Product Description

Van Johnson's dazzling smile, shock of red hair, ad sutaed freckled cheeks made him a movie-star ico amogst teeage girls in the 1940s. He won the critics acclaim too, by appearing in a series of blockbuster war films - A Guy Named Joe, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Weekend at the Waldorf, and Battleground - and once free of the golden-boy stereotype, became a respected actor assigned stellar roles in such acclaimed films as State of the Union, The Last Time I Saw Paris, and The Caine Mutiny.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #521358 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Library Journal
The first in the new "Hollywood Legends" series, edited by Davis (history, Southern Methodist Univ.), this is the only full-length biography of Johnson, who rose to film box-office stardom during World War II as a genial, boy-next-door bobbysoxer idol while struggling with sexual ambiguity. The red-haired, freckled Johnson appeared in war films like Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, then later in films like The Caine Mutiny. He remained popular on stage and television after his film popularity waned. Unfortunately this chronicle of Johnson's career, while most astute in showing how a public persona may have little to do with the human being, relies a great deal on secondary sources and does not provide true insight. Recommended only for large public libraries and academic libraries with performing arts collections. Bruce Henson, Georgia Inst. of Technology Lib., Atlanta
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.