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Gillespie's New Assistant' (1942), he earned his true breakthrough in a pair of wartime dramas - 'A Guy Named J ' (1943) and 'The Human Comedy' (1943).

After replacing Lew Ayres in the continuation of the popular Dr. Filling the gap left by more established stars that were in the military, Johnson became the go-to actor for amiably idealized, small-town leads and support in features. Being unable to serve in WWII turned out to be a big career break for the boyish young actor. En route to a screening of the Katherine Hepburn film 'Keeper of the Flame' (1942), Johnson was injured in a car accident and needed a metal plate inserted in his forehead. Johnson made his film debut in the chorus of the screen adaptation of 'Too Many Girls' (1940) starring Lucille Ball and a then unknown Broadway performer, Desi Arnaz, and, after a pit stop at Warner Bros., was signed by MGM. The following year, Abbott cast him again as a chorus boy and Gene Kelly's understudy in Rodgers and Hart's groundbreaking musical, 'Pal J y.' Johnson would eventually replace one of the actors, Richard Killmar, which gave him his Broadway debut. Other stage credits soon followed before legendary director-producer George Abbott gave him his big break by hiring him as understudy to one of three male leads for his production of 'Too Many Girls' in 1939. At 19, he moved to New York to find work in the musical theater, and landed a job in the off-Broadway revue 'Entre Nous' in 1935. A star-struck only child, Johnson was performing at local social clubs while in high school while helping to support his father through various odd jobs. 25, 1916, he was raised by his father, a plumber named Charles Johnson, after his mother's alleged alcoholism led to divorce. Johnson's air of sympathetic concern, boyish energy and sometimes larger-than-life acting style ensured his enduring status as one of the most well-liked symbols of Hollywood's Golden Age.īorn Charles Van Johnson in Newport, RI on Aug.

Johnson's career faded in the early 1960s, though he remained active on television and theater until the early 1990s. On occasion, he was given a chance to show some dramatic grit in war pictures like 'Thirty Seconds over Tokyo' (1944) and 'Battleground' (1949). He cornered the market on genial guys who romanced nice girls like June Allyson and Esther Williams in comedies and musicals, which made him a top box office draw during the war and into post-war America. A freckled-faced boy-next-door, actor Van Johnson became a big star at MGM in the 1940s and 1950s when he came to Hollywood from the Broadway chorus.

Douglas johnson house fire man in the hat