June Allyson
Encyclopedia
June Allyson was an American film
and television
actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress
for her performance in Too Young to Kiss
(1951). From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson
. A later generation knew her as a spokesperson for Depend
undergarments.
, New York City
. She was the daughter of Clara (née Provost) and Robert Geisman. She had a brother, Henry, who was two years older. She claimed to be raised as a Roman Catholic but there is discrepancy relating to her early life as her studio biography was often the source of the confusion. She grew up in Rochambeau Gardens and her best friend was Sylvia Marcus. Her paternal grandparents, Harry Geisman and Anna Hafner, were immigrants from Germany
, although Allyson claimed her last name was originally "Van Geisman", and was of Dutch
origin. Studio biographies listed her as "Jan Allyson" born to French-English parents. On her death, her daughter said Allyson was born "Eleanor Geisman to a French mother and Dutch father."
In April 1918, when Allyson was only six months old, her alcoholic father, who had worked as a janitor, abandoned the family. Allyson was brought up in near poverty, living with her maternal grandparents. To make ends meet, her mother worked as a telephone operator and restaurant cashier, and when she had enough funds, she would occasionally reunite with her daughter, but more often Allyson was "farmed" out to her grandparents or other relatives.
In 1925, when Allyson was eight, a dead tree branch fell on her while she was riding on her tricycle with her pet terrier in tow. The heavy branch killed her dog outright while Allyson had a fractured skull and broken back. Her doctors said she would never walk again and confined her to a heavy steel brace from neck to hips for four years. She ultimately regained her health but when Allyson had become famous, she was terrified that people would discover her background from the "tenement side of New York City" and readily agreed to studio tales of a "rosy life" including a concocted story that she underwent months of swimming exercises in rehabilitation to emerge as a star swimmer. In her later memoirs, Allyson does describe a summer program of swimming that did help her recovery.
After gradually progressing from a wheelchair to crutches to braces, Allyson's true "escape" from her impoverished life was to go to the movies where she was enraptured by Ginger Rogers
and Fred Astaire
movies. As a teen, Allyson memorized the trademark Ginger Rogers dance routines; she claimed later to have watched The Gay Divorcee
17 times. She also tried to emulate the singing styles of movie stars, although she never mastered reading music. When her mother remarried and the family was reunited with a more stable financial standing, Allyson was enrolled in the Ned Wayburn Dancing Academy and began to enter dance competitions with the stage name of "Elaine Peters." With the death of her stepfather and a bleak future ahead, she left high school after only completing two and half years, to seek jobs as a dancer. Her first $60-a-week job was as a tap dancer at the Lido Club in Montreal. Returning to New York, she subsequently found work as an actress in movie short subjects filmed by Educational Pictures
at its Astoria, Long Island studio. Fiercely ambitious, Allyson tried her hand at modeling, but, to her consternation being the "sad-looking before part" in a before-and-after bathing suit magazine ad. Her first career "break" came when Educational cast her as an ingenue opposite singer Lee Sullivan, comic dancers Herman Timberg, Jr. and Pat Rooney, Jr. and future comedy star Danny Kaye
. When Educational ceased operations, Allyson moved over to Vitaphone
in Brooklyn, and starred or co-starred (with dancer Hal Le Roy
) in musical shorts.
-Oscar Hammerstein II
musical Very Warm for May
(1939).
When Vitaphone discontinued New York production in 1940, Allyson returned to the New York stage to take on more chorus roles in Rodgers and Hart's Higher and Higher (1940) and Cole Porter's Panama Hattie (1940). Her dancing and musical talent led to a stint as an understudy for the lead, Betty Hutton
, and when Hutton contracted measles, Allyson appeared in five performances of Panama Hattie. Broadway director George Abbott caught one of the nights, and offered Allyson one of the lead roles in his production of Best Foot Forward
(1941).
During World War II, after her appearance in the Broadway musical, Allyson was selected for the 1943 film version of Best Foot Forward. When she arrived in Hollywood, the production had not started so MGM "placed her on the payroll" of Girl Crazy
(1943). Despite playing a "bit part", Allyson received good reviews as a sidekick to Best Foot Forwards star, Lucille Ball
, but was still relegated to the "drop list". MGM's musical supervisor, Arthur Freed saw her test sent up by an agent and insisted that Allyson be put on contract immediately. Another musical, Thousands Cheer (1943) was again a showcase for her singing and dancing, albeit still in a minor role. As a new starlet, although Allyson had already been a performer on stage and screen, she was presented as an "overnight sensation", with Hollywood press agents attempting to portray her as an ingenue, selectively slicing almost a decade off her true age. Studio bios listed her variously as being born in 1922 and 1923.
