June Allyson, whose perky wholesomeness made her the perfect girlfriend in a series of MGM musicals during the 1940s and the perfect screen wife during the 1950s, died July 8 at her home in Ojai, Calif. She was 88.
Her death was announced Monday by her daughter, Pamela Allyson Powell. The cause was pulmonary respiratory failure and acute bronchitis, she told The Associated Press.
Cheerful, blond and petite, but with a husky voice, Allyson turned from chorus girl into movie star when she melted into the arms of Van Johnson in "Two Girls and a Sailor" in 1944.
In the '50s, Allyson made the segue from adoring girlfriend to devoted wife in films such as "The Glenn Miller Story" (1954).
She was born Ella Geisman on October 7, 1917, in the Bronx. She tried out for and won a chorus job in a 1938 Broadway revue, taking the name June (for the month) Allyson.
As understudy to Betty Hutton, who played the comedy lead in "Panama Hattie," Allyson took over the part for five performances when Hutton came down with measles. In a plot development worthy of an MGM musical, the producer George Abbott saw her performance and offered her a small featured role in his next musical, "Best Foot Forward." MGM bought the movie rights to the musical, and Allyson was invited to Hollywood to play her role on screen. She stayed at MGM for 11 years and 25 movies.
Allyson fell in love with the married movie star Dick Powell, who divorced his wife, the actress Joan Blondell, and married Allyson in 1945, despite the opposition of studio boss Louis B. Mayer. Although the marriage was rocky at times — Allyson once filed for divorce — it lasted until Powell's death from cancer in 1963 at age 58. In her autobiography, she touched on her struggle with alcoholism after Powell's death.
Allyson and Powell adopted a baby girl, Pamela, in 1948. Two years later, she gave birth to a son, Richard.
Pamela Allyson Powell now lives in Santa Monica, Calif. Richard, of Los Angeles, also survives Allyson, as does her husband, David Ashrow, a dentist whom she married in 1976. A previous marriage, to Powell's hairdresser, Glenn Maxwell, in 1963, the year Powell died, ended in divorce.
In 1985 she became the national spokeswoman for Depend, a diaper for adults with incontinence. She broke one of the last taboos by bringing this uncomfortable subject into the nation's living rooms by way of television commercials.
Highlights of June Allyson's film career
Best Foot Forward, 1943
Thousands Cheer, 1943
Girl Crazy, 1943
Two Girls and a Sailor, 1944
The Sailor Takes as Wife, 1946
Two Sisters From Boston, 1946
Till the Clouds Roll By, 1946
Good News, 1947
The Bride Goes Wild, 1948
The Three Musketeers, 1948
Words and Music, 1948
Little Women, 1949
The Stratton Story, 1949
Battle Circus, 1953
The Glenn Miller Story, 1954
Executive Suite, 1954
Woman's World, 1954
Strategic Air Command, 1955
The Shrike, 1955
The Opposite Sex, 1956
You Can't Run Away From It, 1956
My Man Godfrey, 1957
Stranger in My Arms, 1959
They Only Kill Their Masters, 1972
Blackout, 1978
— Associated Press