Beloved movie star Van Johnson died Friday in New York at the age of 92. Millions of moviegoers will remember his likeable all-American personality from a career that spanned six decades. Although he played a lot of dramatic roles, as pictured in the screen shot above from The Last Time I Saw Paris, he was also a superb singer and dancer. The clip below is from one of my favorite I Love Lucy episodes; in real life Lucille Ball and Van Johnson were old friends, having known each other on Broadway before they made it big in Hollywood.A side observation: I always wondered if he might be gay. (I once briefly dated a former actor who looked a lot like Johnson.) It appears that he was, though like Rock Hudson, a convenient marriage was arranged for him by studio brass anxious to preserve the heterosexual image of one of their big-box-office stars. Pity.
Well, let's remember this greatly talented guy at the height of his fame. Here he is with Lucy, who was no slouch at dancing herself, from the episode "The Dancing Star," 1955:
1 comment:
i think he was gay. nothing wrong with that. but it must have been difficult...
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