Allyson's breakthrough was in Two Girls and a Sailor
(1944) where the studio image of the "girl next door" was fostered by her being cast alongside long-time acting chum, Van Johnson
, the quintessential "boy next door." As the "sweetheart team," Johnson and Allyson were to appear together in four later films.
Allyson's early success as a musical star led to several other postwar musicals, including Two Sisters from Boston (1946) and Good News
(1947). Allyson also played straight roles such as Constance in The Three Musketeers
(1948), the tomboy Jo March in Little Women
(1949), and a nurse in Battle Circus (1953). She was very adept at opening the waterworks on cue, and many of her films incorporated a crying scene. Fellow MGM player Margaret O'Brien
recalled that she and Allyson were known as "the town criers".
An extremely active star in the 1940s and 1950s, in 1950, Allyson had been signed to appear opposite her childhood idol Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding
, but had to leave the production due to pregnancy. (She was replaced initially by Judy Garland
, and later Jane Powell
.) She starred in 1956 with a young rising star named Jack Lemmon
in a musical comedy, You Can't Run Away From It. Besides Van Johnson, James Stewart
was a frequent costar, teaming up with Allyson in films such as The Glenn Miller Story
, The Stratton Story
and Strategic Air Command
.
A versatile performer, Allyson appeared on radio and after her film career ended, Allyson made a handful of nightclub singing engagements. In later years, Allyson appeared on television, not only in her own series, but in such popular programs as The Love Boat
and Murder, She Wrote
. The DuPont Show with June Allyson on CBS ran for two seasons and was an attempt to use a "high budget" formula but her efforts were dismissed by critics such as the entertainment reviewer in the LA Examiner as "reaching down to the level of mag fiction." TV Guide and other fan magazines such as TV, however, considered Allyson's foray into television as revitalizing her fame and career for a younger audience, further characterizing that her stereotyping by the movie industry as the "girl next door" was the "waste and neglect of talent on its own doorstep."
, Peter Lawford
and John F. Kennedy
, Allyson was actually being courted by movie heartthrob and powerful Hollywood "player" Dick Powell
, who was 13 years her senior and had been previously married to Mildred Maund and Joan Blondell
.
On August 19, 1945, Allyson caused MGM studio chief, Louis B. Mayer
some consternation by marrying Dick Powell. After defying him twice by refusing to stop seeing Powell, in a "tactical master stroke", she asked Mayer to give her away at the wedding. He was so disarmed that he agreed but put Allyson on suspension anyway. The Powells had two children, Pamela Allyson Powell (adopted in 1948 through the Tennessee Children's Home Society
in an adoption arranged by Georgia Tann
) and Richard Powell, Jr. (born December 24, 1950). In 1961, Allyson underwent a kidney operation and later, throat surgery, temporarily affecting her trademark raspy-voice. The couple briefly separated in 1961, but reconciled and remained married until his death on January 2, 1963.
Powell's wealth made it possible for Allyson to effectively retire from show business after his death, making only occasional appearances on talk and variety shows. Allyson returned to the Broadway stage in 1970 in the play Forty Carats
and later toured in a production of No, No Nanette.
After Powell's death, Allyson committed herself to charitable work on his behalf, championing the importance of research in urological and gynecological diseases in seniors, and represented the Kimberly-Clark
Corporation in commercials for Depend
adult incontinence products
. Following a life-long interest in health and medical research (Allyson had initially wanted to use her acting career to fund her own training as a doctor), she was instrumental in establishing the June Allyson Foundation for Public Awareness and Medical Research. Allyson also financed her brother, Dr. Arthur Peters through his medical training, and he went on to specialize in otolaryngology
. She also went though a bitter court battle with her mother over custody of the children she had with Powell. Reports at the time revealed that writer/director Dirk Summers, with whom Allyson was romantically involved from 1963 to 1975, was named legal guardian for Ricky and Pamela as a result of a court petition. Members of the nascent jet-set, Allyson and Summers were frequently seen in Cap d'Antibes, Madrid, Rome, and London. However, Summers refused to marry her and the relationship did not last.
Following her separation from Summers, Allyson was twice married and divorced to businessman Alfred Glenn Maxwell, who owned a number of barbershops and had been Powell's barber,. During this time, Allyson struggled with alcoholism
, which she overcame in the mid-1970s. In 1976, Allyson married David Ashrow, a dentist turned actor. The couple occasionally performed together in regional theater, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, toured the United States with the stage play My Daughter, Your Son. They also appeared on celebrity cruise ship tours on the Royal Viking Sky, in a program that highlighted Allyson's movie career.
