Search a film or person :
FacebookConnectionRegistration
Home > All persons > Ben Johnson
Ben Johnson is a Actor, Director and Stunts American born on 13 june 1918 at Foraker (USA)

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson
If you like this person, let us know!
Birth name Francis Benjamin Johnson Jr.
Nationality USA
Birth 13 june 1918 at Foraker (USA)
Death 8 april 1996 (at 77 years) at Mesa (USA)
Awards Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Ben "Son" Johnson, Jr. (June 13, 1918 – April 8, 1996) was an American stuntman, world champion rodeo cowboy and Academy Award-winning actor. The son of a rancher, Johnson arrived in Hollywood to deliver a consignment of horses for a film. He did stunt double work for several years before breaking into acting through the good offices of John Ford. Tall and laconic, Johnson brought further authenticity to many roles in Westerns with his extraordinary horsemanship. An elegiac portrayal of a former cowboy theatre owner in the '50s coming of age drama, The Last Picture Show, won Johnson the 1971 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. He operated a horse breeding farm throughout his career. Although he said he had succeeded by sticking to what he knew, shrewd real estate investments made Johnson worth an estimated $100 million by his latter years.

Biography

Johnson was born in Foraker, Oklahoma, on the Osage Indian Reservation, of Irish and Cherokee ancestry, the son of Ollie Susan Johnson (née Workmon; 1899-2000) and Ben Johnson, Sr. (1896-1952). His father was a rancher and rodeo champion in Osage County. Johnson was drawn to the rodeos and horse breeding of his early years. In 1953 he took a break from well paid film work to compete in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, becoming Team Roping World Champion although he only broke even financially that year. Johnson was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1973. Johnson's mother Ollie died a few years after her son, on October 16, 2000, aged 101.

Johnson's 1941 marriage to Carol Elaine Jones lasted until her death on March 27, 1994, they had no children. She was the daughter of noted Hollywood horse wrangler Clarence "Fat" Jones.

Best films

Red Dawn
Red Dawn
(1984)
(Actor) The Last Picture Show
The Last Picture Show
(1971)
(Actor) She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
(1949)
(Actor) Mighty Joe Young
Mighty Joe Young
(1949)
(Actor)

Usually with

Cliff Lyons
Cliff Lyons
(9 films)
John Ford
John Ford
(7 films)
John Wayne
John Wayne
(8 films)
Chuck Hayward
Chuck Hayward
(9 films)
Merian C. Cooper
Merian C. Cooper
(6 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Ben Johnson (68 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

