June Haver

June Haver
YANK magazine, 1945
Born	June Stovenour June 10, 1926(1926-06-10) Rock Island, Illinois, U.S.
Died	July 4, 2005 (aged 79) Brentwood, California, U.S.
Years active	1943-1953
Spouse(s)	Jimmy Zito (1947-1948) (divorced) Fred MacMurray (1954-1991) (his death)

June Haver (June 10, 1926 – July 4, 2005), was an American film actress, who was born in Rock Island, Illinois as Beverly Jane Stovenour. "June" was her nickname and her surname became "Haver" when her mother divorced and remarried. She is most well-known as a popular star of 20th Century-Fox musicals in the late 1940s, most notably The Dolly Sisters, with Betty Grable. She is also often linked to her second husband, actor Fred MacMurray.

Career

Haver began singing on stage at the age of six. Working regularly as a band singer by her teens, she performed with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra. In 1943 20th Century Fox had hired her, with her first starring role as Cri-Cri in Home In Indiana (1944). Later that year she co-starred with future husband, Fred MacMurray, in Where Do We Go From Here?, which was the only time the pair appeared together in a film.

During her career at Fox, Haver was originally groomed to be the next Betty Grable (she was known as "Pocket Grable"). She even co-starred with Grable in the 1946 film, The Dolly Sisters, which provided a strong career boost for her. However, her acting career was to be brief. In 1952, following a divorce and the death of her fiancé, she converted to Roman Catholicism and announced that she would become a nun.

Haver entered a convent briefly in the early 1950s.^[1] Around that time, Haver met MacMurray, one of the wealthiest and most conservative men in Hollywood, again, and a romantic relationship developed. They were married on June 28, 1954, and Haver remained largely retired from acting (her last appearances were as herself on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour in 1958 and Disneyland '59); she later found some success as an interior decorator. The couple adopted two daughters and remained together until MacMurray's death in 1991.

At the urging of friends Ann Miller and Ann Rutherford, Haver finally joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the age of 75. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, June Haver has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1777 Vine Street.

June Haver died from respiratory failure four years later on July 4, 2005 at her home in Brentwood, California at the age of 79 and was buried with her husband at Holy Cross Cemetery, in Culver City.

Haver left behind two stepchildren (by MacMurray's first marriage), two adopted children, and seven grandchildren.

Filmography

Feature films

• The Gang's All Here (1943)***
• Home in Indiana (1944)
• Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944)
• Where Do We Go from Here? (1945)
• The Dolly Sisters (1945)
• Three Little Girls in Blue (1946)
• Wake Up and Dream (1946)
• I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947)
• Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948)
• Look for the Silver Lining (1949)
• Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949)
• The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950)
• I'll Get By (1950)
• Love Nest (1951)
• The Girl Next Door (1953)

Short subjects

• Skyline Serenade (1941)
• Tune Time (1942)
• The All-Star Bond Rally (1945)

Notes

• Fred MacMurray: The Guy Next Door (1997)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: June Haver

• June Haver at the Internet Movie Database
• June Haver at Allmovie
• June Haver at the TCM Movie Database
• June Haver at Find a Grave
• June Haver fan page