Ben Johnson (actor)
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Ben Johnson Jr. (13 June 1918 – 8 April 1996) was an American motion picture actor, mainly in Westerns. He was also a rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and rancher.
Born in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, of Osage and Irish ancestry to Ben Sr. and Ollie (Workman) Johnson. Ben Johnson Sr. was a rancher in Osage County and also a rodeo champion. As a young man, Ben Johnson Jr. was a ranch hand, would travel with his father on the rodeo circuit, and become a star before becoming involved in the movies. He won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's Team Roping Championship for steer roping in 1953.
Johnson married Carol Elaine Jones, daughter of Western (genre) star Buck Jones in 1941, and was married for 53-years until her death on 27 March 1994. The couple had no children.
After getting a taste for Hollywood by doing some stunt work in the 1939 movie The Fighting Gringo, in the early 1940's he found work in Hollywood wrangling horses for a studio; he also started doing stunt work involving horses. His steady stunt work began on the controversial Howard Hughes film The Outlaw. Hughes cast Jane Russell in the lead and had numerous camera shots of her ample cleavage, getting the attention of the Hollywood censors. The film was shot in 1941 but took five years to get to selected theaters. Johnson made his first appearance in front of the camera in Naughty Nineties, an Abbott and Costello's movie made in 1945. He got a bigger role in the 1949 film Mighty Joe Young, as 'Gregg', opposite Terry Moore.
With his work as a stunt man he would catch the eye of director John Ford. Ford would hire Johnson for stunt work for the 1948 movie Fort Apache, and then the following year in the 3 Godfathers, then put him in front of the camera in several films, also starring three with John Wayne, including three in a row: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Wagon Master (1950; Johnson played the lead in this non-Wayne Ford western), and Rio Grande (1950).
Johnson played in supporting roles in the screen classics Shane (1953) starring Alan Ladd and One Eyed Jacks (1961) starring Marlon Brando. In 1964 he worked with Ford again in Cheyenne Autumn. He also appeared in four Sam Peckinpah directed films; Major Dundee (1965; with Charlton Heston), The Wild Bunch (1969; with William Holden & Robert Ryan), and two back-to-back Steve McQueen movies, The Getaway and the rodeo film Junior Bonner (both 1972).
He teamed up John Wayne again, and director Andrew McLaglen, in two films; appearing with Rock Hudson in The Undefeated (1969), and in a fairly prominent role in Chisum (1970).
In between the four Peckinpah films Johnson would win an Academy Award for his performance as 'Sam The Lion' in the classic The Last Picture Show, the Larry McMurtry (novel & screenplay) story made into a film and directed by Peter Bogdanovich (also co-writer screenplay), that co-starred Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, and in her film debut Cybill Shepherd.
Johnson continued to work almost steadily until his sudden death in 1996 at his home is Mesa, Arizona. He also continued ranching during the entire time. In addition, he sponsored the Ben Johnson Pro Celebrity Team Roping and Penning competition, held in Oklahoma City, the proceeds of which are donated to both the Children's Medical Research Inc., and to the Children's Hospital of Oklahoma.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ben Johnson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7083 Hollywood Blvd. In 1982, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
[edit] Trivia
- On Sunday evenings the "good ol' boys club" met at the John Ford Ranch in the San Fernando Valley. John Ford and John Wayne would be at the Ranch, and some others; Ben Johnson, Chill Wills, Ward Bond, Grant Withers, Harry Carey, Jr. and many of the other supporting actors that were usually in all of Wayne's pictures. Sometimes, Lee Marvin would show up. They were sometimes known as The John Ford Stock Company.
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| Preceded by John Mills for Ryan's Daughter |
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 1971 for The Last Picture Show |
Succeeded by Joel Grey for Cabaret |
