1953–54 Volume 78 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Van Heflin, Man of Many Parts
By BEA PEPAN, Milwaukee Journal Staff Writer
VAN MEEIAN,^ Oklahoma '%Z
"Just give me a good part . . ."
[THOUSANDS OF PHIS have thrilled to the performances
of Van Heflin, Oklahoma '32, in recent months
in the stage hit. The Shrike, and the film epic,
Shane. The interesting interview with this loyal and
devoted Phi which follows is reprinted in part
through the courtesy of Don Dornbrook, editor of
the Screen, Radio and Television Section of the
Sunday Milwaukee Journal.—ED.]
ASK Van Heflin \Oklahoma '^i\ which
. part he liked ^best of the many roles
he has played on the stage or screen and
he'll reply, "That's a tough question to
answer. At the time I'm doing a particular
role it seems to be the best one I've tried.
Later things look different.
"Offhand, I guess^I could say the part I
played in Johnny Eager is my favorite, but
that's probably because it won me an
academy award. The part actually was no
better and no more challenging than the
role in The Shrike."
Van Heflin, who was in Milwaukee doing
The Shrike at the time of this interview,
paused to reflect a moment before continuing
his comments.
[24]
"Getting inside the part of the man
driven to suicide by a possessive wife in The
Shrike was far more difficult for me than
playing the part of the wild young man in
Johnny Eager. Having knocked about a bit
in my youth I had a feeling for the 'Johnny'
role. When you don't have that feeling you
have to work for it. It's what you might call
the acting challenge."
Red haired and wiry with a mildness that
belies his real intensity. Van Heflin stopped
talking briefly, and it provided a moment
in which to realize that here was one of the
nicest guys one could hope to meet. No
glamour boy, but just genuine, we decided,
before the conversation was resumed.
Every actor likes, to recall how he started.
With candor and a twist of humor Van
Heflin still remembers his first role in what
turned out to be a Broadway failure. One
of the critics described him as an "unreasonably
bad actor I hope will never work
again."
"It was the best thing that could have
happened to me," Heflin admitted. "It cut
my cocky pride and made me realize acting
was a hard working profession, I buckled
down after that and some years later it did
my heart good to read a more favorable review
of my work by the same critic. Evidently
he didn't remember me as the same
Van."
Born Emmet Evan Heflin back in
Walters, Okla., Van Heflin (the name he
took because he didn't like Emmet) has
Van Resumes Studies
According to a recent Hedda Hopper
column, Brother Van Heflin is resuming
study on his master's degree in drama at
U.C.L.A., expecting eventually to be a
college professor. She states, "He's writing
his thesis in a motion picture—from conception
to finished product. Van, a scholarly
guy as well as a fine actor, is just the
man for the project."
H