
He made his Broadway debut in 1936 in "New Faces of 1936," (an annual revue that had also introduced Imogene Coca and Henry Fonda in 1934). Van would appear in a total of 7 Broadway shows to date, including the original cast production of "Pal Joey" in 1940-41 and last appearing in "La Cage aux Folles" in 1987.
He was Gene Kelly`s understudy in the Broadway production of "Pal Joey".
He was driving to a special screening of Keeper of the Flame (1942) when he was involved in the road accident that left him with a metal plate in his forehead.
He first received top billing in 1944 with Two Girls and a Sailor (1944).
After Van Heflin turned down the role of Elliot Ness on "The Untouchables" (1959) it was offered to Johnson. He turned it down as well.
His wife, Eve, was first married to Keenan Wynn. She married Johnson on the very day of her divorce from Wynn, only four hours after that divorce was finalized. Johnson had spent more a month recuperating from his near-fatal car accident at the Wynn`s home (Keenan was his best friend) during his recovery and word got back to Louis B. Mayer that sparks had flew. The film mogul saw this relationship as a way to dispel rumors circulating about Johnson`s sexuality. Despite Mayer`s earlier attempts at matchmaking (he`d arranged dates with Gloria DeHaven, June Allyson and even Sonja Henie without making a love connection) only Evie Wynn appealed to him. Although they were genuinely in love, Mayer cemented the deal by providing unusual career concessions for Keenan: a better contract, no standard 12-week layoffs, and better roles... all areas that would benefit her and her children. He later left her for her male tennis instructor according to her son, Ned Wynn.
The scars from the injury received in a car crash described in his biography are very evident in The Caine Mutiny (1954).
Daughter Schuyler V. Johnson born January 6, 1948.
His father`s name was Charles Johnson, a realtor. His mother`s first name was Loretta.
Stepfather of Ned Wynn and Tracy Keenan Wynn.
His mother, Loretta Neumann was an alcoholic who abandoned him as a child. In November 1954, she resurfaced and sued him for nine hundred dollars monthly support. He fought back, saying she did not help raise him so, although he was willing to give her money, she was not entitled to court-ordered support. It was eventually settled out of court and he agreed to pay her four hundred dollars a month.
His mother had been a dietitian at MGM.
His mother was born in 1893.
It was Rosalind Russell who helped him overcome his fear of live audiences after goading him into performing in nightclubs. He made his Las Vegas debut in the 1950s.
While on the nightclub act tour in 1963, he was forced to stop after having to undergo operations for skin cancer on his left thigh. A second operation to remove a lymph gland was successful in curbing the disease.
Was once considered for the lead role in the TV show "The Untouchables" (1959) but turned it down. Robert Stack became a TV star as a result.
Lucille Ball was a good friend to him for decades. Van guest-starred on her classic TV show on one of her "trip to Hollywood" episodes where they dueted on the song "How About You?" Ball later insisted he take a prime role in her film Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) with Henry Fonda.
Was stagestruck himself and was often found with an autograph book in his hand.
His bobbysoxer popularity was such that he was nicknamed "The Voicelss Sinatra.".
His mother, Loretta Neumann Johnson, was born February 5, 1893. She died January 1978 in Palo Alto, CA.
Van is referenced in the song "Prehistoric Man" from the musical On the Town (1949).
Daughter Schuyler born January, 1948.
The scars from the injury received in a car crash described in his biography are very evident in The Caine Mutiny (1954).
His wife, Eve, was first married to Keenan Wynn. She married Johnson on the very day of her divorce from Wynn. Johnson had spent more a month recuperating from his near-fatal car accident at the Wynn`s home (Keenan was his best friend) during his recovery and word got back to Louis B. Mayer that sparks had flew. The film mogul saw this relationship as a way to dispel rumors circulating about Johnson`s sexuality. Despite Mayer`s earlier attempts at matchmaking (he`d arranged dates with Gloria DeHaven, June Allyson and even Sonja Henie without making a love connection) only Evie Wynn appealed to him. Although they were genuinely in love, Mayer cemented the deal by providing unusual career concessions for Keenan: a better contract, no standard 12-week layoffs, and better roles... all areas that would benefit her and her children.
After Van Heflin turned down the role of Elliot Ness on "The Untouchables" (1959) it was offered to Johnson. He turned it down as well.
He first received top billing in 1944 with Two Girls and a Sailor (1944).
He was driving to a special screening of Keeper of the Flame (1942) when he was involved in the road accident that left him with a metal plate in his forehead.
He was Gene Kelly`s understudy in the Broadway production of "Pal Joey".
He made his Broadway debut in 1936 in "New Faces of 1936," (a hit show that also introduced Imogene Coca). Van would appear in a total of 7 Broadway shows to date, including the original cast production of "Pal Joey" in 1940-41 and last appearing in "La Cage aux Folles" in 1987.
He had skin cancer surgery in 1963.
Always wears red socks
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