Beautiful Joe
Beautiful Joe (2000)
, 1h38
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Action, Romance
Actors Sharon Stone, Billy Connolly, Gil Bellows, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Jaimz Woolvett, Dann Florek
Roles Gino
Rating56% 2.8010152.8010152.8010152.8010152.801015
A dying man finds that horses, blondes, and the Mob may end his life faster than cancer. Joe (Billy Connolly) is a regular guy who runs a flower shop and has never had much in the way of good luck. Things seem to be grim for Joe when he's diagnosed with a brain tumor, but a bit of good fortune appears on the horizon when he wins a jackpot at the race track. However, Hush (Sharon Stone), an exotic dancer who has fallen deeply in debt to a gang of thugs, steals Joe's newly won fortune to pay them off. Joe gets his money back by explaining to the gangsters what happened, but only because they mistake him for a syndicate kingpin they've heard about but never met. When the gangsters discover that Joe is a florist and not a career criminal, they find the situation less than amusing.
The Evening Star
The Evening Star (1996)
, 2h9
Directed by Robert Harling
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romance
Actors Shirley MacLaine, Bill Paxton, Juliette Lewis, Miranda Richardson, Ben Johnson, Scott Wolf
Roles Arthur Cotton
Rating59% 2.950012.950012.950012.950012.95001
Years have passed since the death of her daughter. Aurora Greenway is still her usual strong, willful self, but all is not well with the three grandchildren she raised after Emma's death, particularly eldest boy Tommy, who is serving time in jail on a drug charge.
Angels in the Outfield
Angels in the Outfield (1994)
, 1h42
Directed by William Dear
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Fantasy
Themes Films about religion, Sports films, Baseball films, Films about angels, Children's films
Actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Danny Glover, Tony Danza, Brenda Fricker, Ben Johnson, Jay O. Sanders
Roles Hank Murphy
Rating61% 3.098333.098333.098333.098333.09833
Young foster child Roger (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his friend J.P. (Milton Davis, Jr.) love to sneak into baseball games of the hopelessly dreadful California Angels.
Radio Flyer
Radio Flyer (1992)
, 1h54
Directed by Richard Donner, David M. Evans
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy-drama, Fantasy
Themes Films about children, Films about families, Transport films, Aviation films, Films about domestic violence, Films about child abuse
Actors Elijah Wood, Joseph Mazzello, Lorraine Bracco, Tom Hanks, John Heard, Adam Baldwin
Roles Geronimo Bill
Rating69% 3.4500653.4500653.4500653.4500653.450065
Mike (Tom Hanks) is observing his two sons fighting; with one insisting that a promise doesn't mean anything. To make them understand that a promise does mean something, he tells them the story of his youth. Young Mike (Elijah Wood), his little brother Bobby (Joseph Mazzello), their mother Mary (Lorraine Bracco) and their German Shepherd Shane move to a new town after their father/husband leaves them. There, Mary marries a new man named Jack (Adam Baldwin), who likes the others to call him "The King". Unbeknownst to Mary, the King is an alcoholic who often gets drunk and beats Bobby.
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991)
, 1h46
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Origin USA
Genres Western
Themes Films about music and musicians, Musical films
Actors Scott Glenn, Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Balthazar Getty, Tess Harper, Gary Busey
Roles Jesse Dalton
Rating61% 3.098283.098283.098283.098283.09828
Scott Glenn is H.D., a champion rodeo rider whose career is ruined after being gored by a bull. He returns home to discover things have drastically changed — the family farm has been abandoned, his old girlfriend Julie (Kate Capshaw) is a now a widowed mother, and his sister Cheryl (Tess Harper) has put his father (Ben Johnson) in a nursing home. H.D. rescues his father from the home and returns him to the ranch. But when H.D. leaves the farm to visit Julie, his father seeks out Cheryl. Cheryl retaliates by threatening to return her father to the nursing home and sell the ranch. At this point, H.D. takes notice of a rodeo contest which would give him $100,000 if he can ride four bulls for a total of 32 seconds. H.D. bonds with his father as he gruelingly prepares for a return to the rodeo to win the contest and buy the ranch.
Stranger on My Land
Stranger on My Land (1988)
, 1h34
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Western
Actors Tommy Lee Jones, Richard Anderson, Michael Paul Chan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Barry Corbin, Natalie Gregory
Roles Vern Whitman
Rating57% 2.8544252.8544252.8544252.8544252.854425
Vietnam veteran rancher Bud Whitman (Jones) tries to stop the Air Force from building an air base on his land.
Cherry 2000
Cherry 2000 (1987)
, 1h33
Directed by Steve De Jarnatt
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Comedy, Action, Adventure, Comic science fiction
Themes Post-apocalyptic films, Films about religion, Comedy science fiction films, Films set in the future, Political films, Dystopian films, Robot films, Disaster films
Actors Melanie Griffith, David Andrews, Tim Thomerson, Pamela Gidley, Laurence Fishburne, Brion James
Roles Six Fingered Jake
Rating56% 2.8045052.8045052.8045052.8045052.804505
In the year 2017, the United States has suffered a series of civil insurrections and economic downturns, fragmenting into post-apocalyptic wastelands and limited civilized areas. One of the effects of the economic crisis is a decline in manufacturing, and heavy emphasis on recycling aging 20th Century mechanical equipment. At the same time, robotic technology has made tremendous developments, and female androids (or "gynoids") are used as substitutes for wives. Society has become increasingly bureaucratic and hypersexualized, with the declining human sexual encounters requiring contracts drawn up by lawyers prior to sexual activity.
Let's Get Harry
Let's Get Harry (1986)
, 1h42
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Origin USA
Genres Action, Adventure
Actors Jere Burns, Michael Schoeffling, Gary Busey, Rick Rossovich, Terry Camilleri, Elpidia Carrillo
Roles Mr. Burck Sr.
Rating52% 2.616342.616342.616342.616342.61634
The film opens with an American engineer named Harry Burck (Mark Harmon) being kidnapped by rebels in Colombia. Harry is there to help open a new water pipeline for his company and gets caught up in the action when a diplomat who is on hand for the pipe's unveiling is also kidnapped. Word reaches back to Harry's brother Corey (Michael Schoeffling) and his friends Bob (Thomas F. Wilson), cocaine addict Spence (Glenn Frey) and Kurt (Rick Rossovich), who were all awaiting his return home to Illinois. The men, who all work together at the same factory, learn that Harry was kidnapped by a drug lord named Carlos Ochobar. Corey and Bob travel to Washington, DC only to learn that the U.S. government is not going to mount any rescue attempt for Harry. We learn that the men (and everyone in the town) hold Harry in high regard. Kurt reminds his friends that they all owe Harry something, so he says their only choice is to rescue him themselves. Despite some resistance and skepticism from Kurt and Spence, all the men eventually agree to go. Before heading to Colombia, they enlist the financial help of a local car salesman named Jack (Gary Busey), who insists on going along, and the military expertise of a decorated no-nonsense mercenary named Norman Shrike (Robert Duvall).
Red Dawn
Red Dawn (1984)
, 1h54
Directed by John Milius
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, War, Thriller, Action
Themes Politique, Transport films, Aviation films, Political films, Dystopian films, Alternate history films, Arme nucléaire, United States Armed Forces in films
Actors Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen, Lea Thompson, Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton
Roles Mason
Rating62% 3.1498853.1498853.1498853.1498853.149885
An introductory text explains how the United States has gradually become strategically isolated after several European nations (except the United Kingdom) withdraw from NATO. At the same time, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact partners aggressively expand their sphere of influence. In addition, the Ukrainian wheat harvest fails while a Communist coup d'etat occurs in Mexico.
Tex
Tex (1982)
, 1h43
Directed by Tim Hunter
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Children's films
Actors Matt Dillon, Jim Metzler, Meg Tilly, Bill McKinney, Ben Johnson, Frances Lee McCain
Roles Cole Collins
Rating63% 3.1971653.1971653.1971653.1971653.197165
A coming-of-age adventure about two brothers (Matt Dillon and Jim Metzler) struggling to make it on their own when their mother dies and their father leaves them in their Oklahoma home.