Heflin, Van

Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin Jr. ( born Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. ) was born in the town of Walters in Oklahoma on December 3, 1910 in a dentist's family. ^[1] His ancestors came from Ireland and France . ^[2] His younger sister, Francis Heflin, also became an actress. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma . where he was also in the brotherhood of Phi Delta Theta (ΦΔΘ).

Heflin began his acting career on Broadway in the early 1930s , and in 1936 , after signing a contract with RKO, he made his debut on the big screen in the film Woman Rises, starring Katherine Hepburn . In 1940, he appeared in the film studio Warner Bros. "The Road to Santa Fe", and then switched to the MGM studio, where he achieved great success and recognition for his roles in the films "G. M. Pulham Esquire "( 1941 ) and" Johnny Eager "( 1942 ). For the latter, he even won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Despite this, the MGM studio continued to shoot Hefilin in leading roles only in category B films , and in more prestigious films he was offered only secondary roles. Nevertheless, he had quite a few roles in the movie, and he continued to hone his acting skills throughout the 1940s. He had successful roles in the films Tennessee Johnson ( 1942 ), Murder at the Central Station (1942), While Clouds Float ( 1946 ), Martha Ivers Strange Love ( 1946 ), Green Dolphin Street ( 1947 ) and The Three Musketeers ( 1948 ), The Act of Violence ( 1948 ) and Madame Bovary ( 1949 ).

During the Second World War, Van Heflin served as an operator in the US Air Force in Europe .

In the early 1950s , his role in the film " Shane " with Jean Arthur in the title role became the most striking. In the future, he quite successfully performed roles in the films Black Widow ( 1954 ) and At 3:10 on Yuma ( 1957 ). Throughout his film career, Heflin continued to play in the theater, where he had prominent roles in productions of Philadelphia Story, which was staged on Broadway in the late 1930s , as well as in Arthur Miller ’s plays “Memoirs of Two Mondays” and “ View from the bridge. "

His last major role was in the disaster film " Airport ", where he played the role of D.O. Guerrero, a passenger who decided to blow himself up with the plane so that his wife (performed by Maureen Stapleton ) received insurance. Van Heflin was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame : for his contribution to the film industry and television.

Van Heflin was married three times, and his last wife, actress Francis E. Neal, with whom he lived for 25 years, became the mother of his three children. July 6, 1971, while swimming in the pool, the actor suffered a heart attack. He managed to swim to the stairs, where he lost consciousness and hung on it for several hours until they found him. He was taken to hospital, where he died on July 23, 1971 , without regaining consciousness. Van Heflin was cremated, and his ashes scattered over the ocean.

• 1936 - A Woman Rebels - Lord Gerald Cathorn
• 1941 - Johnny Eager / Jeff Harnet
• 1942 - Johnson from Tennessee / Tennessee Johnson - Andrew Johnson
• 1942 - Assassination at the Central Station / Grand Central Murder - Rocky Custer
• 1946 - The Strange Love of Martha Ivers - Sam Masterson
• 1948 - The Three Musketeers - Athos
• 1948 - Act of Violence - Frank R. Enley
• 1949 - Madame Bovary - Charles Bovary
• 1951 - The Thief / The Prowler - Webb Garwood
• 1953 - Shane / Jane Starett
• 1954 - The Black Widow - Peter Denver
• 1954 - Woman's World - Jerry Talbot
• 1954 - The Raid - Major Neil Benton
• 1956 - Patterns ( Eng. Patterns ) - Fred Staples
• 1957 - At 3:10 to Yuma / 3:10 to Yuma - Dan Evans
• 1958 - Storm / La tempesta - Emelyan Pugachev
• 1960 - Five Branded Women / Cinq femmes marquées / 5 Branded Women - Velco
• 1965 - The Greatest Story Ever Told - Amand Bar
• 1970 - Airport / Airport - Guerrero

• Oscar 1943 - "Best Supporting Actor" ("Johnny Eager")

• Van Heflin on the Internet Broadway Database