Her autobiography, June Allyson by June Allyson (1982) received generally complimentary reviews due to its insider look at Hollywood in one of its golden ages. A more critical appraisal came from Janet Maslin at the New York Times in her review, "Hollywood Leaves Its Imprint on Its Chroniclers", who noted: “Miss Allyson presents herself as the same sunny, tomboyish figure she played on screen Hollywood... like someone who has come to inhabit the very myths she helped to create on the screen." Privately, Allyson admitted that her earlier screen portrayals had left her uneasy about the typecast "good wife" roles she had played.
As a personal friend of President and Mrs. Reagan she was invited to many White House Dinners, and in 1988, President Reagan appointed her to “The Federal Council of Aging”. Allyson and her later husband, Dr. Ashrow, actively supported fund-raising efforts for both the James Stewart and Judy Garland museums; both Stewart and Garland had been close friends.
In 1993, her name also made headlines when actor-turned-agent Marty Ingels
publicly charged Allyson with not paying his large commission on the earlier Depends deal. Allyson denied owing any money, and she and Ashrow filed a lawsuit
for slander and emotional distress
, charging that Ingels was harassing and threatening them, stating Ingels made 138 phone calls during a single eight-hour period. Earlier that year, Ingels had pleaded no contest to making annoying phone calls.
In December 1993, Allyson christened the Holland America Maasdam, one of the flagships of the Holland America line. Although her heritage, like much of her personal story, was subject to different interpretations, Allyson always claimed to be proud of a Dutch ancestry.
Allyson made a special appearance in 1994 in That's Entertainment III
, as one of the film's narrators. She spoke about MGM's golden era, and introduced vintage film clips. In 1996, Allyson became the first recipient of the Harvey Award, presented by the James M. Stewart Museum Foundation, in recognition of her positive contributions to the world of entertainment. Until 2003, Allyson remained as busy as ever touring the country making personal appearances, headlining celebrity cruises and speaking on behalf of Kimberly-Clark, a long-time commercial interest.
Following hip-replacement surgery in 2003, Allyson's health began to deteriorate. With her husband at her side, she died July 8, 2006, aged 88 at her home in Ojai
, California. Her death was a result of pulmonary respiratory failure and acute bronchitis.
). In 1985, she received the Cannes Festival Distinguished Service Award.
At the 79th Annual Academy Awards
(2007), Allyson received a special tribute as part of the Annual Memorial tribute, it included a clip of her smiling and laughing. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 1537 Vine Street.
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
and television
Television in the United States
Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one...
actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1950...
for her performance in Too Young to Kiss
Too Young to Kiss
Too Young to Kiss is a 1951 comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring June Allyson. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction Too Young to Kiss is a 1951 comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring June Allyson. It was nominated for an Academy Award for...
(1951). From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961...
. A later generation knew her as a spokesperson for Depend
Depend
Depend is a brand of unisex adult underwear for those experiencing urinary or fecal incontinence by Kimberly-Clark. They were first introduced in 1984....
undergarments.
Early life
Allyson was born Eleanor Geisman, nicknamed "Ella", in The BronxThe Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She was the daughter of Clara (née Provost) and Robert Geisman. She had a brother, Henry, who was two years older. She claimed to be raised as a Roman Catholic but there is discrepancy relating to her early life as her studio biography was often the source of the confusion. She grew up in Rochambeau Gardens and her best friend was Sylvia Marcus. Her paternal grandparents, Harry Geisman and Anna Hafner, were immigrants from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, although Allyson claimed her last name was originally "Van Geisman", and was of Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
origin. Studio biographies listed her as "Jan Allyson" born to French-English parents. On her death, her daughter said Allyson was born "Eleanor Geisman to a French mother and Dutch father."
In April 1918, when Allyson was only six months old, her alcoholic father, who had worked as a janitor, abandoned the family. Allyson was brought up in near poverty, living with her maternal grandparents. To make ends meet, her mother worked as a telephone operator and restaurant cashier, and when she had enough funds, she would occasionally reunite with her daughter, but more often Allyson was "farmed" out to her grandparents or other relatives.
In 1925, when Allyson was eight, a dead tree branch fell on her while she was riding on her tricycle with her pet terrier in tow. The heavy branch killed her dog outright while Allyson had a fractured skull and broken back. Her doctors said she would never walk again and confined her to a heavy steel brace from neck to hips for four years. She ultimately regained her health but when Allyson had become famous, she was terrified that people would discover her background from the "tenement side of New York City" and readily agreed to studio tales of a "rosy life" including a concocted story that she underwent months of swimming exercises in rehabilitation to emerge as a star swimmer. In her later memoirs, Allyson does describe a summer program of swimming that did help her recovery.
