The shooting star that was Julanne Johnston almost came and went unnoticed amidst the galaxy of stars that made up the Hollywood firmament. Her career as an actress was not long or overly auspicious, but for one brief bright shining moment she appeared amongst us with all the radiance of one who truly belonged. If Julanne’s impact on the silver screen was less than she hoped for, her impact on Hollywood was not. If her life as a screen goddess was all too brief, her inclusion into the Beverly Hills’ charmed circle was not. If her roles were less dramatic than she had dreamed of, her life in the City of Angels surpassed anything she could ever imagine. What the silver screen failed to deliver, the razzle dazzle glitz and glitter of tinsel town more than eclipsed. To the hometown girl from the plains of Indiana, the intrigue, romance, danger and drama of Hollywood in the roaring twenties, became infinitely more scintillating than any movie script.

​

     Anne Radford was the daughter of English immigrants who had settled in Wisconsin. It was there she met Howard F. Johnston a Pennsylvania attorney. They were married in April 1897 and three years later the couple celebrated the birth of their only child, a daughter. Julanne Johnston was born on May 1st 1900 in Indianapolis Indiana. A precocious child she was full of energy and personality; a talented dancer she of course loved to perform which she did for both friends and family.

​

     Mrs Johnston did everything she could to gain an advantage for her daughter, including both acting and dance lessons for the young Julanne, who performed to high acclaim in many local reviews and amateur dramatics. “Talented” came the standard reply to Mrs Johnston’s inquiries as to Julanne’s prospects. “She could be destined for great things. Just not here.” The refrain was constant. It soon became clear that there was only one place where Julanne could make a career. Hollywood!

​

     Mrs Johnston arrived in Hollywood California with her daughter just as the magnolias were starting to bloom. It was late spring 1915. Julanne’s Father Howard had died suddenly four years earlier in 1911 and Anne had decided it was time to go west. The boulevards were aflame with dogwood and azalea, their blossoms blazing pink and sunset orange, punctuated only by splashes of the bougainvillea’s purple splendour. Stepping down from the train, she later wrote, “It was indeed the Golden State, the hot sun shone down upon us from a cloudless sky and the perfumed air was heavy scented and sweet, it hung around and upon us like a gentle benediction.” This was southern California at the beginning of the twentieth century with all its untapped potential. This was the land of opportunity, where no dream was too grand and no vision to distant. It was a land where the scope of opportunity was only limited by the extent of the imagination. This was the epicentre of the film industry, the world of movies. A world without boundaries that would in time cast its celluloid spell upon the whole earth. It would captivate millions the world over, allowing them to escape if only for a few glorious hours the rugged hard fraught realities of their hum drum existence, transporting them to another place, another time, another life. This was the magic of film, and Julanne wanted to experience it all.

​

     Julanne settled well into life in Los Angeles’ most celebrated suburb. She attended the Hollywood school for girls, a private school on North La Brea, which offered many eclectic and diverse subjects of study from classical Latin to contemporary dance. Her contemporaries at the HGS included the daughters of actors, and more importantly movie moguls such as Lois B. Mayer and Cecil B. DeMille. At dinner parties and social engagements in later life, Julanne would often quip, “I dreamed of being nominated for one Academy Award. My French teacher was nominated for 35”, then with a wry smile Julanne would add, “but then she only won eight!” She was of course referring to costume designer Edith Head, who before finding fame and fortune as Hollywood’s top designer, had for a little while taught languages at the prestigious school when first arriving in Los Angeles.

​

     It was during this period that Julanne started performing with the Ruth St. Denis dance troupe, a school that was truly eclectic, combining modern, classical and oriental forms of dance in a fusion that promoted form over function and expressed unique choreographic styling. Perhaps the school’s greatest student was Martha Graham, who would go on to influence the world of dance in her own inimitable style. It was here that Julanne was to strike up lifelong friendships with Loise Brooks and Coleen Moore, both of whom performed with the St. Denis troupe, and went on to become actresses and Hollywood stars of their own right.

​

     Julanne travelled extensively with the dance troupe while maintaining her academic responsibilities. However, it was not her performances on the road that would become the catalyst for Julanne’s career. Ironically, it was an encounter during a dance recital in the school’s garden that would change Julanne’s life forever. That evening she was standing beneath one of the famous garden elms having just performed when she was approached by a man carrying two flutes of champagne. He complemented her performance offering her a glass and inquired as to her name. There was of course no need for her to ask his. There before her was perhaps the most recognizable and famous man on the planet, wavy brown hair, grey blue eyes above an irresistibly half sad smile that took her breath away. Charlie Chaplin had purchased property next to the school on La Brea to use for his Los Angeles studios.

