He was raised by his father, who Van described as “chilly.” After graduating from high school, Van moved to NYC and joined the Off-Broadway revue, Entre Nous in 1935. His alcoholic mother abandoned him when he was a child. He is perhaps best known for the playing the role of Max Detweiler in the classic film The Sound of Music.Įmmy Award nominated singer-dancer-actor Van Johnson was born Charles Van Dell Johnson on Augin Newport, Rhode Island.
His better known films include Ball of Fire, Dear Ruth, The Late George Apley, Forever Amber, Sitting Pretty, The Emperor Waltz, Alice in Wonderland, Miss captainTatlock’s Millions, The Merry Window, Jupiter’s Darling, The Lost World, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, Five Weeks in a Balloon, Mutiny on the Bounty, Clarence the Cross Eyed Lion, The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin, and Young Frankenstein. He made the first of his more than 50 films in 1941 – Charley’s Aunt. He moved to America and first appeared on Broadway in the 1939 production of Set to Music, and followed that up with Two for the Show in 1940. His first appearance on film was in the TV movie production of Red Peppers in 1938.
As a young man, he worked as a music hall entertainer and managed a banana plantation in Jamaica before joining a touring British theater troupe. Richard Haydn was born George Richard Haydn in London on March 10, 1905.