After gradually progressing from a wheelchair to crutches to braces, Allyson's true "escape" from her impoverished life was to go to the movies where she was enraptured by Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
and Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
movies. As a teen, Allyson memorized the trademark Ginger Rogers dance routines; she claimed later to have watched The Gay Divorcee
The Gay Divorcee
The Gay Divorcee is a 1934 American film based on the musical play Gay Divorce written by Dwight Taylor, Kenneth S. Webb, Samuel Hoffenstein, with screenplay by George Marion Jr., Dorothy Yost and Edward Kaufman, from an unproduced play by J. Hartley Manners...
17 times. She also tried to emulate the singing styles of movie stars, although she never mastered reading music. When her mother remarried and the family was reunited with a more stable financial standing, Allyson was enrolled in the Ned Wayburn Dancing Academy and began to enter dance competitions with the stage name of "Elaine Peters." With the death of her stepfather and a bleak future ahead, she left high school after only completing two and half years, to seek jobs as a dancer. Her first $60-a-week job was as a tap dancer at the Lido Club in Montreal. Returning to New York, she subsequently found work as an actress in movie short subjects filmed by Educational Pictures
Educational Pictures
Educational Pictures was a film distribution company founded in 1919 by Earle Hammons . Educational primarily distributed short subjects, and today is probably best known for its series of 1930s comedies starring Buster Keaton, as well as for a series of one-reel comedies featuring Shirley...
at its Astoria, Long Island studio. Fiercely ambitious, Allyson tried her hand at modeling, but, to her consternation being the "sad-looking before part" in a before-and-after bathing suit magazine ad. Her first career "break" came when Educational cast her as an ingenue opposite singer Lee Sullivan, comic dancers Herman Timberg, Jr. and Pat Rooney, Jr. and future comedy star Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
. When Educational ceased operations, Allyson moved over to Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
in Brooklyn, and starred or co-starred (with dancer Hal Le Roy
Hal Le Roy
Hal Le Roy was a dancer, actor and singer appearing on stage, in film and on television.-Career:Le Roy was born John LeRoy Schotte in Cincinnati in 1913. He broke into New York theater as a dancer, and quickly worked his way into Broadway roles where his dance style created a sensation in the 1931...
) in musical shorts.
Career
Interspersing jobs in the chorus line at the Copacabana Club with acting roles at Vitaphone, the diminutive 5'1" (1.55 m), weighing less than 100 pounds, red-headed Allyson landed a chorus job in the Broadway show Sing out the News in 1938. The legend is that the choreographer gave her a job and a new name: Allyson, a family name, and June, for the month, although like many aspects of her career resume, the derivation was highly unlikely as she was already dubbing herself as "June Allyson" prior to her Broadway engagement and has even attributed the name to a later director. Allyson subsequently appeared in the chorus in the Jerome KernJerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
-Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
musical Very Warm for May
Very Warm for May
Very Warm for May is a musical composed by Jerome Kern, with a libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was the team's final score for Broadway, following their hits Show Boat, Sweet Adeline, and Music in the Air...
(1939).
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...
, and when Hutton contracted measles, Allyson appeared in five performances of Panama Hattie. Broadway director George Abbott caught one of the nights, and offered Allyson one of the lead roles in his production of Best Foot Forward
Best Foot Forward (musical)
Best Foot Forward is a 1941 Broadway musical by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, with book by John Cecil Holm. Produced by George Abbott, the production opened on 1 October 1941 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre where it was staged for 326 performances....
(1941).
During World War II, after her appearance in the Broadway musical, Allyson was selected for the 1943 film version of Best Foot Forward. When she arrived in Hollywood, the production had not started so MGM "placed her on the payroll" of Girl Crazy
Girl Crazy (1943 film)
Girl Crazy is a 1943 musical film produced by Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Based on the stage musical of the same name, Girl Crazy stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in their ninth of ten pairings, partly filmed on location near Palm Springs, California...
(1943). Despite playing a "bit part", Allyson received good reviews as a sidekick to Best Foot Forwards star, Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, but was still relegated to the "drop list". MGM's musical supervisor, Arthur Freed saw her test sent up by an agent and insisted that Allyson be put on contract immediately. Another musical, Thousands Cheer (1943) was again a showcase for her singing and dancing, albeit still in a minor role. As a new starlet, although Allyson had already been a performer on stage and screen, she was presented as an "overnight sensation", with Hollywood press agents attempting to portray her as an ingenue, selectively slicing almost a decade off her true age. Studio bios listed her variously as being born in 1922 and 1923.
Allyson's breakthrough was in Two Girls and a Sailor
Two Girls and a Sailor
Two Girls and a Sailor is a 1944 musical film about two singing sisters who are helped to set up a canteen to entertain soldiers by a mysterious wealthy admirer. It featured a host of celebrity performances, including Jimmy Durante doing his hallmark "Inka Dinka Doo", Gracie Allen, and Lena Horne...
(1944) where the studio image of the "girl next door" was fostered by her being cast alongside long-time acting chum, Van Johnson
Van Johnson
Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....
