June Havoc

Her elder sister Louise gravitated to burlesque and became the well-known striptease performer Gypsy Rose Lee.

• Name — June Havoc • Birth Name — Ellen Evangeline Hovick • Born — 8 November 1912 • Birthplace — Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • Died — 28 March 2010 • Place of death — Stamford, Connecticut, U.S. • Known for — * Pal Joey • My Sister Eileen • No Time for Love • Mexican Hayride • Hello, Frisco, Hello • When 'My Baby Smiles at Me • Red, Hot and Blue • Gentleman's Agreement • Occupation — * Actress • dancer • stage director • memoirist • playwright • Awards — American Theater Hall of Fame Hollywood Walk of Fame • Years Active — 1918–1997 • Spouse — Bobby Reed (m. married 1928; div. divorced 193?) • Children — 1 • Mother — Rose Thompson Hovick • Relatives — Gypsy Rose Lee (sister)

Ellen Evangeline Hovick was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on November 8, 1912. For many years 1916 was cited as her year of birth. Havoc acknowledged in her later years that 1912 was likely the correct year. She was reportedly uncertain of the year. Her mother forged various birth certificates for both her daughters to evade child labor laws. Her life-long career in show business began when she was a child, billed as "Baby June." Her sister, entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee (born as Rose Louise Hovick), was called "Louise" by her family members. Their parents were Rose Thompson Hovick, of German descent, and John ("Jack") Olaf Hovick, the son of Norwegian immigrants, who worked as an advertising agent and reporter for the Seattle Times newspaper.

• Illustration — Baby June c. 1916–1917 • Illustration — November 13, 1927 ad in The Decatur Review By age 15, "Baby June" had become "Dainty June." Following their parents' divorce, the two sisters earned the family's income by appearing in vaudeville, where June's talent often overshadowed Louise's. Baby June got an audition with Alexander Pantages, who had come to Seattle, Washington in 1902 to build theaters up and down the west coast of the United States. Soon, she was launched in vaudeville and also appeared in Hollywood movies. She could not speak until the age of three, but the films were all silent. She would cry for the cameras when her mother told her that the family's dog had died. In December 1928, Havoc, in an effort to escape her overbearing mother, eloped with Bobby Reed, a boy in the vaudeville act. Weeks later after they performed at the Jayhawk Theatre in Topeka, Kansas, on December 29, 1928, June's mother, Rose, reported Reed to the Topeka Police, and he was arrested. Rose pulled out a concealed gun when she met Bobby at the police station, intending to shoot him, but the gun didn't fire because the safety was on. She then physically attacked her son-in-law, and the police had to pry her off the hapless Reed. June subsequently left both her family and the act. Though the marriage didn't last long, the two remained friends.

Havoc performed intermittently on the radio in the 1940s and early 1950s. Her performances ranged from full-length plays, such as Golden Boy on the prestigious Theater Guild on the Air and Skylark on NBC Best Plays, to the more popular mystery program Suspense. Under the pseudonym Armana Fargey, she also appeared on episodes of The Adventures of Sam Spade and Suspense. • Illustration — June Havoc in Willy in 1954 • Illustration — June Havoc in an episode of The Outer Limits in 1964 In the 1950s, Havoc was a frequent performer on anthology television series, both filmed, such as General Electric Theater, and live, such as the Peabody Award-winning Celanese Theatre, the Emmy Award-winning Robert Montgomery Presents and Omnibus. She starred in a weekly half hour series Willy during the 1954–1955 television season. In some respects, the show was ahead of its time in that Havoc's character, Willa “Willy” Dodger, was an unmarried lawyer with her own legal practice in a small New England town. Lucille Ball had encouraged her to star in a weekly series, and the show was a Desilu production. Like I Love Lucy, Willy was filmed before a live studio audience. Her husband, William Spier, was the producer. Willy was broadcast on CBS at 10:30 p.m. on Saturdays opposite the popular NBC series, Your Hit Parade. Midway through the season, an attempt was made to increase ratings by having Havoc's character relocate to New York to represent show business clients; however, the show lasted only one season. From the 1960s through 1990, Havoc appeared occasionally on such successful television series as The Untouchables; Murder, She Wrote; McMillan & Wife; The Paper Chase; and The Outer Limits, as well as an arc on the popular soap opera General Hospital.

