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Bobby
began life as Robert Jack Stein, born in the Bronx, New York,
December 6th, 1928. Never having a dance lesson in his life,
the young Stein had aspirations of being a musician at first
– trumpet being his instrument – but switched to
song and dance man when asked to replace an act in the Catskills
where he was performing with his band. Singing some songs,
doing some dancing and telling jokes gave Bobby a thrill that
he'd never experienced until that moment. The child of vaudeville
parents (Harry Stein and Mina Anapolsky), Bobby practically
grew up backstage (where he had some of the best teachers
performing for him nightly) and made his first appearance
at the age of four, when his parents introduced him into their
act in Atlantic City, N.J. Bobby attended public schools in
New York City and took music classes at the Metropolitan Vocational
High School (now the High School of Performing Arts). Performing
at resorts in the Jewish supper clubs of the Catskills Mountains
of New York and entertaining troops for the USO (United Service
Organizations), Bobby developed his stage technique that would
later land him leading roles on Broadway. After World War
II, he appeared at hotels and supper clubs, as well as on
radio and television. All this time Bobby was trying out a
variety of last names, including "King" which had
been his father's professional name [vaudeville trio of Gordon,
Reed and King], but he became Bobby Van one day when
he entered his sister's bedroom and saw a picture of Van Johnson.
"It was Van from that moment on," Bobby recalled.
"It's a good thing she didn't have a picture of Maria
Ouspenskaya!" he joked in an interview from 1976.
 In
1952 Bobby married a young starlet named Diane Garrett.
Diane appeared in "The Stork Club" with Betty
Hutton and a few other films before she dropped out of sight
around 1952. On May 14th, 1960 Bobby and Diane adopted a
bouncing baby boy who they named Peter
Gregory. The couple divorced around 1962 and Diane later
married Ed Waters, an Emmy winning writer and producer who
adopted Peter as his own. Sadly, Ed passed away November
9, 2004. Peter and his mother Diane are still living.
A
busy year for Bobby was 1953. After appearing in a song
and dance number with Debbie Reynolds in the Esther Williams
comedy, "Skirts Ahoy!" and having a small role
(with dance solo) in the Mario Lanza movie, "Because
You're Mine," Bobby did three films in 1953. "Small
Town Girl," which starred Jane Powell, "The Affairs
of Dobie Gills," which was Bobby's only title role
and "Kiss Me Kate," with Howard Keel and Kathryn
Grayson (of which Bobby had no lines of his own ... only
those of the character he played in the stage production).
It seemed that Hollywood was going to be putting his massive
talents to good use.
But
unfortunately the era of the musicals was over and with
it Bobby's singing and dancing career on the big screen.
The next time fans saw him in theaters was in a campy sci-fi
movie, "Navy vs. the Night Monsters" in 1966.
Although fans may not have realized it, Bobby was also working
behind the scenes in the 60s. He had turned to choreography
(perhaps attempting to follow in his father's later footsteps)
and staged the musical numbers to "The Ladies' Man"
(1961) and "It's Only Money" (1962). In 1964 Bobby
appeared in the recurring role of Bobby on Mickey Rooney's
TV series, "Mickey." This was only part of a beautiful
friendship that had bloomed into a night club comedy team
that lasted seven years. Mickey showed his love for his
friend by calling him nearly every day while Bobby was in
the hospital where he underwent brain surgery to remove
a tumor in 1979.
Bobby
didn't let the fact that Hollywood no longer felt musicals
were a viable market stop him. Continually working in television,
film, night clubs and on stage, Bobby showed that the most
important thing for him was that he kept doing what he loved
... performing! And wanting more than just character roles,
Bobby made a serious decision to have his nose altered.
He felt a large bump, the result of two breaks when a child,
was possibly holding him back from more serious roles. So
after the closing of the Broadway musical, "On Your
Toes" in 1955, Bobby semi-retired for three months
to have the plastic surgery and allow the swelling to go
down. It must have paid off as he landed the role of Harry
in"Playhouse 90" the very next year!
 Although
very busy in the mid-1960s with his comedy act with Mickey
Rooney, movies and television, Bobby took his second bride
on May 2, 1968 when he married Elaine Joyce (Pinchot). While
he and she talked about appearing together in a few joint
ventures, they did only one television special together
and appeared on television shows as guest stars. Their most
notable joint appearances were on the game show, "Tattletales"
where they were the favorite couple of viewers.
 The
1970s was another busy time for Bobby. Guest starring on
several popular TV shows, hosting his own game shows,"Showoffs,"
"The Fun Factory" and "Make Me Laugh"
and appearing on Broadway again in the revival of "No,
No, Nanette" and the original musical "Doctor
Jazz," he seemed to have it all. But he was given an
added joy when in 1977 Elaine gave birth to their only child,
a daughter, Taylor. While Taylor didn't follow in the performing
footsteps of her father or mother, she is a success in her
own right working behind the scenes in movie production.
Sadly,
in 1979 Bobby developed a brain tumor that turned out to
be malignant. He had the surgery but the cancer returned
and Bobby lost the battle on July 31st, 1980. But being
the trooper he was, he continued to appear in the public
and on television right up until the end. His final live
appearance on television was as the host of the Mrs. American
Pageant in June 1980 (Bobby had been the host for the previous
three years as well).
On
August 1, 1980 Bobby was lovingly laid to rest next to his
mother, Mina Stein, at Mount
Sinai Memorial Park in Burbank, California.
©
2004 - 2005
By: Jane Byron Dean
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