Actress June Allyson passed away at 88 on Saturday. She was born in the Bronx, she taught herself to dance after being crushed by a tree branch, and she appeared in 25 MGM films over 11 years, many of them musicals. She also fell for married fellow actor Dick Powell who left his family for her, a little shocking biographical detail from a primarily second tier studio actress known for playing the nice girlfriend or nice wife.
“Women identify with me,” she said in a 1986 intervew, “and while men desire Cyd Charisse, they’d take me home to meet Mom.”
Allyson played heroine Jo March in the 1949 version of Little Women with Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh and Mary Astor. Her obit from the New York Times.
Posted by karen at July 11, 2006 10:17 AM