• Illustration — June Havoc and her husband William Spier attending the races in 1951 Havoc was married three times. Her first marriage, at age 16, was in December 1928 to Bobby Reed, a boy in her vaudeville act. Her second marriage was to Donald S. Gibbs in 1936; they divorced in December 1942. Her third marriage, to radio and television director and producer William Spier, lasted from January 25, 1948 until his death in 1973. Havoc's sister Gypsy Rose Lee died of lung cancer in 1970, aged 59, and is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. June's only child was a daughter, April Rose Hyde, born April 2, 1932. A marriage license, dated November 30, 1928 for Ellen Hovick and Weldon Hyde would seem to indicate that Bobby Reed's real name was Weldon Hyde. However, in her second memoir More Havoc, Havoc admitted that her daughter's father was Jamie Smythe, a marathon dance promoter. This suggestion seems credible since she had separated from her first husband before she entered her first marathon dance contest in 1933. April became an actress known as April Kent in the 1950s, appearing in such films as The Incredible Shrinking Man and Tammy and the Bachelor. April pre-deceased her mother, dying in the Paris suburb of Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis on December 28, 1998, at the age of 66. In 1947, Havoc was a member of the Committee for the First Amendment (“the FAC”), founded by Philip Dunne, Myrna Loy, John Huston and William Wyler, to support freedom of speech in the film industry during the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). HUAC was conducting an investigation of Communist infiltration of the film industry prompted in part by the films Crossfire and Gentleman's Agreement, in which antisemitism was a focal point. Havoc had played the supporting role of a secretary who is Jewish but also expresses anti-Semitic sentiments in the latter film. On October 26, Havoc boarded a chartered plane with 22 other FAC members, including Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Danny Kaye, to Washington, D.C. to protest and attend the second week of hearings. The FAC also sponsored two network radio broadcasts, Hollywood Fights Back, on October 26, and November 2, 1947, in which Havoc and 44 other members voiced their opposition to the HUAC hearings and the existence of the committee itself. The FAC members, including Havoc, walked to the Capitol and attended the October 27 hearing. The members were escorted past empty seats to the back of the hearing room where Rep. J. Parnell Thomas, the HUAC chairman, had reserved seats for them. They were treated to a raucous confrontation between Thomas and the subpoenaed witness, screenwriter John Howard Lawson. Lawson refused to answer whether he had ever been a member of the Communist Party and was held in contempt; evidence, including Lawson’s Communist party membership card, was then introduced. Although the FAC members had planned to attend only one day of the hearings, they stayed a second day before returning to Los Angeles. On October 30, Thomas abruptly ended the hearings without calling several subpoenaed witnesses to the relief of the film industry. However, he threatened to reconvene the hearings. Moreover, the committee had held 10 screenwriters and directors in contempt and introduced their Communist Party membership cards into evidence. Moreover, the FAC members’ trip to Congress proved to be a public relations fiasco. The general public perceived the FAC members as supporting the proven Communist Party members, not their freedom of speech. As a result, movie box office receipts dropped 20%, and even established stars like Bogart were compelled to make public apologies. It is unknown whether Havoc’s film career was affected. However, the fact that she had prominent roles in three films in 1948 and three films in 1949 would suggest otherwise. One of her 1948 films was The Iron Curtain, which was an anti-communist movie produced by Daryl F. Zanuck in response to Thomas’ claims that Hollywood did not produce such films. • Illustration — June Havoc at her development Cannon Crossing c. 1980 In 1967, Havoc founded Youthbridge, a program that provided theatrical training to adolescents, primarily African American adolescents, at the Bridgeport, Connecticut YWCA. She was the executive and artistic director of the Youthbridge program and participated in fund raising events. In the mid-1970s, Havoc purchased for $230,000 an abandoned train depot and various pre-Civil War buildings on eight acres of land called Cannon Crossing in the Cannondale Historic District of Wilton, Connecticut. Restoring, rebuilding and re-purposing several small buildings from other locations, she worked hands-on and successfully completed this vast restoration project, which remains a popular destination today. It is home to artisan shops, galleries, boutiques, a cafe and a restaurant. Havoc sold the enclave in 1989. A long-time resident of Fairfield County (Weston, Wilton and lastly North Stamford) Connecticut, Havoc was fiercely devoted to the care and well-being of animals. Her homes were a nurturing and loving sanctuary to many orphaned geese, donkeys, cats, and dogs over the decades. Havoc set aside half of the acreage at Cannon Crossing for rescued animals, and Blessing of the Animals ceremonies were held annually just before Christmas at Cannon Crossing.

