-
01
She initially pursued acting to fund medical school, but ended up paying for her brother’s medical education instead, maintaining a lifelong interest in health and medical research.
-
02
June Allyson was close friends with Judy Garland; both were under contract at MGM in the 1940s. Garland often gave Allyson rides to the studio. After Garland’s death, Allyson could hardly speak of her without tears, saying Garland was a special lady who lacked appropriate help.
-
03
She once filed for divorce during her marriage to Dick Powell, but the turbulent marriage lasted until his death from cancer in 1963. She struggled with alcoholism after his death, which may have triggered a custody battle with her mother.
-
04
At age eight, a falling tree limb crushed her while she rode a bicycle. She wore a back brace for four years and taught herself to dance by watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies. She was told the accident would prevent childbirth, yet she adopted daughter Pamela in 1948 and gave birth to son Richard in 1950.
-
05
James Stewart was a good friend; she played his wife in three films.
-
06
She initially turned down a role as celebrity spokesperson for Depend undergarments, deeming it unpleasant. Her mother convinced her it could help people with a widespread problem too embarrassing to discuss, so she accepted.
-
07
In her autobiography, Allyson confessed to a short-term relationship with a young John F. Kennedy.
-
08
She witnessed Joan Crawford’s cruel treatment of daughter Christina Crawford and confirmed that the book and film Mommie Dearest 1981 were honest accounts.
-
09
She was a devoted fan of mystery writer Agatha Christie, owning every novel she wrote, and cited Jane Marple as her favorite female detective.
-
10
Her father, an alcoholic, abandoned the family when she was six months old.
-
11
She married David Ashrow at the Ingleside Inn in Palm Springs, California, in October 1976; a photograph of the wedding party still hangs at the historic hotel garden.
-
12
She could cry on cue, a talent she shared with Margaret O’Brien. Her method was to try very hard not to cry. During O’Brien’s death scene in Little Women 1949, they could not stop crying.
-
13
She was close friends with Esther Williams, Van Johnson, Claudette Colbert, Kathryn Grayson, Judy Garland, Jane Wyman, Gloria DeHaven, Ann Rutherford, James Stewart, and Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Reagan.
-
14
In her autobiography, she claimed that in the roman à clef Center Door Fancy by Joan Blondell, character Amy was a thinly-disguised version of her; film historian Michael Buckley suggested Amy is an anagram for May, the month before June.
-
15
She married retired dentist-turned-actor David Ashrow in October 1976; they toured the country together in the late 1970s/early 1980s in the play My Daughter, Your Son, earning fine reviews.
-
16
After her film career, she continued occasional Broadway and off-Broadway plays, television appearances, and commercials, including her Depend ads from the 1960s through the 1990s.
-
17
She separated from Powell once when she fell in love with Alan Ladd during filming of The McConnell Story 1955; Ladd was also married at the time.
-
18
She rarely broke out of her spry goody-two-shoes type, but when she did, it was extreme: as a harsh, cold-hearted wife in The Shrike 1955 and as a lesbian murderess in They Only Kill Their Masters 1972.
-
19
After filming The Secret Heart 1946, she became great friends with co-star Claudette Colbert, who became godmother to her daughter Pamela.
-
20
She received a special tribute as part of the annual memorial tribute at the 79th Annual Academy Awards in 2007, with film footage showing her on stage smiling and laughing.
-
21
She was just 5’1 and weighed 99 lbs. in 1945.
-
22
After Dick Powell’s death, she went through a bitter court battle with her mother over custody of her son Richard and adopted daughter Pamela; reports named Dirk Wayne Summers as legal guardian.
-
23
She was a valued resource for preserving MGM history and was instrumental in establishing the June Allyson Foundation for Public Awareness and Medical Research. She and husband David Ashrow supported fundraising for the James Stewart and Judy Garland museums.
-
24
Her favorite actors were Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, and Meg Ryan.
-
25
From 1963 to 1975, she had a long-term romance with writer/director Dirk Wayne Summers, often announcing engagement plans. They traveled through Europe together, frequently seen in Cap d’Antibes, Madrid, Rome, and London.
-
26
She was on contract to MGM for 12 years.
-
27
When she married Alfred Glenn Maxwell, her family allowance from Dick Powell’s estate was reduced from $5,000 to $2,500 per month.
-
28
Her second husband, Glenn Maxwell, was Dick Powell’s former barber; her last husband, David Ashrow, was a retired dentist turned actor.
-
29
On The Love Boat episode Her Own Two Feet 1978, she reunited with frequent co-star Van Johnson in a story about a husband facing his wife’s failing eyesight.
-
30
In December 1993, she dedicated the Holland-America Line cruise ship MS Maasdam.
-
31
On August 28, 2019, Turner Classic Movies honored her with a day of her film work during Summer Under the Stars.
-
32
In 1945, Harvard Lampoon voted her worst actress of the year; worst actor was regular co-star Van Johnson.
-
33
In May 2014, she was honored as Turner Classic Movie’s Star of the Month.
-
34
Her father Robert Geisman was born in Roanoke, VA on September 29, 1892 and died in Ventura County, California on April 19, 1983 at age 90. Her mother Clara Josephine Provost was born in New York, NY on October 21, 1897 and died in Ventura County, California on April 23, 1994 at age 97.
-
35
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1537 Vine Street.
-
36
Along with husband Dick Powell, she persuaded future President Ronald Reagan to switch from the Democratic to the Republican Party in 1962.
-
37
She was a longtime friend of Esther Williams.
-
38
She was a fan of TV shows Touched by an Angel, Mad About You, and Law & Order.
-
39
Her son Richard Powell was born December 24, 1950.
-
40
Her father was of German descent; her mother had Dutch, French/French-Canadian, English, and Guernsey Channel Islander roots.
-
41
She was mother of Richard Powell and adopted daughter Pamela Powell from her marriage to Dick Powell.
-
42
She had one sibling, a brother named Henry Allyson Geisman, born November 22, 1915 in New York, NY, died January 6, 1995 in Riverside, CA.
-
43
She was a heavy smoker until 1984.
-
44
Although she stated in a 2001 interview that she was of Dutch descent with family name originally Van Geisman, her father was actually of German ancestry; it is unconfirmed if he was Jewish.
-
45
In the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, she was the spokesperson for Depend undergarments.
-
46
Her daughter Pamela Powell was born June 18, 1948 and adopted in August 1948.
-
47
She was stepmother of Norman S. Powell and Ellen Powell.
-
48
She is one of 23 actresses who did not receive an Oscar nomination for a Golden Globe-winning performance; hers was for Too Young to Kiss 1951.
-
49
She denied being of Jewish descent in an interview with Larry King in 2001.
-
50
Allyson said she had been raised Catholic, but a discrepancy exists in her early life, with studio biography often causing confusion.
