Fifties movie star Allyson dies

June Allyson appeared opposite male stars such as James Stewart

June Allyson, one of the leading Hollywood actresses of the 1950s, has died at the age of 88.

She died of respiratory failure and acute bronchitis at home in Ojai, California, after years of poor health following hip replacement surgery.

Allyson won a Golden Globe for 1951's Too Young to Kiss and later starred opposite James Stewart in The Glenn Miller Story and Strategic Air Command.

From the 1960s onwards, she appeared mainly on television.

Born Ella Geisman in the Bronx, New York, she was brought up in near poverty.

Marriage drama

Her career started in Broadway musicals, leading to Allyson's feature film debut in the screen version of stage show Best Foot Forward in 1943.

Subsequent big screen outings included Good News, Little Women and Executive Suite.

She moved into television after her film career waned at the end of the 1950s and starred in her own drama series, The June Allyson Show, from 1959 to 1961.

Allyson leaves behind her third husband, David Ashrow, whom she married in 1976.

She was married to actor Dick Powell from 1945 until his death in 1963. The couple had a son.

And she twice married and divorced Powell's barber, Glenn Maxwell, between 1963 and 1970.