Havoc died at her home in Stamford, Connecticut, on March 28, 2010, from unspecified natural causes. She was believed to be 97 at the time of her death.

(All shows on Broadway unless indicated otherwise.)

• The Merry Widow (1936) Malita – St Louis Municipal Theatre • Bittersweet (1936) Dolly Chamberlain – St Louis Municipal Theatre • Forbidden Melody (1936) • The Three Waltzes (1938) Lilli – Jones Beach Stadium • Words and Music (1940–41) The National Theatre national tour • Pal Joey (1941) Gladys Bumps with Gene Kelly • Mexican Hayride (1944) Montana • Sadie Thompson (1944) Sadie Thompson • The Ryan Girl (1945) Venetia Ryan • Dream Girl (1946) • Dunnigan's Daughter (1946) Ferne Rainier – John Golden Theatre • Affairs of State (1951) Irene Elliott (replacing Celeste Holm) • Devil On Two Sticks (1955) Salt Creek Summer Theatre, Hinsdale, IL • One Foot in the Door (1957) Schubert Theatre Boston try-out • The Infernal Machine (1958) – Queen Jocasta – Phoenix Theatre • A Midsummer Night's Dream (1958) Titania – American Shakespeare Festival Theater & Academy • The Beaux' Stratagem (1959) Mrs. Sullen – Phoenix Theatre • The Warm Peninsula (1959) Joanne de Lynn – Helen Hayes Theatre • The Skin of Our Teeth (1960) Sabina – National Theatre The Theatre Guild American Repertory Company • The Miracle Worker (1960) Kate Keller – National Theatre The Theatre Guild American Repertory Company • Dinner at Eight (1966) Millicent Jordan with Walter Pidgeon • A Delicate Balance (1967) Claire – Philadelphia • The Rivals (1968) Mrs. Malaprop – The Repertory Theatre, New Orleans • Don Juan in Hell (1968) – Philadelphia • The Killing of Sister George (1968) June Buckridge (Sister George) – Philadelphia • Black Comedy/White Lies (1968) – Mineola Theatre • The Threepenny Opera (1970) Jenny Diver – The Repertory Theatre, New Orleans • The Skin Of Our Teeth (1970) Sabina – Repertory Theatre, New Orleans • The Gingerbread Lady (1972) Evy Meara – Pheasant Run Playhouse • I, Said the Fly (1973) – Big Gurn – Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis • Habeas Corpus (1975) Mrs. Swabb • Come And Be Killed (1978) – Berkshire Playhouse • Jitters (1981) (pre-Broadway try-out) • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1981–82) Mrs. Nellie Lovett – National Tour • Annie (1982–83) Miss Agatha Hannigan • An Unexpected Evening with June Havoc (or Baby June Remembers) (1983) one woman show – White Barn Theater, Westport, Connecticut • An Unexpected Evening with June Havoc (or Baby June Remembers) (1985) one woman show – Donmar Theatre (now Donmar Warehouse), London • Happy Birthday, Mr. Abbott, or Night of 100 Years (June 22, 1987) (Broadway benefit concert celebrating the 100th birthday of George Abbott) • Eleemosynary (1991) Dorothea with Elizabeth Ashley directed by Burt Reynolds Flat Rock Theater North Carolina • The Old Lady's Guide to Survival (1994) – Ivanhoe Theatre, Chicago • The Old Lady's Guide to Survival (1995) – Lamb's Theatre

