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• Film and TV actor Van Johnson's filmography includes the 1954 classics The Caine Mutiny and Brigadoon, as well as multiple appearances on TV series such as I Love Lucy and The Love Boat. Johnson died on December 12, 2008, at the age of 92.

• Fast Facts

  1. Birth name: Charles Van Johnson
  2. Born: August 25, 1916
  3. Birthplace: Newport, Rhode Island
  4. Spouse: Eve Lynn Abbott
  5. Children: Daughter Schuyler
  6. Debut movie/TV show: 1940's Too Many Girls
  7. Portrayed villain "The Minstrel" on 2 episodes of Batman TV series
  8. Co-starred in numerous projects with Elizabeth Taylor and Lucille Ball
  9. Married to Abbott from 1947 until her death in 2004
  10. Understudy to Gene Kelly for Pal Joey
  11. Treated for skin cancer in the '60s
  12. Frequent and popular talk show guest in the '60s and '70s

• Career

  Johnson got his start on Broadway, and started transitioning into film musicals in the late 1930s. Injuries sustained in a 1942 car crash kept him out of World War II, and he would star in numerous war films during America's involvement in that conflict. In the 1950s and '60s, he starred in numerous hit movies, including Caine Mutiny, Brigadoon, The End of the Affair, The Last Time I Saw Paris, The Pied Piper of Hamelin and Yours, Mine and Ours. Later, he would become a recognizable fixture on television, with recurring roles on the '60s Batman TV series (as villain "The Minstrel") and various series with Lucille Ball. Johnson's last major role was in the Woody Allen film The Purple Rose of Cairo.

• Notable Roles

  • Lieutenant Ted Lawson in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
  • David Muldon in The Big Hangover (1950)
  • Lieutenant Stephen Maryk in The Caine Mutiny (1954)
  • Jeff Douglas in Brigadoon (1954)
  • Maurice Bendrix in The End of the Affair (1955)
  • Himself on I Love Lucy (1955)
  • Pied Piper in The Pied Piper of Hamelin TV movie (1957)
  • Al Yearling in Divorce American Style (1967)
  • Marsh Goodwin in Rich Man Poor Man TV miniseries (1976)
  • Larry in The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

• Related Pages on Mahalo

  Lucille Ball | Gene Kelly | Elizabeth Taylor | Judy Garland | Brigadoon

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