, the quintessential "boy next door." As the "sweetheart team," Johnson and Allyson were to appear together in four later films.
Allyson's early success as a musical star led to several other postwar musicals, including Two Sisters from Boston (1946) and Good News
Good News (films)
Good News is the title of two American MGM musical films based on the 1927 stage production of the same name.The first, released in 1930, was directed by Nick Grinde. The cast included Bessie Love, Cliff Edwards and Penny Singleton. The film was shot in black-and-white, although the finale was in...
(1947). Allyson also played straight roles such as Constance in The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
(1948), the tomboy Jo March in Little Women
Little Women
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...
(1949), and a nurse in Battle Circus (1953). She was very adept at opening the waterworks on cue, and many of her films incorporated a crying scene. Fellow MGM player Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien is an American film and stage actress. Although her film career as a leading character was brief, she was one of the most popular child actors in cinema history...
recalled that she and Allyson were known as "the town criers".
Royal Wedding
Royal Wedding is a 1951 Hollywood musical comedy film known for Fred Astaire's dance performance on a ceiling and another with a coat rack. The story is set in London in 1947 at the time of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and stars Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Sarah...
, but had to leave the production due to pregnancy. (She was replaced initially by Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, and later Jane Powell
Jane Powell
Jane Powell is an American singer, dancer and actress.After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens...
.) She starred in 1956 with a young rising star named Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
in a musical comedy, You Can't Run Away From It. Besides Van Johnson, James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
was a frequent costar, teaming up with Allyson in films such as The Glenn Miller Story
The Glenn Miller Story
The Glenn Miller Story is a 1954 American film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their first non-western collaboration.-Plot:...
, The Stratton Story
The Stratton Story
The Stratton Story is a 1949 film directed by Sam Wood which tells the true story of Monty Stratton, a Major League Baseball pitcher who pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1934-1938...
and Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (film)
Strategic Air Command is a 1955 American film starring James Stewart and June Allyson, and directed by Anthony Mann. Released by Paramount Pictures, it was the first of four films that depicted the role of the Strategic Air Command in the Cold War era....
.
A versatile performer, Allyson appeared on radio and after her film career ended, Allyson made a handful of nightclub singing engagements. In later years, Allyson appeared on television, not only in her own series, but in such popular programs as The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
and Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
. The DuPont Show with June Allyson on CBS ran for two seasons and was an attempt to use a "high budget" formula but her efforts were dismissed by critics such as the entertainment reviewer in the LA Examiner as "reaching down to the level of mag fiction." TV Guide and other fan magazines such as TV, however, considered Allyson's foray into television as revitalizing her fame and career for a younger audience, further characterizing that her stereotyping by the movie industry as the "girl next door" was the "waste and neglect of talent on its own doorstep."
Personal life
On her arrival in Hollywood, studio heads attempted to enhance the pairing of Van Johnson and Allyson by sending out the two contracted players on a series of "official dates" which were highly publicized and led to a public perception that a romance had been kindled. Although dating David RoseDavid Rose
David Rose was a British-born American songwriter, composer, arranger, pianist, and orchestra leader. His most famous compositions were "The Stripper", "Holiday for Strings", and "Calypso Melody"...
, Peter Lawford
Peter Lawford
Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
and John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, Allyson was actually being courted by movie heartthrob and powerful Hollywood "player" Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...
, who was 13 years her senior and had been previously married to Mildred Maund and Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
.
On August 19, 1945, Allyson caused MGM studio chief, Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
some consternation by marrying Dick Powell. After defying him twice by refusing to stop seeing Powell, in a "tactical master stroke", she asked Mayer to give her away at the wedding. He was so disarmed that he agreed but put Allyson on suspension anyway. The Powells had two children, Pamela Allyson Powell (adopted in 1948 through the Tennessee Children's Home Society
Tennessee Children's Home Society
Tennessee Children's Home Society was an orphanage operated in the state of Tennessee during the first half of the twentieth century, and is most often associated with its Memphis branch operator Georgia Tann as an organization involved with the kidnapping of children and their illegal adoptions....
in an adoption arranged by Georgia Tann
Georgia Tann
Georgia Tann, born Beulah George Tann , operated the Tennessee Children's Home Society, an adoption agency in Memphis, Tennessee. Tann used the unlicensed home as a front for her black market baby adoption scheme from the 1920s until a state investigation closed the institution in 1950...
) and Richard Powell, Jr. (born December 24, 1950). In 1961, Allyson underwent a kidney operation and later, throat surgery, temporarily affecting her trademark raspy-voice. The couple briefly separated in 1961, but reconciled and remained married until his death on January 2, 1963.
