June Allyson

Date of birth (location) 7 October 1917 The Bronx, New York, USA American leading woman whose sweet smile and sunny disposition made her the prototypical girl-next-door of American movies of the 1940s. Raised in semi-poverty in Bronx neighborhoods by her divorced mother, Allyson (nee Ella Geisman) was injured in a fall at age eight and spent four years confined within a steel brace. Swimming therapy slowly gave her mobility again, and she began to study dance as well. She began to enter dance contests after high school and was given roles in several musical short films. In 1938 she made her Broadway debut in the musical "Sing Out the News." After several roles in the choruses of various musicals, she was hired to understudy Betty Hutton in "Panama Hattie." Hutton's measles gave Allyson a shot at a performance and she impressed director George Abbott so much that he gave her a role in his next musical, "Best Foot Forward." She subsequently was hired by MGM to recreate her role in the screen version. The studio saw what it had in her and offered her a contract. Her smoky voice and winning personality made her very popular and she made more than a score of films for MGM, most often in musicals and comedies. She became quite a box-office attraction, paired with many of the major stars of the day. In 1945 she married actor-director Dick Powell, with whom she occasionally co-starred. Following Powell's death from cancer in 1963, she retreated somewhat from film work, appearing only infrequently on screen and slightly more often in television films. Occasional nightclub appearances and commercials have been her only other public performances since.