Actress June Havoc, sister of Gypsy Rose Lee, whose childhood was depicted in the Broadway musical “Gypsy” died on Sunday, the Village Voice has reported. She was 96.
Havoc was born Ellen Evangeline Hovick Nov. 8, 1913, in Vancouver. Her father was a Seattle reporter, and her parents divorced when Havoc was very little.
Her mother, Rose Hovick, began grooming Havoc for a life in show business almost immediately. She appeared in several silent films, including one with Harold Lloyd, and at the peak of her Vaudeville popularity was earning $1,500 a week during the Depression.
Billed as “Baby June” and later “Dainty June,” she hated the life, and her ruthless stage mother, and escaped by eloping with fellow performer Bobby Reed at the age of 13.