     Chaplin was often invited to recitals and performances sponsored by the institution. That night under the elms was the beginning of a relationship which would last in one form or another for over fifty years. They would over time move seamlessly from lovers to friends to confidents, always making and finding time for each other no matter where they were or what they were doing. Julanne recalled that Charlie bought her a kitten that he presented to her at dinner one night at Ciro’s restaurant. Describing the cat, she later recalled that it was a tiny black and white male, fragile, amusing and little sad, but enormously entertaining, she called him her Little Tramp.

     Over the years Julanne was often the one to pick up the pieces of Chaplin’s personal life. When Charlie fell apart, Julanne was there. She was there when toward the end of the first World War the British press and establishment railed on him because instead of fighting like millions of other young men, Chaplin instead signed a contract with the Mutual Film Corporation for a cool $670,000 ($15 million in today’s money). She was also there when Chaplin, who had a penchant for young girls, married and divorced firstly Mildred Harris, then some years later Lita Grey. The girls were aged 15 and 16 respectively. She was also there for him at the death of the silent movies, when Chaplin struggled through the painful transition into talkies, which finished the careers of many of Hollywood’s best-known stars. In later life, Chaplin would phone her she recalled, as he battled the American government and the House on Un American activities, which ended with his exile to Switzerland. Julanne was also there with him, Oona and the family in 1972, when Chaplin accepted his Oscar for lifetime achievement, receiving a twelve-minute standing ovation. The longest in Oscar’s history.  

​

     Chaplin introduced the young Julanne about town. Over the coming years she would establish long and enduring friendships with many of Hollywood’s most famous stars. Perhaps the most significant was her friendship with Marion Davies, the mistress of Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. In the years to come the two would become inseparable, with Julanne spending weekends and vacations at Hurst Castle. There were also galas, polo parties and yachting trips. One such trip aboard Hurst’s Yacht the Oneida in mid-November 1924, would become the subject of one of Hollywood’s greatest scandals. The death of movie mogul Thomas Ince rocked the world. The manner of his death remains controversial to this day, and is still shrouded in mystery, lore, conspiracy and myth. Whichever way one explains the events of that autumn night of the coast of San Diego, one thing remains true, the facts were and still remain quite bizarre.

​

     By the time Julanne made ‘The Young Rajah’ in 1922, she had already appeared in two films her first, ‘Better Times’ directed by King Vidor and later ‘Miss Hobbs’. Her somewhat pedestrian acting career seemed to have plateaued, until one evening Chaplin called and whisked her off into the Hollywood hills. Chaplin had long felt stifled by the studio system in Hollywood, whose control he believed suffocated individual creativity and expression. He proposed forming a new studio in 1918 to rectify these grievances. The less restrictive environment appealed to many actors and directors and he had little difficulty in finding partners. United Artist was formed by Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and W D Griffiths. That night Chaplin took Julanne to a party thrown by director Raoul Walsh. It was here that she was introduced by Chaplin to his close friend Douglas Fairbanks, with the words “Dougie, meet your Princess.” Julanne Johnston was 22 years old that night on Mulholland Drive. By her 23rd birthday she would be a star. Fairbanks was about to produce and star in the movie ‘The Thief of Baghdad’ and was searching for the perfect woman to play the ravishing wide-eyed Arabian princess to his roguish vagabond thief. The 1.8-million-dollar blockbuster was premiered in January of 1924 and met with rave reviews, not just because of its state-of-the-art filming techniques and mesmerizing special effects, but also the acting. It was met with great acclaim by both critics and public alike. The film has more than stood the test of time and is regarded today as one of the greatest silent movies of all time. Fairbank’s himself regarded ‘Thief’ as his greatest work.

     1924 became a standout year for Julanne for a number of reasons. It started off with the release of ‘Thief’ before she travelled to Germany to make ‘Garragan’. From Germany she travelled to the United Kingdom where director and future British movie mogul Michael Balcon wanted her to star in his movie the ‘The Prudes Fall’. One of the scriptwriters was a young man who fawned over Julanne. She remembered sending him out for coffee and ham sandwiches which she came to love while in England. “How was I to know”, she would remark later “that it was Alfred Hitchcock? He was remarkably attentive”, she added nonchalantly. Julanne returned to the United states in late October 1924, amongst the pile of mail waiting for her was an invitation from Marion Davis to sail down from St. Simeon to San Diego the following month.

