Van Johnson
Personal life: Fixed sentence structure; parallel structure was problematic.
| ← Previous revision | Revision as of 23:23, 1 May 2026 | ||
| Line 85: | Line 85: | ||
==Personal life== |
==Personal life== |
||
Johnson married former stage actress Eve Abbott (1914–2004) on January 25, 1947, the day after her divorce from actor [[Keenan Wynn]] was finalized. Their daughter Schuyler was born in 1948. By this marriage, Johnson gained stepsons [[Ned Wynn|Edmond |
Johnson married former stage actress Eve Abbott (1914–2004) on January 25, 1947, the day after her divorce from actor [[Keenan Wynn]] was finalized. Their daughter Schuyler was born in 1948. By this marriage, Johnson gained stepsons [[Ned Wynn|Edmond (Ned) Keenan]] and [[Tracy Keenan Wynn]]; the latter was a screenwriter. In a statement by Eve, published after her death at age 90, she said MGM had engineered her marriage to Johnson to cover up his alleged homosexuality. "They needed their 'big star' to be married to quell rumors about his sexual preferences and unfortunately, I was 'It'{{snd}}the only woman he would marry."Vallance, Tom. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/evie-wynn-johnson-550363.html Obituary: Evie Wynn Johnson, Actress and ambitious Hollywood wife] ''The Independent'', December 8, 2004. Commenting on their complicated relationships, Keenan Wynn's father [[Ed Wynn]] said, "I can't keep them straight. Evie loved Keenan. Keenan loves Evie. Van loves Evie. Evie loves Van. Van loves Keenan. Keenan loves Van." |
||
Johnson's biographer Ronald L. Davis writes that it "seems to have been well known in the film capital" that Johnson had homosexual tendencies, but this was never reported or hinted at by newspaper columnists or movie magazine writers during the era when Johnson made movies.{{cite book| last=Davis| first=Ronald L.| title=Van Johnson: MGM's Golden Boy| year=2001| publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi| location=Jackson| isbn=978-1604737073| pages=104–105| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RG2PFR0tFSAC&q=gay}} Studio executive [[Louis B. Mayer]] made strenuous efforts to quash any potential scandal regarding Johnson and any of his actor friends whom Mayer suspected of being homosexual. Johnson's marriage to Eve Abbott ended four years after Mayer's death when Johnson, performing as Professor Harold Hill in ''[[The Music Man]]'' in the [[West End theatre|West End]] in London, is alleged to have begun an affair with a male dancer in the production, according to her son Ned Wynn. He claimed that Johnson left her "for a man{{snd}}a boy, really. He's the lead boy dancer." The couple separated in 1961 and their divorce was finalized in 1968.Wynn 1990, p. 213.Wayne 2006, p. 463. |
Johnson's biographer Ronald L. Davis writes that it "seems to have been well known in the film capital" that Johnson had homosexual tendencies, but this was never reported or hinted at by newspaper columnists or movie magazine writers during the era when Johnson made movies.{{cite book| last=Davis| first=Ronald L.| title=Van Johnson: MGM's Golden Boy| year=2001| publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi| location=Jackson| isbn=978-1604737073| pages=104–105| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RG2PFR0tFSAC&q=gay}} Studio executive [[Louis B. Mayer]] made strenuous efforts to quash any potential scandal regarding Johnson and any of his actor friends whom Mayer suspected of being homosexual. Johnson's marriage to Eve Abbott ended four years after Mayer's death when Johnson, performing as Professor Harold Hill in ''[[The Music Man]]'' in the [[West End theatre|West End]] in London, is alleged to have begun an affair with a male dancer in the production, according to her son Ned Wynn. He claimed that Johnson left her "for a man{{snd}}a boy, really. He's the lead boy dancer." The couple separated in 1961 and their divorce was finalized in 1968.Wynn 1990, p. 213.Wayne 2006, p. 463. |
||
