June Haver (born Beverly June Stovenour; June 10, 1926 – July 4, 2005) was an American film actress, singer and dancer. Once groomed by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
to be "the next
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer.
Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million, and for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she p ...
," Haver appeared in a string of
musicals
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
, but she never achieved Grable's popularity. Haver's second husband was the actor
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...
, whom she married after she retired from showbusiness.
Early life
Beverly June Stovenour was born in
Rock Island, Illinois
Rock Island is a city in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The population was 37,108 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located at the confluence of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock a ...
, and later took the surname of her stepfather, Bert Haver. Her mother Maria Haver (
née
The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Carter) was an actress and her father Fred Christian Stovenour was a musician.
[ ''Film en Theater'', ''Dutch'' magazine. Third volume, #13. July 1948.] After the family moved to Ohio, seven-year-old Haver entered and won a contest of the
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
At age eight, she won a film test by imitating famous actresses including
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress and a premier star during Hollywood's Silent film, silent and early Classical Hollywood cinema, golden eras.
Regarded as one of the g ...
,
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...
and
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes MacArthur (; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress. Often referred to as the "First Lady of American Theatre", she was the second person and first woman to win EGOT, the EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and ...
, but her mother prohibited her from becoming a child actress because she felt that Haver was too young to work in the film industry.
When Haver was 10, the family returned to Rock Island, where she began performing for
Rudy Vallée
Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée, was an American singer, saxophonist, bandleader, actor, and entertainer. He was the first male singer to rise from local radio broadcasts in New York Ci ...
and became a well-known child star on the radio.
She worked regularly as a band singer by the time that she was in her teens, performing with the
Ted Fio Rito Orchestra for $75 a week.
She also worked with bandleaders
Dick Jurgens and
Freddy Martin.
Career
In the summer of 1942,
Haver moved to
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
, where she finished high school. She acted in plays in her spare time, and during a performance as a
southern belle
"Southern belle" () is a colloquialism for a debutante or other fashionable young woman of European heritage in the planter class of the Antebellum South, particularly as a romantic counterpart to the Southern gentleman.
Characteristics
Th ...
, she was discovered by a scout from
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
. In 1943, Haver signed a $3,500-per-week contract with the studio and made her film debut playing an uncredited role as a hat-check girl in ''
The Gang's All Here''.
She was dropped shortly after because the studio executives felt that she looked too young, but she was later signed again after her costume and hairstyle were changed.

20th Century Fox had plans to mold Haver as a glamour girl stand-in for the studio's two greatest stars,
Alice Faye and
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer.
Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million, and for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she p ...
. She debuted on screen in a supporting role as Cri-Cri in ''
Home in Indiana'' (1944) and had just turned 17 years old when her scenes were filmed.
Even before ''Home in Indiana'' was released, she was assigned to replace Faye in the Technicolor musical ''
Irish Eyes Are Smiling''. Later that year, she costarred with her future husband
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...
in ''
Where Do We Go From Here?'', which was the only time that the pair appeared together in a film.

During her career at Fox, Haver was originally groomed to be the next Betty Grable (standing a diminutive 5'2", she was known as "Pocket Grable"). She costarred with Grable in the 1945 film ''
The Dolly Sisters'', for which she had to gain weight.
While filming, rumors about a possible clash between the two actresses arose, mostly because of their frequent comparison, but Haver said: "Betty is a big star and I'm just starting. I try to be nice to her, and she reciprocated by being just as nice to me. It's silly to think two girls can't work together without quarreling. You see, I've two sisters. I'm the ham between the bread and butter — the middle sister — and I understand girls pretty well. Betty likes to talk about her baby, so we talk about her baby."
In 1946, Haver starred and received top billing in ''
Wake Up and Dream'' and ''
Three Little Girls in Blue'', both of which were well-received and brought moderate success. The following year, the role of Katie was written into the film ''
I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now'' just for Haver.
Haver's comedy star turn in 1948's ''
Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!'' was a major success. The same year, she starred as
Marilyn Miller in the musical ''
Look for the Silver Lining'' (1949).
