Van Johnson
Subtitle: Mgm's Golden Boy (Hollywood Legends Series)
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: September 2001
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9781578063772
Subjects: Biography: film, television & music; Films, cinema; Motion picture actors and actr; Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses; Individual Movie Actors And Actresses; United States; Biography & Autobiography; Biography / Autobiography; Johnson, Van,; Biography/Autobiography; Entertainment & Performing Arts - General; Film & Video - History & Criticism; Biography; Motion picture actors and actresses; Acting & Auditioning; 1916-
First sentence: Most tourists think of Newport, Rhode Island, as a resort community famous for its mansions, its yacht races, and its tennis tournaments.
Description: "Van Johnson's dazzling smile, shock of red hair, and suntanned freckled cheeks made him a movie-star icon. Among teenaged girls in the 1940s he was popularized as the bobbysoxer's heartthrob. He won the nation's heart, too, by appearing in a series of blockbuster war films - A Guy Named Joe, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and Battleground.

Perennially a leading man opposite June Allyson, Esther Williams, Judy Garland, and Janet Leigh, he rose to fame radiating the sunshine image Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer chose for him, that of an affable, wholesome boy-next-door. Legions of adoring moviegoers were captivated by this idealized persona that generated huge box-office profits for the studio. However, Johnson's off-screen life was not so sunny. His mother had rejected him in childhood, and he lived his adult life dealing with sexual ambivalence. A marriage was arranged with the ex-wife of his best friend, the actor Keenan Wynn. During the waning years of Hollywood's Golden Age she and Johnson lived amid the glow of Hollywood's A-crowd.

Yet their private life was charged with tension and conflict. This biography traces the career and influence of a favorite star and narrates a fascinating, sometimes troubled life story."--BOOK JACKET.