Powell's wealth made it possible for Allyson to effectively retire from show business after his death, making only occasional appearances on talk and variety shows. Allyson returned to the Broadway stage in 1970 in the play Forty Carats
Forty Carats
Forty Carats is a play by Jay Allen.Adapted from the French original by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Gredy, the comedy revolves around a 40-year-old American divorcee who is assisted by a 22-year-old when her car breaks down during a vacation in Greece...
and later toured in a production of No, No Nanette.
After Powell's death, Allyson committed herself to charitable work on his behalf, championing the importance of research in urological and gynecological diseases in seniors, and represented the Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. Kimberly-Clark brand name products include "Kleenex" facial tissue, "Kotex" feminine hygiene products, "Cottonelle", Scott and Andrex toilet paper, Wypall utility wipes, "KimWipes"...
Corporation in commercials for Depend
Depend
Depend is a brand of unisex adult underwear for those experiencing urinary or fecal incontinence by Kimberly-Clark. They were first introduced in 1984....
adult incontinence products
Fecal incontinence
Fecal incontinence is the loss of regular control of the bowels. Involuntary excretion and leaking are common occurrences for those affected. Subjects relating to defecation are often socially unacceptable, thus those affected may be beset by feelings of shame and humiliation...
. Following a life-long interest in health and medical research (Allyson had initially wanted to use her acting career to fund her own training as a doctor), she was instrumental in establishing the June Allyson Foundation for Public Awareness and Medical Research. Allyson also financed her brother, Dr. Arthur Peters through his medical training, and he went on to specialize in otolaryngology
Otolaryngology
Otolaryngology or ENT is the branch of medicine and surgery that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders....
. She also went though a bitter court battle with her mother over custody of the children she had with Powell. Reports at the time revealed that writer/director Dirk Summers, with whom Allyson was romantically involved from 1963 to 1975, was named legal guardian for Ricky and Pamela as a result of a court petition. Members of the nascent jet-set, Allyson and Summers were frequently seen in Cap d'Antibes, Madrid, Rome, and London. However, Summers refused to marry her and the relationship did not last.
Following her separation from Summers, Allyson was twice married and divorced to businessman Alfred Glenn Maxwell, who owned a number of barbershops and had been Powell's barber,. During this time, Allyson struggled with alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, which she overcame in the mid-1970s. In 1976, Allyson married David Ashrow, a dentist turned actor. The couple occasionally performed together in regional theater, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, toured the United States with the stage play My Daughter, Your Son. They also appeared on celebrity cruise ship tours on the Royal Viking Sky, in a program that highlighted Allyson's movie career.
Her autobiography, June Allyson by June Allyson (1982) received generally complimentary reviews due to its insider look at Hollywood in one of its golden ages. A more critical appraisal came from Janet Maslin at the New York Times in her review, "Hollywood Leaves Its Imprint on Its Chroniclers", who noted: “Miss Allyson presents herself as the same sunny, tomboyish figure she played on screen Hollywood... like someone who has come to inhabit the very myths she helped to create on the screen." Privately, Allyson admitted that her earlier screen portrayals had left her uneasy about the typecast "good wife" roles she had played.
As a personal friend of President and Mrs. Reagan she was invited to many White House Dinners, and in 1988, President Reagan appointed her to “The Federal Council of Aging”. Allyson and her later husband, Dr. Ashrow, actively supported fund-raising efforts for both the James Stewart and Judy Garland museums; both Stewart and Garland had been close friends.
In 1993, her name also made headlines when actor-turned-agent Marty Ingels
Marty Ingels
Marty Ingels is an actor, comedian, theatrical agent, and, by many, best known as the voice of many cartoon characters and commercials. Born Martin Ingerman in Brooklyn, New York, he is the son of Jacob and Minnie Ingerman.His voice-overs and commercials include those for Paul Masson wines, with...
publicly charged Allyson with not paying his large commission on the earlier Depends deal. Allyson denied owing any money, and she and Ashrow filed a lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
for slander and emotional distress
Intentional infliction of emotional distress
Intentional infliction of emotional distress is a tort claim of recent origin for intentional conduct that results in extreme emotional distress. Some courts and commentators have substituted mental for emotional, but the tort is the same...
, charging that Ingels was harassing and threatening them, stating Ingels made 138 phone calls during a single eight-hour period. Earlier that year, Ingels had pleaded no contest to making annoying phone calls.
In December 1993, Allyson christened the Holland America Maasdam, one of the flagships of the Holland America line. Although her heritage, like much of her personal story, was subject to different interpretations, Allyson always claimed to be proud of a Dutch ancestry.
Allyson made a special appearance in 1994 in That's Entertainment III
That's Entertainment III
That's Entertainment! III is a documentary film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to celebrate the studio's 70th anniversary. It was the third in a series of retrospectives that began with the first That's Entertainment! and That's Entertainment, Part II...
