top of page

No Oscar but a star


Van Johnson
Van Johnson

Van Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008).

Charles Van Dell Johnson was an American film, television, theatre, and radio actor, singer, and dancer. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II.


He was described as the embodiment of the "boy-next-door wholesomeness" which made him a popular Hollywood star in the 1940s and 1950s, playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor, or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM films during the war years. Although never nominated for an Academy Award, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


He appears with Donna Reed in The Human Comedy (1943), Dr. Gillespie’s Criminal Case (1943), and The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954).

bottom of page