John Lund

One of six children of an immigrant Norwegian glassblower, John Lund had a rather unstable childhood. He left school at the age of 14. For a while, he tried his hand at various part-time jobs, but never stayed long. He then devised several entrepreneurial ways to generate income, including a smoking cessation program (a fairly novel idea at the time) and a mail-order manual on mind reading. Unsurprisingly, none of these ventures were successful. In improvisation, Lund landed a small role in a local Rochester production of Clifford Odets' play "Waiting for Lefty." From there he moved on to work in summer stocks, eventually heading to New York and landing another small theater role while working at the 1939 World's Fair. For the next two years, still restless, Lund alternated jobs in advertising with acting and writing for radio.

Lund's first film had him as star To Each His Own (1946) with Olivia de Havilland for Paramount, in which he played dual roles. It was written and produced by Charles Brackett and was critically and commercially successful.

Paramount cast Lund as Betty Hutton's leading man in The Perils of Pauline (1947). He was one of many Paramount stars who made cameos in Variety Girl (1947). In the Billy Wilder film A Foreign Affair (1948), Lund was a romantic lead for Marlene Dietrich and Jean Arthur.

Lund left Paramount for Universal, where he was Ann Sheridan's leading man in Steel Town (1952), replacing Jeff Chandler.

He co-starred with Chandler in The Battle at Apache Pass (1952) and Scott Brady in Bronco Buster (1952) then was reunited with Sheridan in Just Across the Street (1952).

Lund had the title role in the serial Chaplain Jim on the Blue Network in the early 1940s. Lund also played Johnny Dollar in the radio show Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, taking over from 1952 until 1954.

Lund was married to Marie Charton, who was an actress and a model. Lund retired from acting in 1962 to his home in Coldwater Canyon. He died from a heart attack in 1992.