Van Johnson

About Van Johnson

Charles "Van" Johnson (born August 25, 1916) is an American film and television actor and dancer.

Johnson was born in Newport, Rhode Island; the son of Loretta (née Snyder), a homemaker, and Charles E. Johnson, a plumber and later real-estate salesman. His father was a US immigrant from Sweden, and his mother has German-American Pennsylvania Dutch ethnicity.

His acting career began in earnest in 1936 in the Broadway revue New Faces of 1936. In 1939, he landed a part in Rodgers and Hart's Too Many Girls in the role of a college boy (after being Gene Kelly's understudy in Pal Joey). RKO then signed him to a short-term contract to star in the film adaptation of the play which became Johnson's film debut. MGM picked up his contract from RKO soon after and cast him in several bit parts.