June Haver

June Haver (born Beverly June Stovenour; June 10, 1926 – July 4, 2005) was an American film actress, singer and dancer. Once groomed by 20th Century Fox to be "the next Betty Grable," Haver appeared in a string of musicals, but she never achieved Grable's popularity. Haver's second husband was the actor Fred MacMurray, whom she married after she retired from showbusiness. Early life Beverly June Stovenour was born in Rock Island, Illinois and later took the surname of her stepfather, Bert Haver. Her mother Maria Haver (née Carter) was an actress and her father Fred Christian Stovenour was a musician. After the family moved to Ohio, seven-year-old Haver entered and won a contest of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. At age eight, she won a film test by imitating famous actresses including Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn and Helen Hayes, but her mother prohibited her from becoming a child actress because she felt that Haver was too young to work in the film industry. When Haver was 10, the family returned to Rock Island, where she began performing for Rudy Vallée and became a well-known child star on the radio. She worked regularly as a band singer by the time that she was in her teens, performing with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra for $75 a week. She also worked with bandleaders Dick Jurgens and Freddy Martin. Career 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 as a southern belle, she was discovered by a scout from 20th Century Fox. In 1943, Haver signed a $3,500-per-week contract with the studio and made her film debut playing an uncredited role as a hat-check girl in The Gang's All Here. She was dropped shortly after because the studio executives felt that she looked too young, but she was later signed again after her costume and hairstyle were changed.