Van Heflin
| Van Heflin | |
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 from the trailer for Grand Central Murder (1942) |
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| Born | Emmett Evan Heflin, Jr. December 13, 1910 Walters, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | July 23, 1971 (aged 60) Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1936–71 |
| Spouse | Eleanor Scherr (aka Eleanor Shaw) Frances E. Neal (1942–67; 3 children) |
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. (December 13, 1910 – July 23, 1971) was an American film and theater actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Johnny Eager (1942).
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[edit] Early life
Heflin was born in Walters, Oklahoma, the son of Fanny Bleecker (née Shippey) and Dr. Emmett Evan Heflin, a dentist.[1][2] He was of Irish and French ancestry.[3] Heflin's sister was Daytime Emmy-nominated actress Frances Heflin. Heflin attended Classen High School in Oklahoma City and the University of Oklahoma, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
[edit] Career
Heflin began his acting career on Broadway in the early 1930s before being signed to a contract by RKO Radio Pictures. He made his film debut in A Woman Rebels (1936), opposite Katharine Hepburn. He was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and was initially cast in supporting roles in films such as Santa Fe Trail (1940), and Johnny Eager (1942), winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the latter performance.
MGM began to groom him as a leading man in B movies, and provided him with supporting roles in more prestigious productions. Heflin continued to hone his acting skills throughout the early 1940s. He provided a compelling characterization of the embattled President Andrew Johnson in Tennessee Johnson (1942), playing opposite (and at odds with) Lionel Barrymore who, in the role of Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, failed to have Johnson convicted in an impeachment trial by the slimmest of margins. According to the IMDB (Internet Movie Database), Heflin served during World War II as a combat cameraman in the Ninth Air Force in Europe and with the First Motion Picture Unit.
His best-known film became the 1953 classic western Shane, in which he co-starred with Alan Ladd. Among his other notable film credits are Presenting Lily Mars (1943), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), Possessed (1947), Green Dolphin Street (1947), Act of Violence (1948), The Three Musketeers (1948), The Prowler (1951) and 3:10 to Yuma (1957).
Heflin also performed on stage throughout his acting career. Credits include The Philadelphia Story on Broadway opposite Katharine Hepburn and Joseph Cotten, and the Arthur Miller plays A Memory of Two Mondays and A View From the Bridge.
The Adventures of Philip Marlowe was a radio detective drama that aired from June 17, 1947, through September 15, 1951, first heard on NBC in the summer of 1947 starring Van Heflin. (June 12, 1947 - Sept 9, 1947)
Heflin's last major role was in Airport (1970). He played "D. O. Guerrero", a failure who attempts to blow himself up on an airliner so that his wife (played by Maureen Stapleton) can collect on a life insurance policy.
He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his contributions to motion pictures at 6309 Hollywood Boulevard, and for television at 6125 Hollywood Boulevard.
[edit] Personal life
After a six-month marriage to actress Eleanor Shaw (née Eleanor Scherr, died 2004), he married RKO contract player Frances Neal. They had two daughters, actresses Vana O'Brien and Cathleen (Kate) Heflin, and a son, Tracy. Heflin was the grandfather of actor Ben O'Brien and actress Eleanor O'Brien. Heflin was the uncle of Marta Heflin and Mady Kaplan, both actresses, and director Jonathan Kaplan.
During World War II, he served as a combat cameraman in the Ninth Air Force in Europe.
On July 6, 1971, Heflin had a heart attack while swimming in his pool. He reached the ladder where he managed to hang on unconscious for hours until he was found. He then lay unconscious for days, apparently never regaining consciousness. Van Heflin died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital on July 23, 1971, aged 60. He had left instructions forbidding a public funeral. Instead, his cremated remains were scattered in the ocean.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] References
- ^ Oklahoma History site
- ^ Parker, John (1952). Who's who in the theatre: Volume 17, Part 1. Pitman. pp. 762.
- ^ Van Heflin biodata
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Van Heflin |
- Van Heflin at the Internet Movie Database
- Van Heflin at the Internet Broadway Database
- Van Heflin at Find a Grave
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Heflin, Van
- Photographs and literature on Van Hefln
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- 1910 births
- 1971 deaths
- Actors from Oklahoma
- American film actors
- American military personnel of World War II
- American stage actors
- Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners
- Deaths from myocardial infarction
- First Motion Picture Unit personnel
- People from Cotton County, Oklahoma
- Spaghetti Western actors
- United States Army Air Forces officers
- University of Oklahoma alumni
- Western (genre) film actors
