Charming film actor Van Johnson passed away Friday of natural cause at Tappan Zee Manor, an assisted living center in Nyack, New York. He was 92.

Johnson’s acting career started in the renowned Broadway revue “New Faces of 1936.”  Three years later, he filled the shoes of a college boy in the musical comedy “Too Many Girls.” RKO Radio Pictures then signed him a contract to play a part in the film adaptation of the play, which represented Van Johnson’s movie debut.

Johnson also gave life to the character of Lieutenant Stephen Maryk in the 1954 drama film “The Caine Mutiny.” But he will be especially remembered for the great job he had done when impersonating both Piper and Truson in “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” After less than 10 years, his performance as the Pied Piper was still so fondly remembered that he filled the shoes of a Piper-like villain called "The Minstrel" on the 1960s television series “Batman.”

Van Johnson experienced a car accident which left him seriously injured. In 1943, his convertible was struck by another vehicle. "They tell me I was almost decapitated, but I never lost consciousness," he said, trying to remember the dreadful scene. "I spent four months in the hospital after they sewed the top of my head back on. I still have a disc of bone in my forehead five inches long."

Born in Rhode Island, the Hollywood star had been married for more than 20 years with Eve Lynn Wynn and had a daughter, Schuyler.