The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 311

Ik O. Barnard Hughes (left in photo above) stars as a sorcerer who liked It better when he was younger 1,600 years ago and Clark Brandon is his modern-day apprentice. Below, Elaine Joyce is seen in a 1973 photo with husband Bobby Van, who appeared with her in a CBS special. Van's untimely death in July 1960 left Elaine's life shattered. ready danced in the films West Side Story, The Music Man and Bye, Bye Birdie, in addition to appearing in such series as The Defenders, Route 66 and The Untouchables.

Rather than curtail her career, she said, marriage was just another entry on her resume. "I always worked when Bobby and I were married, I worked before I met him and I worked all the time after. I've always been on some series. My bio runs almost through our marriage. I've worked practically every week of my life.

I found out that's one thing that can't be taken away from you. That made my work that much more of a treasure to me. The thing was, everything was finally going beautifully for Bobby and the family when it happened." A former child star, Van was a mainstay in the Hollywood musicals that disappeared from theaters in the '60s, and at the time of their 1968 marriage, his confidence was at an all-time low, she said. After convincing him that he was squandering his talent, the two set out for New York where they both ended up starring on Broadway he in No, No Nanette and she in Sugar. When the dream began to crumble, it happened swiftly.

Many of their closest friends didn't even know how serious things were until after Van's death. "Bobby was the youngest of that whole group Fred (Astaire), Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Ray Bolger. Bobby was the baby, and they all expected him to be the last living heir to that throne. Needless to say, all of them are dear friends of mine and were of ours, and none of them can believe it, that the youngest would be the first to go. I know how they feel, because there are very few of them and everything was going along so beautifully.

"We had just made a deal to go into the MGM Grand, and finally we were going to do an act together. This was February 1980 and he started getting these headaches. We took him to the hospital, they did a scan and a doctor told me he was going to die. Of course, I didn't believe him. There was a pressure in his head that turned out to be a tumor.

The next morning, they shot him with dye and did an angiogram, and again they told me he was going to die. "It was ridiculous! 'A I said. "That's all he's got is a I couldn't believe it and I never believed it. I thought I could love him to stay here. You know, if you really love somebody, you don't let them go.

Well, I did everything I could and it just didn't work. He died in five-and-half months, but it was agony. I tried to work, but I don't even remember what shows I did. "He didn't want anybody to know, and I was with him round the clock. Toward the end, I had nurses with him round the clock, I couldn't handle it.

I just didn't want him to know he was going to die. He knew he had a tumor, and he knew it was malignant, but I told him they had gotten it all during surgery and be was going to recover. "The people who reported it out here were stunned. They just couldn't believe it. Bobby was one of the most loved people in this business.

The whole thing was so sudden, and the five months after the surgery, he didn't want anyone to know. He said, 'I don't want anybody thinking negative things. I need all the positive feelings I can get from people that I'm going to "We did a show after that, The Mrs. America Pageant, but it was horrible for him, because he was getting weaker. It was just so grotesque.

The whole thing was diabolical, but I kept him at home until he died because I wanted Taylor to see the progression of an illness. I didn't want her to be afraid of death, afraid of her daddy dying, or how he joked about it. "Finally, he lost control of his left side, he couldn't even walk. I remember, he always wanted a Rolls-Royce, we were just going to buy one and we were working on having another baby when all this i i -J I i happened. One day, he was in his wheelchair.

He pointed to it and said: 'I finally got my and on the side of the wheelchair it said Rolls." Following his death, adjustment as a single parent didn't come easily, she said, and only now does she feel comfortable in a dating situation. "I was just so hostile, nasty and upset. I would take it out on anyone I went out with. It was difficult, ft, because I had something really special and it was taken away from me, but now I've become much i better. I'm just fine now.

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