• The Naked Genius with Gypsy Rose Lee (1954) New Parsons Theatre, Hartford, CT • Marathon '33 (1963) • Royal Flush (1965) (pre-Broadway tryout) • A Delicate Balance (1967) Westport Country Playhouse • A Delicate Balance (1967) Mineola Theatre & Tappan Zee Playhouse • Black Comedy / White Lies (1968) Mineola Theatre • I, Said The Fly (1973) Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis • Oh Glorious Tintinnabulation (1974) The Actors Studio Artistic Director of The Repertory Theatre, New Orleans (1970) • The Threepenny Opera (1970) The Repertory Theatre, New Orleans • Luv (1970) The Repertory Theatre, New Orleans • The Fantasticks (1970) The Repertory Theatre, New Orleans • The Women (1970), with Julie Harris and Jessica Walter, The Repertory Theatre, New Orleans • A Streetcar Named Desire (1970), with Ben Piazza, The Repertory Theatre, New Orleans • The Skin Of Our Teeth (1970) The Repertory Theatre, New Orleans

• Illustration — June Havoc and Gregory Peck in Gentleman's Agreement in 1947

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1942 — Four Jacks and a Jill — Opal • Sing Your Worries Away — Roxey Rochelle • Powder Town — Dolly Smythe • My Sister Eileen — Effie Shelton • 1943 — No Time for Love — Darlene • Hello, Frisco, Hello — Beulah Clancy • Hi Diddle Diddle — Leslie Quayle • 1944 — Timber Queen — Lil Boggs • Casanova in Burlesque — Lillian Colman • 1945 — Brewster's Millions — Trixie Summers • 1947 — Intrigue — Mme. Tamara Baranoff • Gentleman's Agreement — Elaine Wales • 1948 — The Iron Curtain — Nina Karanova • When My Baby Smiles at Me — Gussie Evans • 1949 — Red, Hot and Blue — Sandra • Chicago Deadline — Leona Purdy • The Story of Molly X — Molly X • 1950 — Mother Didn't Tell Me — Maggie Roberts • Once a Thief — Margie Foster • 1951 — Follow the Sun — Norma • 1952 — Lady Possessed — Jean Wilson • 1956 — Three for Jamie Dawn — Lorrie Delacourt • 1977 — The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover — Hoover's Mother • 1980 — Can't Stop the Music — Helen Morell • 1987 — A Return to Salem's Lot — Aunt Clara • 2003 — Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There — Herself — Documentary

• Year — Title — Role • 1918 — On the Jump — Child • 1918 — Hey There! — Child • 1942 — Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 6 — Herself

