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Though she despised the appellation "the girl next
door," this was how June Allyson was promoted throughout most of her
MGM career. The blonde, raspy-voiced actress was born in a tenement section
of the Bronx. Her career nearly  ended before it began when 8-year-old June seriously injured
her back in a fall. For four years she wore a steel brace, then spent
several more months in physical therapy. Thanks to the financial support of
her grown half-brother, June was able to take dancing lessons. At 19, she
made her film debut in the Vitaphone short Swing for Sale (1937). In her earliest movie appearances
(notably the 1937 Educational Studios 2-reeler Dime a Dance) June
projected a far more worldly, all-knowing image than she would convey in
her later feature films. After co-starring in such Broadway productions as Sing Out the News, Very Warm for May and Panama Hattie and Best Foot Forward, June
was signed to an MGM contract in 1942. The studio quickly began molding
June's screen image of a freckled-faced, peaches-and-cream "best
girl" and perfect wife. She was permitted to display some grit in The Girl in White (1952),
playing New York City's first woman doctor, but most of her screen
characters were quietly subordinate to the male leads. One of her favorite
co-stars was James Stewart, with whom she appeared in The Stratton Story (1949)
and The Glenn Miller Story
(1954). In 1955, she completely broke away from her on-camera persona as
the spiteful wife of Jose Ferrer in The Shrike (1955), a role
for which she was personally selected by the demanding Ferrer. June was the
wife of actor/ producer/ director Dick Powell, a union that lasted from
1945 until Powell's death in 1963, despite several well-publicized
breakups. She starred in and hosted the 1960 TV anthology series The June Allyson Show,
produced by Powell's Four Star Productions. After her film career ended,
June made a handful of nightclub singing appearances; in 1972, she made a
brief screen comeback in They Only Kill Their Masters,
astonishing her fans by playing a murderess. In recent years, June Allyson
has appeared in several TV commercials. ~ Hal
Erickson, All Movie Guide
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