June Preston obit

 

June Preston, Child Actor Turned Celebrated Opera Singer, Dies at 93

She appeared in 'It Happened One Night,' 'Christmas in July' and 'The Strawberry Blonde' and had her own clothing line before touring the world as a versatile soprano.

She was not on the list.

June Preston, the popular child actress of the 1930s and ’40s who appeared in films directed by Frank Capra, Preston Sturges, Ernst Lubitsch and Raoul Walsh before becoming a world-renowned opera singer, has died. She was 93.

Preston died Wednesday at a nursing home in Montclair, New Jersey, after a battle with dementia, her daughter, Sabrina Pires, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Born in Glendale, California on Dec. 29, 1928, Preston was spotted on the RKO studio lot when she was 3 and signed to a seven-year contract.

She made her screen debut as the daughter of Hilda Vaughn’s Mrs. Blewett in RKO’s Anne of Green Gables (1934), then appeared in a handful of other films that year, including Capra’s It Happened One Night (with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable) winner of the top five Oscars, including best picture.

Meanwhile, she began training at the Meglin Dance Studio in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. She sang, danced and acted in short films like Our Gang Follies of 1938 and on radio shows and was a regular at the Wadsworth Theatre in West L.A. (Other child stars to emerge as “Meglin Kiddies” included her “rival” Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Jane Withers, Virginia Grey and Ann Miller.)

She re-signed at RKO at 9 but was loaned out often to other studios and worked with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in Maytime (1937) at MGM; with Dick Powell and Ellen Drew in Sturges’ Christmas in July (1940) at Paramount; with James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland in Walsh’s The Strawberry Blonde (1941) at Warner Bros.; with W.C. Fields in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941) at Universal; and with Gene Tierney and Don Ameche in Lubitsch’s Heaven Can Wait (1943) at Fox.

Along the way, she had merchandising contracts for “June Preston Frocks” and other apparel — undergarments, swimsuits, snowsuits, coats, shoes, purses, hats, gloves, handkerchiefs, you name it — as well as a line of doll and toys.

A year after playing Ann Rutherford‘s daughter in Happy Land (1943), her final feature, Preston was discovered at age 16 by maestro Gustav Stern, a German conductor and vocal coach in Seattle.

 

She graduated from West Seattle High School in 1947 and began touring two years later. In 1952 at age 24, she debuted with a Metropolitan Opera company on a South American tour in the leading role of Mimi in La Boheme opposite Met standout Jan Peerce.

During the next decade, Preston performed in the world’s most prestigious opera houses and with symphony orchestras in the U.S., Europe and Central and South America. A soprano with a five-octave range, she was nicknamed the “Golden Voice,” and entertainment columnist Walter Winchell was an admirer.

Preston met Belgian concert violinist Saul Höuben while on tour, and they married in 1963. She soon retired from touring to raise her daughter.

In 1996, she was inducted into the West Seattle High School Hall of Fame and received a note of congratulations from George and Barbara Bush.

Survivors also include her son-in-law, John, and her sister, Lita. She will be laid to rest in a private ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.

Actress (36 credits)

 1944 Radio Bugs (Short)

Guest star: Radio performer

 1943 Happy Land

Mrs. Prentiss daughter

 1943 Heaven Can Wait

Jack Van Cleve daughter (age 13) (uncredited)

 1943 Calling All Kids (Short)

Guest star: Radio singer

 1941 All That Money Can Buy

Little Blonde Girl (uncredited)

 1941 Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

Little Blonde Girl Dancing (uncredited)

 1941 The Strawberry Blonde

Little Blonde Girl Singing (uncredited)

 1940 Second Chorus

Little Blonde Girl Dancing (uncredited)

 1940 Christmas in July

Little Singing Blond Girl (uncredited)

 1940 3 Cheers for the Irish

12 Year Old Singer (uncredited)

 1939 Time Out for Lessons (Short)

Guest star: Dance Partner

 1939 Second Fiddle

Schoolroom Vocal Trio Member (uncredited)

 1939 Duel Personalities (Short)

Guest star: Performer assistant

 1939 You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

Little Blond Girl Singing and Dancing (uncredited)

 1938 Valley of the Giants

Little Girl Crying (uncredited)

 1937 Our Gang Follies of 1938 (Short)

Little blond curley girl (uncredited)

 1937/I Mail and Female (Short)

Guest star: Girls party

 1937 Trailing Along (Short)

Meglin Kiddie

 1937 Framing Youth (Short)

Guest star: Contest singer

 1937 Rushin' Ballet (Short)

Guest star: Dance recital

 1937 Thin Ice

Little Girl Skating (uncredited)

 1937 Maytime

Little Blonde Girl Singing (uncredited)

 1937 History Is Made at Night

Little Girl with Dog (uncredited)

 1936 Roarin' Lead

Meglin Kiddies dancer (uncredited)

 1936 The Pinch Singer (Short)

Broadway Number Performer

 1935 Our Gang Follies of 1936 (Short)

Little blond girl (unconfirmed)

 1935 Reg'lar Kids (Short)

Meglin Kiddies (uncredited)

 1935 Sprucin' Up (Short)

Guest star: Neighbors daughter

 1935 Beginner's Luck (Short)

Guest star: Backstage Dancer

 1935 Show Kids (Short)

Meglin Kiddie dancer (uncredited)

 1934 Here Is My Heart

Little girl dancing on the yacht (uncredited)

 1934 Shrimps for a Day (Short)

Little GirL Chasing the Goose (uncredited)

 1934 Anne of Green Gables

The Blewett Little Girl

 1934 Have a Heart

Carol, at the dance school (uncredited)

 1934 In Love with Life

Feature dancer in the Meglin Kiddies Kabaret show (uncredited)

 1934 It Happened One Night

Crying Girl (uncredited)