June Havoc

June Havoc (born Ellen Evangeline Hovick on November 8, 1916 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is an actress and dancer. Some sources indicate that her birth name was Ellen June Hovick.

Related Topics:
November 8 - 1916 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Canada

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Her older sister, Rose Louise Hovick, is best known as Gypsy Rose Lee. Their mother, Rose Thompson, had married John Hovick, a newspaper ad man, at the age of fifteen, and was the classic example of a smothering stage mother, though more horrid details were reportedly whitewashed in Gypsy's memoirs. Both girls would be known by their middle names.

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Following her parents divorce, the two sisters earned the family's money by appearing in vaudeville, where June's talent shone, while Louise stood in the background. June, at the age of 13 in 1929, married a boy in the act, named Bobby Reed, who apparently fathered her only child, her daughter, April Reed. Rose had Bobby arrested and he was met at the police station by Rose, carrying a hidden gun. She pulled the trigger, but the safety was on and Bobby was freed. June left the act. Louise gravitated to burlesque, taking the name Gypsy Rose Lee.

Related Topics:
Vaudeville - 1929 - Burlesque

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June, adopting the name June Havoc, got her first acting break on Broadway in Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey, and moved on to Hollywood roles in such movies as Gentleman's Agreement.

Related Topics:
Rodgers - Hart - Pal Joey - Gentleman's Agreement

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She married secondly, in 1935 to Donald S. Gibbs, and thirdly, in 1949, to William Spier.

Related Topics:
1935 - 1949

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June and Gypsy continued to get demands for money from their mother, who had opened a lesbian boardinghouse in a ten-room apartment on West End Avenue, in New York City, the property rented for her by Gypsy, and a farm in Highland Mills, New York. Rose shot and killed one of her guests, (who, according to Erik Preminger, Gypsy's son) was Rose's OWN lover, who had made a pass at Gypsy. The incident was explained away as a suicide and Rose was not prosecuted.

Related Topics:
New York City - Highland Mills, New York - Erik Preminger

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Rose died in 1954 of colon cancer: the sisters now felt free to write about her without risking a lawsuit. Gypsy's memoirs, titled Gypsy, were published in 1957, and were taken as inspirational material for the Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents musical '. June did not like the way she was portrayed in the piece, but was eventually persuaded not to oppose it, for her sister's sake. The play and the subsequent movie deal assured Gypsy a steady income. Gypsy also died of cancer at the age of 59 in 1970.

Related Topics:
1954 - Colon cancer - 1957 - Jule Styne - Stephen Sondheim - Arthur Laurents - 1970

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To set the records straight, June wrote two more realistically based books of memoirs, titled Early Havoc and More Havoc. She also has a book called "Marathon 33." She still acts from time to time and lives on a farm in Canning Crossing, Connecticut, a Civil War town that she owns.

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