June Haver

June Haver, was an American film actress. 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.

Born June Stovenour, Haver was born in Rock Island, Illinois. She later took the last name of her stepfather Bert Haver. After the family moved to Ohio, seven-year-old Haver entered and won a contest of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. At age 10, she moved back to Rock Island, where she began performing for Rudy Vallée. Her mother being an actress and her father being a musician, Haver often doubted who she – careerwise – wanted to follow. At age eight, she won a film test by imitating famous actresses including Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn and Helen Hayes. Haver’s mother, however, prohibited her daughter from becoming a child actress in the film industry, feeling she was too young.

Working regularly as a band singer by her teens, she performed with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra for $75 a week. Other bandleaders she worked for were Dick Jurgens and Freddy Martin. Furthermore, she became a well-known child star on the radio.

In the summer of 1942, Haver moved to Hollywood, where she finished high school. She acted in plays in her spare time and during a performance, she was discovered by a scout from 20th Century Fox. In 1943, Haver signed a $3,500 a week contract with the studio. She debuted on screen as Cri-Cri in Home In Indiana. According to the actress, she was only sixteen years old when her scenes were filmed. 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.