​

     So it was that on that infamous November night that Julanne boarded the Oneida. The Oneida was a luxury yacht belonging to Marion Davis’ paramour, Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hurst. That weekend trip down the Pacific coast was about to create the greatest scandal and mystery in Hollywood history. Julanne’s recollection of that weekend, shared later with family and friends, relates an account of what happened that night that is not only both consistent and credible, but seriously at variance with the official report. It was to be a birthday party for Thomas Ince, a movie pioneer and Hollywood icon who created the studio system and was aboard to discuss leasing his studio to Hurst’s Cosmopolitan Pictures for the specific purpose of making movies starring Marion. According to official sources and the Hurst controlled press, Ince died of heart failure after a ruptured peptic ulcer brought on severe complications of the heart. However, rumours swirled that Ince had been mistakenly shot by Hurst in a fit of jealousy at Chaplin, whom he believed to be having an affair with Marion Davis. Was there a cover up? The events that followed the incident are so bizarre and inexplicable that the official explanation begs belief and lacked serious credibility.  The conflicting and confusing accounts of Chaplin, Davis and Louella Parsons (who according to Julanne was on board the Oneida that night along with 13 other guests) certainly didn’t match Julanne’s or Elinor Glynn’s account of what occurred. Incredibly only one witness statement was taken from all aboard. At the time Julanne’s friendship with Marion prevented her from disclosing the true events of that night for many years. Her account is still yet to be published.

     The latter half of the nineteen twenties roared strong and loud as Julanne whirled through a plethora of glamorous locations. From the movie set to the jet set, she yachted through the Bahamas with Lew Ayres and summered at the ‘ranch’ with Marion and Willie Hurst. Long days on the set whether with John Gilbert in ‘The Big Parade’ or making ‘The Big Pal’ with William Russel, she worked hard by day and celebrated long into the night. Julanne Johnston was in modern parlance living the dream, still only 28 years old her life had now become a constant unending social whirl of dinners, parties and premieres. In the summer of 1929, she attended a party at Colleen Moore’s Beverley Hills home where she was unceremoniously dumped in the pool by John McCormick and Richard Arlen, in what they considered to be an hilarious prank. What they didn’t know was that Julanne couldn’t swim. Julanne was thrashing around in the water trying desperately not to drown when suddenly there was a splash, and as if from nowhere there came a calm accented voice as strong masculine arms were gently drawing her to the side of the pool. In all reality she could not have been in better hands. Her rescuer had won five Olympic gold medals for swimming and would set fifty world records, winning not only every race but also Julanne’s heart. Johnny Weissmuller carried her from the pool area through the garden and up to the house, he had just completed his first movie in which he had played, ‘Adonis’! Need anymore be said. Julanne and Weissmuller’s relationship blossomed lasting until 1932 when he signed with MGM to play his iconic role as Tarzan. Years later watching a rerun of the movie ‘Tarzan Escapes’ with her sixteen-year-old granddaughter, the young teenager sighed at the sight of Tarzan’s athletic dive into the crocodile infested waters to save Jane. Turning to her grandmother she asked wistfully, “Wouldn’t you just love to be Maureen ‘O Sullivan”? “Hmmm.” Julanne changed the subject.

​

     When her relationship with Weissmuller ended, she started a brief relationship with Howard Hughes. Julanne was 32 years old when she and the aviation magnate, movie mogul and philanthropist dated for exactly two weeks.  “I told Howard I would not go out with him unless his chauffer drove” she told family and friends. “He crashes everything” she added incredulously. It ended according to Julanne because of what she referred to as his eccentricities. Relaying how dinner after dinner he would not only reclean the silverware but replace his and hers with perfect symmetry in relation to every other condiment on the table. Her issue wasn’t she claimed because he ate the same meal of steak and peas at every restaurant, or that no waiter could serve them until examined, as any spot of gravy or mark of any kind on their uniform resulted in the whole meal being returned to the kitchen until the offending garment was scrubbed, and the offending waiter reprimanded. ‘No, it was the peas that ended us’ she claimed with justified defiance, as she went on to describe how Hughes separated his peas by size, placing them in ascending order on his plate from largest to smallest before eating them. She told family that it was not Hughes’ actions that were alarming but how fascinating it was becoming watching him go through the daily rituals. One night, Hughes stopped the car to buy cigarettes, Julanne asked the chauffer to take her home, she never saw Hughes again.

