​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Van Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II. Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy next door", playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the war years. At the time of his death in December 2008, he was one of the last surviving matinee idols of Hollywood's "golden age." Description above from the Wikipedia article Van Johnson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.