Trivia of Van Johnson

 Trivia of Van Johnson (25 August 1916 - 12 December 2008)

*His father Charles E. Johnson was a plumber and real-estate salesman, who had come to the USA from Sweden when he was a child. His mother Loretta née Snyder was a housewife, who suffered from alcoholism.Van’s mother abandoned the family when he was just three years old. His father also remained cold and distant. To escape loneliness, he soon drifted into the world of films. When he was in high school, he started taking singing and dancing lessons before beginning to perform at local clubs.

*In May 1936, Van Johnson began his stage career with the successful Broadway musical, ‘New Faces of 1936’. Thereafter, he continued to work as a member of chorus in various hotels gigs. One of his significant roles of this period was in the play ‘Eight Young Men of Manhattan’ (1936).

*October 1939, he served as an understudy to the male leads of ‘Too Many Girls’, a play he later became part of as Richard Kollmar. It was followed by the play ‘Pal Joey’ (1940), in which he appeared as a chorus boy and served as Gene Kelly's understudy.A year later, he made his big screen debut as a chorus boy in the film adaption of ‘Too Many Girls’.

*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 is best remembered for his role in the 1944 war film ‘Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo’ along his idol Spencer Tracy. The film, in which he starred as Lieutenant Ted W. Lawson, not only earned a profit of $1,382,000, but also received great reviews from the critics. Today, it is considered a "classic aviation and war film."

*By the end of 1944, Van was getting 8,000 fan letters a week—the most of any Hollywood star—but some fans took things too far when they started showing up at his house. Things took a terrifying turn when two teenagers broke in and locked themselves in his bathroom, and he ended up moving shortly after.

*Lucille Ball was good friends with him for decades. Van guest-starred on her classic television 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.