BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Actress June Allyson, the stage, film and television actress who was one of Hollywood's most beloved stars in the 1940s and 1950s, has died at age 88.

    Allyson died Saturday at her home in Ojai of pulmonary respiratory failure and acute bronchitis after a long illness, her daughter, Pamela Powell, told The Times on Monday. David Ashrow, Allyson's husband of 29 years, was at her side.

    June Allyson, the stage, film and television actress best known for her girl-next-door charm and winsomely husky voice in such 1940s MGM classics as "Good News" and "Little Women," has died at age 88, her husband said on Monday.

    Allyson had been in declining health since undergoing hip-replacement surgery a few years ago.

    During World War II, American GIs pinned up photos of Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable, but June Allyson was the girl they wanted to come home to. Petite, blond and alive with fresh-faced optimism, she seemed the ideal sweetheart and wife, supportive and unthreatening.

    "I had the most wonderful last meeting with June at her house. ¡­ We were such dear friends. I will miss her," said her lifelong friend and fellow actress Esther Williams.

    Born Ella Geisman in the Bronx, New York, she was brought up in near poverty and overcame a childhood accident that left her in braces for four years, eventually teaching herself to dance.

    Under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, she played wholesome, perky roles in a string of light comedies, musicals and romances, including "Music for Millions," "Two Girls and a Sailor," "Little Women" and "Good News."

    She won a Golden Globe Award for her 1951 role in "Too Young to Kiss," where she played a talented pianist who poses as a child prodigy to gain an audition for a music impresario who is holding tryouts for a kids' concert tour.

    As the 1950s wore on, Allyson grew into roles as the supportive wife in such films as "The Glenn Miller Story" and "Strategic Air Command."

    Although ranked as one of the ten leading box office stars in the mid-1950s, her Hollywood career waned at the end of that decade and she moved into television. And she returned to Broadway in 1970 and continued to make occasional TV and film appearances through the 1990s. Enditem

    (Agencies)