Van Johnson, once the heartthrob of millions and once called the "the non-singing Sinatra," has died at the age of 92.
According to Wendy Bleisweiss, a close friend of Johnson's, he died today at Tappan Zee Manor, an assisted living center in Nyack, N.Y.
Van Johnson was born Charles Van Dell Johnson on Aug. 25, 1916. His first big break came in the wartime fantasy "A Guy Named Joe," with Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunn. But a near-fatal car crash nearly wiped out his chance, as well as his life.
On April 1, 1943, his DeSoto convertible was struck head-on by another car. "They tell me I was almost decapitated, but I never lost consciousness. I spent four months in the hospital after they sewed the top of my head back on. I still have a disc of bone in my forehead five inches long."
That car crash also prevented Van Johnson from being drafted during WWII. With the absence of many other male stores, he was heavily promoted and became extremely popular.
In 1947, he married for the first and only time: he married Evie Abbott Wynn in Juarez in 1947 on the day her divorce became final from actor Keenan Wynn. Keenan Wynn had been Johnson's best friend.
The marriage ended bitterly 13 years later. "She wiped me out in the ugliest divorce in Hollywood history," Johnson told reporters. The Johnson's had a daughter, Schuyler.
Van Johnson was versatile, appearing in musicals, dramas, and comedies. My first recollection of him was in the Audie Murphy (WWII Medal of Honor winner, and the most decorated soldier in U.S. history) biopic, "To Hell and Back." He played a soldier who's tagline, for just about everything, was:
"It's the dyin' truth."
RIP, Van Johnson. A great star. It's the dyin' truth.
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