     Julanne Johnston’s movie career ended more with a fizzle rather than a bang. By the end of 1934 it had become clear to her that her Hollywood days were over, and it was time to move on. She was now 34 years- old so she decided to say goodbye to the movie capital. She felt privileged to have lived through its golden age, but the time had come to bid adieu to the City of Angels. Well almost, because Hollywood was not quite done with her yet. There was to be one more seismic twist to the tale before it let her go, and it would be unforgettably bittersweet. She had of course during the previous decade known love of sorts, infatuations, dalliances and brief encounters, but none had ever truly captivated the young actress nor touched the hidden depths of her heart. That was all about to change.

​

     The Christmas and New Year of 1934 was unusually warm in Los Angeles even by California standards, and a restless Julanne was preparing for a trip to New York when she attended a party at the house of director Michael Curtiz, with whom she had worked previously. Curtiz was about to direct a movie for Warner Brothers based on a book by Earl Stanley Gardner renamed ‘The Case of the Curious Bride’. Julanne’s friend Warren William was to play the role of Perry Mason. Some of the cast had been invited to attend that evening, including a young and unknown 25-year-old Australian actor fresh off the boat from England, where he had been spotted and signed by Warner Brothers to a short-term contract. Julanne was introduced to Errol Flynn who was nine years her junior, ‘it was more of an encounter than an introduction’ she wrote later. There was immediate chemistry.  The magic of that evening among the bougainvillea on Curtiz’ patio swept the two of them into a romance that for Julanne would eclipse anything Hollywood could produce. Julanne had fallen hard and over the next few months they were virtually inseparable. The two adored each other and revelled in each other’s company. For Julanne, all the stars were in their heaven and all was right with the world, except for one thing; Lili Damita. The French spitfire met Flynn on the boat from England where they had entered into a transatlantic romance that was both passionate and seemingly binding. Unbeknown to Julanne, Flynn had all but proposed to the French actress, as he and Lili were if not officially engaged, most certainly unofficially engaged to be married. Flynn now had a decision to make. He was undoubtedly in love with Julanne, but committed to the 29-year-old Damita, an established actress who was brought to Hollywood in 1928 by MGM and had starred with many leading men. More importantly she was connected and could advance Flynn’s career. In the end Flynn chose Damita, whom he married later that year, over Julanne whose broken heart never truly mended.

     Devastated, Julanne left Hollywood and took off for New York in an attempt at least to find some emotional healing. She did not in fact have long to wait. In New York she met businessman David Wendell Rust. Here was a man as far removed from Hollywood as one could find, safe, stable and secure, he provided the emotional balm to sooth the savage wounds of another life. They were secretly married in June 1935 in Greenwich Connecticut, a marriage that would last until his death in 1961.

     After five years in New York City, Julanne and David eventually settled in Detroit. They bought the renovated Kellogg house stables in Grosse Pointe. David an executive sat on the boards of numerous companies. Julanne and David travelled extensively. The couple had one son, David junior who was born on March 9th 1937 and who married a young beautiful model from Windsor, Ontario in 1957, giving Julanne her only grandchild, a granddaughter, in March 1959. David junior’s life was cut tragically short when he died suddenly in 1966. He was just 29 years old. Julanne would lose both her husband and her son within the space of five years. She continued as a patron of the arts, sitting on numerous boards raising funds for both the dramatic arts as well as city state and national galleries. A great supporter of theatre and the opera, she could be seen frequently at the local symphony and operatic performances. Julanne spent the last years of her life in quiet solitude at her home in Grosse Pointe, visited by old friends which included Zsa Zsa Gabor, Coleen Moore and Gloria Swanson.

     Julanne Johnston died in Grosse Pointe, Michigan the day after Christmas 1988. She was as old as the century, a century that had brought her to Hollywood during the golden age of cinema, and had if for a brief moment, lavished upon her fame and celebrity status. Like every performer she had lived life doing what she loved most in the world. She lived a life that few could barely imagine let alone experience. She had lived among the stars, she had shone on the silver screen and above all she had loved deeply, loved her vocation, her friends and her family and sometimes even a little beyond. When the news broke on the 14th of October 1959 that Errol Flynn had died in Canada, it is said that Julanne Johnston wept.

​