Ben Johnson
Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo preformer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper and James Stewart. His break came when John Ford noticed him and gave him a part in an upcoming film, and eventually a star part in Wagon Master (1950). He left Hollywood in 1953 to return to rodeo, where he won a world roping championship, but at the end of the year he had barely cleared expenses. The movies paid better, and were less risky, so he returned to the west coast and a career that saw him in over 300 movies.
IMDb mini-biography by
Bruce Cameron <
[email protected]>
Spouse
Carol Elaine Jones (1941 - 1994) (her death)
Trivia
Died while visiting his mother in the 'retirement community' where not only she but he himself lived.
Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994
A prize belt buckle that he won for calf roping was stolen from his car when he visited Houston in 1976; on a repeat visit a decade later he was an on-air guest on radio station KIKK when a caller returned the buckle to him.
He initially turned down the role in The Last Picture Show (1971) for which he won the Academy Award because the script contained too many curse words; with permission of the director, Peter Bogdanovich he rewrote his part with the offensive words removed.
As he was, his father, Ben Johnson, Sr., was a champion steer roper. The senior Johnson was also a cattleman and rancher who was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1961.
Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1982.
His father, Ben Johnson, Sr., was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the Rodeo Historical Society (a support group of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum) in 1961. The Ben Johnson Memorial Award, in honor of his father, is awarded annually to prominent representatives of the western character and spirit (since 1998).
Johnson, his father, and nephew have Belt-Buckle awards for team roping.
Was born on the Osage Indian Reservation.
Was of Cherokee and Irish blood.
He turned down the role of Sam the Lion in "The Last Picture Show" when it was first offered to him by Peter Bogdanovich because he thought the script was "dirty" and he did not approve of swearing and nudity in motion pictures. Bogdanovich appealed to John Ford, who got Johnson to change his mind as a favor to him. Johnson won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar playing the role.
Personal quotes
"Everybody in town's a better actor than I am, but none of them can play Ben Johnson."
"You know, I'd say that aside from Mr. Ford's help in my career, I'd lay any success I've had to not expecting too much. I never expected to become a star and was always content to stay two or three rungs down the ladder and last awhile. When I do get a little ahead, I see what I can do to help others."
[On leaving Oklahoma for Hollywood, where he became a horse wrangler for Howard Hawks on "The Outlaw" (1943)] "I'd been making a dollar a day as a cowboy, and my first check in Hollywood was for $300. After that, you couldn't have driven me back to Oklahoma with a club."
Where are they now
(April 1996) He is buried in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, on the Osage Indian Reservation, just a few miles away from were he was born.
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Former rodeo star Johnson broke into the movie business in 1940, first as a horse wrangler and later as a double for cowboy star Wild Bill Elliott. After years of stuntwork, he was "discovered" by director John Ford, who may have seen another John Wayne in the tall, good-looking, slow-drawling Oklahoman. Johnson eased into acting with supporting roles in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Mighty Joe Young (both 1949), and Rio Grande (1950), and Ford starred him with Harry Carey, Jr., in Wagon Master (1950), but the likable Johnson just didn't seem to be star material. He returned to character parts, mostly in Westerns (including Shane, One-Eyed Jacks and Hang 'em High and matured into a fine, if limited, actor. (He never forsook his roots; in 1953 he was the World's Champion Steer Roper.) He was a favorite of director Sam Peckinpah, and appeared in his Major Dundee (1965), The Wild Bunch (1969), Junior Bonner and The Getaway (both 1972). Johnson's career took a major leap forward when he won an Oscar for his performance as Sam the Lion, the theater owner in The Last Picture Show (1971). He subsequently appeared in Dillinger (1973, as Melvin Purvis), The Sugarland Express (1974), Bite the Bullet (1975), Breakheart Pass (1976), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1977), The Swarm (1978), Tex (1982), Red Dawn (1984), My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991), and Radio Flyer (1992), among others. More recently, he appeared in Angels in the Outfield (1994) and Outlaws (1995). Johnson's weather-beaten features make him an icon for any filmmaker chronicling the American West-past or present.
Copyright © 1994 Leonard Maltin, used by arrangement with Signet, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc.
Well, I refuse to comment any further on Radio Flyer until I get my $100.00. No, make that $200.00 - $100.00 a piece - we should both watch that movie again - however, I really don't want to. Too depressing.
