Van Heflin

Emmett Evan Heflin Jr., known professionally as Van Heflin, was born on December 13, 1908, in Walters, Oklahoma, and died on July 23, 1971. The son of dentist Dr. Emmett Evan Heflin and Fanny Bleecker Heflin, he was of Irish and French ancestry. His sister, Frances Heflin, was a Daytime Emmy-nominated actress who married composer Sol Kaplan. Heflin attended Classen High School in Oklahoma City before enrolling at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1932 and was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He subsequently earned a master's degree in theater from Yale University. Before pursuing acting, he worked as a seaman.

Heflin's Broadway career spanned from 1928 to 1963. His earliest stage credits included Mr. Moneypenny in 1928, followed by The Bride of Torozko and The Night Remembers, both in 1934, and two productions in 1936, Mid-West and End of Summer. He returned to Broadway for Western Waters in 1937–38 and Casey Jones in 1938, the latter produced by the Group Theatre and directed by Elia Kazan. One of his most significant stage roles came in The Philadelphia Story, in which he played Macaulay Connor opposite Katharine Hepburn, Joseph Cotten, and Shirley Booth; the production ran for 417 performances between 1939 and 1940. He later appeared in a double bill of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge and A Memory of Two Mondays, directed by Martin Ritt, which ran for 149 performances. His final major Broadway credit was A Case of Libel, which opened in 1963.

Hepburn played a direct role in launching Heflin's film career, helping him secure a contract with RKO Radio Pictures following his early stage work. He made his film debut in A Woman Rebels in 1936, appearing opposite Hepburn, and followed that with The Outcasts of Poker Flat and Flight from Glory, both in 1937. After a series of supporting roles, he arranged a screen test at MGM through talent scout Billy Grady, performing the test opposite Donna Reed. MGM signed him to a stock deal and initially placed him in supporting parts in The Feminine Touch and H.M. Pulham, Esq., both released in 1941.

His breakthrough came with Johnny Eager in 1942, in which he played Robert Taylor's doomed best friend. The performance earned Heflin the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the film was a box office success. MGM subsequently developed him as a leading man, casting him in Kid Glove Killer, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and Grand Central Murder, both in 1942. He went on to appear in Seven Sweethearts with Kathryn Grayson and took the starring role in Tennessee Johnson, playing President Andrew Johnson opposite Lionel Barrymore as Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. He was Judy Garland's love interest in Presenting Lily Mars in 1943, after which he enlisted in the Army, serving first in field artillery and later as a combat photographer with the Ninth Air Force, flying missions over France and Germany before joining the First Motion Picture Unit.

Following his military service, Heflin returned to Hollywood and starred opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers in 1946, a loan-out to producer Hal Wallis. He appeared in the all-star musical Till the Clouds Roll By that same year and co-starred with Joan Crawford in Possessed in 1947. At MGM he appeared alongside Lana Turner in Green Dolphin Street, the studio's biggest hit of 1947, and was reunited with Stanwyck in B.F.'s Daughter in 1948. He played Athos in the studio's adaptation of The Three Musketeers that same year, a major commercial success, and received top billing in Zinnemann's Act of Violence in 1949.

After leaving MGM, Heflin took on a range of roles across studios and genres. He starred in the western Tomahawk in 1951 and in Joseph Losey's thriller The Prowler the same year. He appeared in Leo McCarey's My Son John in 1952 and traveled to England to film South of Algiers in 1953. That year also brought one of his most enduring performances, as the honest farmer in Shane alongside Alan Ladd. He delivered another acclaimed western performance in 3:10 to Yuma in 1957 with Glenn Ford, and made Gunman's Walk in 1958 with Tab Hunter, the first of a five-picture deal with Columbia. He subsequently worked in Europe on productions including Tempest in 1959, Five Branded Women and Under Ten Flags in 1960, and The Wastrel in 1961. His final notable film role was in Airport in 1970, in which he portrayed a mentally disturbed airline passenger.

Heflin was also active in radio, originating the lead role in The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, which debuted on NBC in the summer of 1947. He additionally performed on Lux Radio Theatre, Suspense, and Cavalcade of America, among other programs.