By Jessica Pickens
With her funny voice and small stature, actress June Allyson was one of film’s sweethearts. Under contract at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, she usually played sweet characters in musicals or the perfect wife. Her raspy speaking voice was distinctive—friend and fellow actor Van Johnson called it Allyson’s “million dollar laryngitis.”
Here are a few films of Allyson’s that you can rent at DVD Netflix that highlight her career:
Best Foot Forward (1943)
Starring: Lucille Ball, Virginia Weidler, William Gaxton, Tommy Dix, Nancy Walker, June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, Harry James and His Music Makers
Bud Hooper (Dix), a cadet at Winsocki military school, sends a prom invitation to movie star Lucille Ball, who plays herself in this film. Ball’s agent thinks it would be a great publicity stunt for her to attend the dance, even though he already invited his girlfriend, Helen (Weidler). However, since it was Helen who was approved to attend the dance, Bud has Ball pose as Helen.
June Allyson isn’t the star or even a co-star in “Best Foot Forward.” But this was an important role in her film career, because it was her first feature film role. Allyson was part of the original Broadway cast of “Best Foot Forward” and was transplanted to Hollywood to bring the musical to screen. Allyson, Nancy Walker, and Gloria De Haven provide the film’s highlight with the number “The Three B’s”—which may be one of the best musical numbers on screen.
Till the Clouds Roll By (1947)
Starring: An all-star cast including Robert Walker, Van Heflin, Lucille Bremer, June Allyson, Van Johnson, Lena Horne, Judy Garland, Kathyrn Grayson, Cyd Charisse
With an all-star cast, this is a fictionalized account of the life of Broadway composer Jerome Kern (Walker). The film mainly consists of show-stopping song and dance numbers performed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s top musical stars. While many of them appear in only one number throughout the film, June Allyson appears in three numbers: The 1920s collegiate numbers “Cleopatterer” and “Leave it to Jane” and the sweet title number “Till the Clouds Roll By,” where Allyson and Ray MacDonald dance in raincoats and umbrellas.
The Three Musketeers (1948)
Starring: Gene Kelly, Lana Turner, Van Heflin, June Allyson, Keenan Wynn, Gig Young, Vincent Price, Angela Lansbury, Robert Coote, Frank Morgan
Alexandre Dumas's novel The Three Musketeers has been adapted for the screen more than 40 times. And Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Technicolor, star-studded extravaganza tells the story with zest and humor, while not leaving out any of the grim details.
Gene Kelly plays the fourth musketeer, D'Artagnan, who helps the other musketeers (Heflin, Young, Coote) prevent Cardinal Richelieu (Price) from overthrowing the king (Morgan). June Allyson plays D'Artagnan’s love, Lady Constance. Allyson wrote in her autobiography that she wasn’t comfortable performing in a period film, feeling she looked ridiculous in the long, sweeping gowns. Allyson also wrote that Lana Turner played her role of the evil Lady de Winter so convincingly that she would have brought the knife to de Winter’s prison cell in real life, too.
The Stratton Story (1949)
Starring: June Allyson, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Bill Williams
James Stewart plays baseball player Monty Stratton in this biographical film. Stratton was a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox from 1934 to 1938. His career in Major League Baseball was halted when his leg had to be amputated after a hunting accident. Stratton learns to adapt to a wooden prosthetic leg and his wife Ethel, played by June Allyson, helps him. Ethel helps Monty train for a comeback, which he accomplishes in 1946. “The Stratton Story” was the first of three films that co-starred Stewart and Allyson.
The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
Starring: James Stewart, June Allyson, Henry Morgan, Charles Drake, George Tobias, Louis Armstrong, Frances Langford, Gene Krupa
James Stewart stars as trombone playing bandleader Glenn Miller in this musical biographical film, and June Allyson co-stars as Miller’s wife Helen. Glenn Miller was in one of the top best-selling big bands from 1939 to 1942, and is easily one of the most well-known bandleaders of the 1940s. The film follows Miller and his rise to fame. During World War II, Miller enlists in the Army and he and his band travel overseas to boost the morale of servicemen and women. But in December 1944, Miller’s plane was lost over the English Channel.
“The Glenn Miller Story” is a treat for any big band music lover, and features musicians and singers like Frances Langford, Gene Krupa, and Louis Armstrong. In their second film playing husband and wife, Allyson later said that many people thought she and Stewart were married because of their on-screen chemistry. She also said this was one of her personal favorite films.
Jessica Pickens is a North Carolina-based writer. She has a degree in print journalism and now works in public relations. Outside of work, she writes about pre-1968 films at CometOverHollywood.com with a special interest in musicals, films released in 1939, and World War II-era films. You can follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.