Hollywood's sweetheart
V. GANGADHAR
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Her peers were glamorous stars, but petite actor June Allyson, who died recently, stole the show with her looks.
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THE GIRL-NEXT-DOOR: With Jimmy Durante in Music For Millions and (right) a graceful June Allyson.
She was 5' 1" and weighed less than 100 lbs. Her peers were glamorous stars such as Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor and Lana Turner. This petite actor was June Allyson, who died recently at 88.
She was not a poster girl, nor did she marry and divorce with regularity. She was known as `Hollywood's Sweetheart' and was under a long-term contract with MGM.
`Everyone loved her'
"Everyone loved her," observed Ginger Rogers, who was Hollywood's `dancing queen' at that time. For water baby Esther Williams, June Allyson was a `special little lady' and they were life-long friends. Mickey Rooney and Lucille Ball were also her close friends.
A singer and a dancer, Allyson made a name for herself as a chorus girl before the MGM talent scouts spotted her.
The studio bosses found her looks different and decided that her movies would appeal to family audiences. She was the kind of girl young men would love to bring home to meet the parents.
Even the American soldiers had a soft corner for her. Although they drooled over the famous legs of Betty Grable, Allyson was the sort of girl they would want to come home to from the war.
Allyson had a mixed career. She also did Broadway shows and television series.
One first saw her opposite Gene Kelley in the swashbuckling adventure, `Three Musketeers,' as the faithful Constance who died serving her country. Her killer was Milady played by the glamorous Lana Turner. While Gene Kelley drifted towards musicals, Allyson tried her hand at different roles. Her first box office hit was `Two Girls and A Sailor.'
That was the beginning of a career, which saw her play opposite several top heroes such as James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Van Johnson and Dick Powell.
She had an interesting role in the 1949 version of `Little Women' and co-starred with James Stewart in two of the important movies of his career, `The Glen Miller Story' and `Strategic Air Command.'
Stewart, an American war hero and a Brigadier-General in the Air Force, said he enjoyed working with Allyson, a `most understanding and co-operative co-star.'
But Allyson's favourite co-star was Dick Powell whom she married and spent 18 blissful years with. His death was a personal blow. And her professional life floundered a bit and for a time she took to the bottle. But she still had good roles in television serials and also acted in `40 Carats' on Broadway.
In 1976, Allyson married dentist and actor, David Ashrow, and found happiness again.
She was often seen at Hollywood functions and continued to be popular with her friends. But Hollywood began to change and Allyson became content being the homemaker, making appearances only in public interest and in public health advertisement campaigns.
One remembers feeling sad when her character, Constance, died in `Three Musketeers'. Today, her death brings back the same feeling again.
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