, as one of the film's narrators. She spoke about MGM's golden era, and introduced vintage film clips. In 1996, Allyson became the first recipient of the Harvey Award, presented by the James M. Stewart Museum Foundation, in recognition of her positive contributions to the world of entertainment. Until 2003, Allyson remained as busy as ever touring the country making personal appearances, headlining celebrity cruises and speaking on behalf of Kimberly-Clark, a long-time commercial interest.
Following hip-replacement surgery in 2003, Allyson's health began to deteriorate. With her husband at her side, she died July 8, 2006, aged 88 at her home in Ojai
Ojai, California
Ojai is a city in Ventura County, California, USA. It is situated in the Ojai Valley , surrounded by hills and mountains. The population was 7,461 at the 2010 census, down from 7,862 at the 2000 census.-History:Chumash Indians were the early inhabitants of the valley...
, California. Her death was a result of pulmonary respiratory failure and acute bronchitis.
Awards
In 1952, Allyson won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress—Musical/Comedy, for Too Young To Kiss. In 1954, she was awarded the Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting at the Venice Festival, for Executive Suite, in the same year that she was voted Most Popular Female Star by Photoplay magazine. In 1955, Allyson was named the ninth most popular movie star in the annual Quigley Exhibitors Poll and the second most popular female star (behind Grace KellyGrace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
). In 1985, she received the Cannes Festival Distinguished Service Award.
At the 79th Annual Academy Awards
79th Academy Awards
The 79th Academy Awards ceremony , honored the best films of 2006 and took place on February 25, 2007 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on ABC. Ellen DeGeneres hosted the ceremony for the first time. The producer was Laura Ziskin. The announcers were Don LaFontaine and Gina Tuttle.The nominees were...
(2007), Allyson received a special tribute as part of the Annual Memorial tribute, it included a clip of her smiling and laughing. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 1537 Vine Street.
Features
- Best Foot Forward (1943)
- Thousands CheerThousands CheerThousands Cheer is a 1943 American comedy musical film released by MGM. Produced at the height of the Second World War, the film was intended as a morale booster for American troops and their families.-Plot:The film is essentially a two-part program...
(1943) - Girl CrazyGirl Crazy (1943 film)Girl Crazy is a 1943 musical film produced by Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Based on the stage musical of the same name, Girl Crazy stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in their ninth of ten pairings, partly filmed on location near Palm Springs, California...
(1943) - Meet the People (1944)
- Two Girls and a SailorTwo Girls and a SailorTwo Girls and a Sailor is a 1944 musical film about two singing sisters who are helped to set up a canteen to entertain soldiers by a mysterious wealthy admirer. It featured a host of celebrity performances, including Jimmy Durante doing his hallmark "Inka Dinka Doo", Gracie Allen, and Lena Horne...
(1944) - Music for Millions (1944)
- Her Highness and the BellboyHer Highness and the BellboyHer Highness and the Bellboy is a 1945 film starring Hedy Lamarr and Robert Walker.- Plot synopsis :In a fictional European country, a beautiful princess meets a handsome American reporter and falls in love with him. On a trip to New York, she hopes to find him again. While staying at one of the...
(1945) - The Sailor Takes a Wife (1945)
- Two Sisters from BostonTwo Sisters from BostonTwo Sisters from Boston is a 1946 musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster. Starring Kathryn Grayson, June Allyson, Lauritz Melchior, Jimmy Durante and Peter Lawford....
(1946) - Till the Clouds Roll ByTill the Clouds Roll ByTill The Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American musical film made by MGM. The film is a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern, who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed...
(1946) - The Secret HeartThe Secret HeartThe Secret Heart is a 1946 film directed by Robert Z. Leonard, and starring Claudette Colbert, Walter Pidgeon and June Allyson.-Plot:Lee is engaged to marry Larry Adams, a spendthrift widower with two children, son Chase and daughter Penny...
(1946) - High Barbaree (1947)
- Good NewsGood News (films)Good News is the title of two American MGM musical films based on the 1927 stage production of the same name.The first, released in 1930, was directed by Nick Grinde. The cast included Bessie Love, Cliff Edwards and Penny Singleton. The film was shot in black-and-white, although the finale was in...
(1947) - The Bride Goes Wild (1948)
- The Three MusketeersThe Three Musketeers (1948 film)The Three Musketeers is a Technicolor adventure film adaptation of the classic novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père which starred Gene Kelly and Lana Turner...
(1948) - Words and MusicWords and Music (1948 film)Words and Music is a 1948 movie loosely based on the creative partnership of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film starred Mickey Rooney, Tom Drake, Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Ann Sothern, It is best remembered for the final screen pairing between Rooney and Judy...