• The Milton Berle Show (1949) herself • Robert Montgomery Presents ("The Egg And I" 1950) – Betty MacDonald • Cameo Theatre ("Special Delivery" 1951) • Somerset Maugham TV Theatre ("Cakes And Ale" 1951) • The Fred Waring Show (September 9, 1951) - herself • Celanese Theatre ("Anna Christie" June 23, 1952) – Anna Christie with Richard Burton • Pulitzer Prize Playhouse ("Daisy Mayme" 1952) – Daisy Mayme Plunkett • Robert Montgomery Presents ("The Fairifield Lady" 1952) • Omnibus (American TV series) ("Three Maidens and the Devil / Happy Birthday, Aunt Sarah" 1953) • Omnibus (American TV series) ("The Man in the Cool Cool Moon /The Bear" 1953) – Mme. Papova • What's My Line? January 18, 1953 (as Mystery Guest) • The Name's the Same January 27, 1953 (as Guest) • Medallion Theatre ("Mrs. Union Station" 1953) • General Electric Theater ("Exit For Margo" 1954) – Margo • Fireside Theatre ("A Mother's Duty" 1954) • Willy (1954–1955) – Willa 'Willy' Dodger • Robert Montgomery Presents ("The Tyrant" 1956) – Crystal Davis • Matinee Theatre (1956) – Robin Daw • Lux Video Theatre ("Millie's Daughter" (1956) – Millie • Studio One in Hollywood ("The Mother Bit" 1957) – Kitty Sharpe • The Errol Flynn Theatre ("Take The High Road" 1957) – Lorraine Gray • Panic! (The Moth and the Flame" 1957) – June Sullivan • The Errol Flynn Theatre ("My Infallible Uncle" 1957) • Kraft Theatre ("Candid Profile, Inc." 1957) – Mary Carpenter • Producer's Showcase ("Mr. Broadway" 1957) – Trixie Fraganza • Person to Person (1957) – herself • The Last Word (CBS weekly show August 16, 1959) – herself • The U.S. Steel Hour ("The Pink Burro" 1959) • The Untouchables ("The Larry Fay Story" 1960) – Sally Kansas • General Hospital (1963) • The June Havoc Show (1964) (cancelled after a few weeks) • The Outer Limits ("Cry of Silence" 1964) – Margaret Thorne with Eddie Albert and Arthur Hunnicutt • Burke's Law ("Who Killed Everybody?" 1964) – Miranda Forsythe • The Magical World of Disney ("The Boy Who Stole the Elephant" 1970) – Molly Jeffreys • McMillan and Wife ("The Easy Sunday Murder Case", 1971) – Francesca Fairborn • Connecticut Profiles (October 23, 1978) - herself • The Paper Chase ("The Clay Footed Idol" 1979) – Mrs. Margaret Peters • Search for Tomorrow (cast member in 1986) – Zophie • Murder, She Wrote ("The Days Dwindle Down" 1987) – Thelma Vantay • Murder, She Wrote ("The Grand Old Lady", 1989) – Lady Abigail Austin • General Hospital (1990) – Madeline Markham • American Masters ("Vaudeville" 1997) – herself • Great Performances ("The Rodgers & Hart Story: Thou Swell, Thou Witty" 1999) – herself

• Theatre Guild on the Air ("Golden Boy" 1946) – Lorna • Theatre Guild on the Air ("They Knew What They Wanted" May 19, 1946) – Amy with John Garfield • Suspense ("Stand-In" June 12, 1947) • Suspense ("Double Ugly" August 28, 1947) • Hollywood Fights Back (October 26, 1947) herself • Suspense ("Subway" October 30, 1947) • Hollywood Fights Back (November 2, 1947) herself • Suspense ("Riabouchinska" November 13, 1947) narrator under the pseudonym Armana Fargey • Suspense ("One Hundred in the Dark" November 20, 1947) • Suspense ("Wet Saturday" December 19, 1947) • Suspense ("Black Angel" / "Eve" January 24, 1948) • Suspense ("Blind Date" September 29, 1949) • Cavalcade of America ("The Reluctant Pioneer" April 3, 1951) • NBC Best Plays ("Skylark" 1952)

• Marathon '33 (1963) • I, Said The Fly (1973) • Oh Glorious Tintinnabulation (1974) book and lyrics by June Havoc and music by Cathy MacDonald • An Unexpected Evening with June Havoc (or Baby June Remembers) (1983) one woman show

June Havoc was recorded at birth as Ellen Evangeline Hovick. She also worked under the name June Havoc. Her recorded language was English. She was the child of Rose Thompson Hovick. She married William Spier.