Van Johnson

Actor Van Johnson died yesterday, December 13, 2008 at age 92 according to the Internet Movie Data Base. Many will not recognize the name, but Van Johnson was a well-known movie actor during the 40's and 50's. He starred in a wide variety of movies, comedy, musicals and dramas as well as a number of WWII movies. He worked with such people as Shirley Temple, Elizabeth Taylor and Lucille Ball. He leaves an impressive body of work.

One of the many movies he starred in, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, is scheduled to air Friday, December 19, 2008 on TCM at 11:15 am.

I'll confess that the only reason I have any idea of who Van Johnson was is because of the following story. I do not know if it is actually true or not, but I'll tell it anyway.

While growing up every Thursday I went to the movies with my mother and her friends. I remember one time she commented when a man appeared on the screen, "I dated him one time during the War." She was referring to World War II. I of course had to ask who he was and one of her fiends said, "Van Johnson." Before shushing me.

At that time there were a lot of actors doing their part for the war effort and a fair number of them came to San Antonio Texas. So it is possible she did go out with him. San Antonio, Texas had a lot of military posts and bases, including Ft. Sam Houston, Lackland AFB, Randolph AFB and Kelly AFB.

At any rate the news of his death certainly caught my attention this morning. He was a hard working actor who worked, and sometimes starred, in over a hundred movies such as Caine Mutiny. He also worked in TV, Murder She Wrote, as well as the theater. He acted in such plays as Damn Yankees and The Music Man. In his later years dinner theater and TV became the venues where Van Johnson did most of his work.