(1948) - Little WomenLittle Women (1949 film)Little Women directed by Mervyn LeRoy is based on Louisa May Alcott's novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Sally Benson, Victor Heerman, Sarah Y. Mason, and Andrew Solt...
(1949) - The Stratton StoryThe Stratton StoryThe Stratton Story is a 1949 film directed by Sam Wood which tells the true story of Monty Stratton, a Major League Baseball pitcher who pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1934-1938...
(1949) - The Reformer and the Redhead (1950)
- Right Cross (1950)
- Too Young to KissToo Young to KissToo Young to Kiss is a 1951 comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring June Allyson. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction Too Young to Kiss is a 1951 comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring June Allyson. It was nominated for an Academy Award for...
(1951) - The Girl in White (1952)
- Battle Circus (1953)
- Remains to Be Seen (1953)
- The Glenn Miller StoryThe Glenn Miller StoryThe Glenn Miller Story is a 1954 American film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their first non-western collaboration.-Plot:...
(1953) - Executive SuiteExecutive SuiteExecutive Suite is a 1954 MGM drama film depicting the transfer of power in a corporation in trouble. The film stars William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, and Walter Pidgeon. It was directed by Robert Wise and produced by John Houseman from a screenplay by Ernest Lehman based on the...
(1954) - Woman's WorldWoman's World (film)Woman's World, also known as A Woman's World, is a 1954 drama film about corporate America. Three men compete for the top job at a large company.-Plot:...
(1954) - Strategic Air CommandStrategic Air Command (film)Strategic Air Command is a 1955 American film starring James Stewart and June Allyson, and directed by Anthony Mann. Released by Paramount Pictures, it was the first of four films that depicted the role of the Strategic Air Command in the Cold War era....
(1955) - The ShrikeThe Shrike (film)The Shrike is a 1955 film based on the Joseph Kramm's play, The Shrike. José Ferrer directed and starred in Ketti Frings' screenplay adaptation.-Characters and story:...
(1955) - The McConnell StoryThe McConnell StoryThe McConnell Story is a dramatization of the life and career of U.S. Air Force pilot Joseph C. McConnell , who served as a navigator in World War II before becoming the top American ace during the Korean War. He was killed while serving as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave...
(1955) - The Opposite SexThe Opposite SexThe Opposite Sex is a 1956 musical film.It is a remake of the 1939 classic comedy The Women. Both films are based on Claire Boothe Luce's original play...
(1956) - You Can't Run Away from ItYou Can't Run Away from ItYou Can't Run Away from It is a 1956 Technicolor and CinemaScope musical comedy starring June Allyson and Jack Lemmon. Directed and produced by Dick Powell, the film is a remake of the 1934 Academy Award-winning film It Happened One Night.-Plot:...
(1956) - Interlude (1957)
- My Man GodfreyMy Man Godfrey (1957 film)My Man Godfrey is a 1957 comedy film starring June Allyson and David Niven. It is a remake of Gregory La Cava's 1936 screwball comedy of the same name....
(1957) - A Stranger in My Arms (1959)
- They Only Kill Their MastersThey Only Kill Their MastersThey Only Kill Their Masters is a 1972 mystery movie starring James Garner and Katharine Ross, with a supporting cast featuring Hal Holbrook, June Allyson, Tom Ewell, Peter Lawford, Edmond O'Brien, and Arthur O'Connell...
(1972) - Blackout (1978)
- That's Entertainment! IIIThat's Entertainment!That's Entertainment! is a 1974 compilation film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to celebrate its 50th anniversary. It was followed by two sequels and a related film called That's Dancing!....
(1994) - A Girl, Three Guys, and a GunA Girl, Three Guys, and a GunA Girl, Three Guys, and a Gun is a 2001 romantic comedy film from writer-director Brent Florence, who also stars in the picture...
(2001)
Short subjects
- Ups and DownsUps and Downs (1937 film)Ups and Downs is a 1937 film released by Warner Brothers Pictures. It was part of Warner's "Broadway Brevities" series of 2-reel musical shorts , starred Broadway dancer Hal Le Roy and was directed by Roy Mack...
(1937) - Pixilated (1937)
- Swing for Sale (1937)
- Dime a Dance (1937)
- Dates and Nuts (1937)
- Not Now (1938)
- Sing for Sweetie (1938)
- The Prisoner of Swing (1938)
- The Knight Is Young (1938)
- All Girl Revue (1940)
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood, City of Stars (1956)
External links
- June Allyson's Official Web Site
- Joe Daurril's Allyson Without Tears
- Obituary in the Los Angeles Daily NewsLos Angeles Daily NewsThe Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
- Obituary in The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
(July 11, 2006) - Photographs and literature