{"id":909,"date":"2014-03-12T09:25:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T13:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keenerpodcast.com\/stevecrum\/2014\/03\/12\/remembering-ben-johnson\/"},"modified":"2022-06-08T16:53:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T20:53:07","slug":"remembering-ben-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/?p=909","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Ben Johnson…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published on April 19, 1996 in the Kansas City Kansan on the occasion of actor Ben Johnson\u2019s death.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

COWBOY ACTOR\u2019S DEATH MEANS END OF AN ERA FOR WESTERN FILMS<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/a>By Steve Crum\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

Ben Johnson rode with the best of them on and off screen during his 60-plus cowboy years as a trick and stunt rider, rodeo star, actor, and ultimately Academy Award winner. His death at 75 on April 8 adds closure to the great era of Western movies that spanned from William S. Hart and Tom Mix silents to John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Most of his cowboy co-stars and directors are long gone, including mentors Duke Wayne, Ward Bond, and John Ford\u2014the revered \u201cJohn Ford Stock Company.\u201d Under Pappy Ford, Ben Johnson\u2019s gutsy, hard riding heroics forever dazzle in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon<\/i>, Ford Apache<\/i>, and Rio Grande<\/i>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/div>\n

Yet his best Western work, Ford\u2019s low-keyed Wagonmaster<\/i>, gave him his first stretch as star actor. Teamed with another Ford stock actor, Harry Carey Jr. (who is still alive), Johnson is terrific as a cowpuncher who very reluctantly agrees to guide a group of Mormon settlers (led by Ward Bond) to their promised land out West.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

It was always Ben Johnson in a cowboy hat, even in monster film Mighty Joe Young<\/i> (he ropes that giant ape), and later roles as a modern day Lone Star lawman in The Sugarland Express<\/i> as well as owner of a has been movie theater (his Best Supporting Actor Oscar) in The Last Picture Show<\/i>. A late career highlight was his gritty part as a weathered outlaw in Sam Peckinpah\u2019s The Wild Bunch<\/i>, restored and re-released last year.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

The Oklahoma cowboy off-screen was devoted to raising thousands for afflicted children via his annual charity rodeo in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was also devoted to his fans, appearing regularly at dozens of nationwide film festivals.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

Alan Brehm, a friend of mine who is a premiere film collector and historian possessing a fantastic collection of John Ford memorabilia, witnessed Johnson\u2019s open persona at last summer\u2019s Memphis Film Festival held at a local hotel there.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cBen was the main reason I went down there,\u201d said Brehm. \u201cHe was supposed to come in early on a Friday, but arrived late, at 9 p.m.\u201d Brehm said Johnson had not been feeling well, and was encouraged by an aide to go to his room to rest. Twenty minutes later, Johnson appeared at the door of the festival\u2019s main area, his friend still pressuring him to get some sleep. Ben Johnson was adamant about staying.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

\u201cThese are my fans,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it weren\u2019t for them, I wouldn\u2019t be here.\u201d For the next hour or so, Johnson tirelessly greeted fans and signed autographs. Then he returned to his room. Brehm, who was staying at the same hotel, was in the hall at about 1 a.m. and saw Johnson carrying an armload of folders to his room.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cGoodnight, Ben!\u201d yelled Brehm. \u201cGet some sleep!\u201d \u201cYeah, boy!\u201d was his reply.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/a>A treasure of Brehm\u2019s is the movie still of Rio Grande<\/i> that Johnson personalized with a quote directed to his character in the same film: \u201cYou\u2019re a man I can trust. Your friend, Ben Johnson.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span>Reports are that Johnson died of a heart attack after visiting his mother at the retirement community in which they both lived. The beloved old cowboy will be missed.<\/span><\/span>
\n——————–<\/span><\/span>
\nThis photo of Ben Johnson was taken during the 1995 Memphis Film Festival.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span>
\n——————–<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published on April 19, 1996 in the Kansas City Kansan on the occasion of actor Ben Johnson\u2019s death. \u00a0 COWBOY ACTOR\u2019S DEATH MEANS END OF AN ERA FOR WESTERN FILMS \u00a0 By Steve Crum\u00a0 \u00a0 Ben Johnson rode with the best of them on and off screen during his 60-plus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2531,"href":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions\/2531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crumonshowbiz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}