The following year, she starred in ''
The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady'' and ''
I'll Get By''. In 1951, Haver was teamed with Fox's newest asset,
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...
, and previous costar
William Lundigan (her co-star from ''I'll Get By'') in the low-budget comedy ''
Love Nest
''Love Nest'' is a 1951 American comedy-drama film directed by Joseph Newman, and starring June Haver, William Lundigan, Frank Fay, Marilyn Monroe, and Jack Paar. It features an early supporting role for Monroe, and is one of the few films ...
''. Though Haver was the lead and received top billing, most of the film's publicity centered on Monroe, who had a minor role and garnered under-the-title billing. ''Love Nest'' was Haver's only full-length film in black and white. Her other 15 films between 1943 and 1953 were shot in three-strip
Technicolor
Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...
.
Following her marriage to MacMurray in 1954, Haver mostly retired from acting (her last appearances were as herself on ''
The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour'' in 1958 and in ''Disneyland '59''). Her final film appearance was in 1953's ''
The Girl Next Door''. Haver and MacMurray 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
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...
at the age of 75. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Haver has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...
at 1777 Vine Street.
[
]
Personal life
Haver insisted that she had always been very close with her family. Her sisters followed her to Hollywood and served as her stand-ins, and her mother was Haver's personal secretary.
On March 9, 1947, Haver married trumpet player James Zito. She had met him at age 15 while touring with Ted Fio Rito's orchestra. They initially lost contact after Haver moved from Illinois to Beverly Hills but started dating when Haver made a short visit to her home town when she was already a film actress. Haver filed for divorce less than a year after eloping with Zito, winning interlocutory decree on March 25, 1948. She admitted to the press that the marriage was a failure from the beginning, saying: "I want to forget as soon as possible. We hadn't been married hours before I realized I had never really known Jimmy. He was a stranger. He was either down in the dumps or up high. I never knew from one moment to the next how he would be."
After her divorce from Zito, Haver started dating Dr. John L. Duzik, whom she had dated before her marriage to Zito. They planned to marry, but Duzik died on October 31, 1949, following surgery complications. While taking care of him in his final days, she started attending church more often. According to friends, she was inspired to become a nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...
during this period. Following Duzik's death, Haver reportedly became tired of Hollywood and did not fall in love with the men whom she dated afterward. In February 1953, Haver became a postulant
A postulant (from , "to ask") was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a Christian monastery or a religious order for the period precedi ...
nun with the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth
The Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth is a Catholic religious institute based in Leavenworth, Kansas who follow in the tradition of Saints Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac. A member of the Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentia ...
, an organization based in Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States. Part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, Leavenworth is located on the west bank of the Missouri River, on the site o ...
, and she stayed until October, saying she left because of "poor health."
Around this time, Haver met Fred MacMurray, one of the wealthiest and most conservative actors in Hollywood, and a romantic relationship developed. On June 28, 1954, they were married. She told the press: "When I married Fred, he was terribly set in his ways. He was a fuss-budget. He hadn't quite progressed to being a lint picker, but he was already an ash-tray emptier, and that's just about as set in his ways as a man can get." Haver insisted on adopting a girl, but MacMurray, 18 years her senior, initially refused, explaining that he already had been a father. Shortly after, he agreed to adopt a child and, with the help of a doctor, they were able to adopt twin daughters. MacMurray died in 1991.
Haver died from respiratory failure
Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a r ...
on July 4, 2005, in Brentwood, California, at the age of 79. She was buried with MacMurray at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...
.
Haver was a Republican and supported Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
during the 1952 presidential election.
Archive
The Academy Film Archive houses the Fred MacMurray-June Haver Collection. The film material is complemented by material in the Fred MacMurray and June Haver papers at the academy's Margaret Herrick Library.
Filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haver, June
1926 births
2005 deaths
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th Century Studios contract players
Actresses from Illinois
American film actresses
Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Deaths from respiratory failure
People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
People from Rock Island, Illinois
Catholics from Illinois
Illinois Republicans
California Republicans