Western film staple Johnson dies at 77

Tuesday, April 9, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Johnson, 77, collapsed while visiting his mother at Leisure World in Mesa, the suburban Phoenix retirement community where they both lived.

Johnson won his Academy Award for his supporting role as Sam the Lion, the owner of the pool hall and the movie theater in "The Last Picture Show," Larry McMurtry's study of life in a small Texas town during the 1950s.

"That changed my life," Johnson said of his award-winning role. "Everybody thought I knew something after I won that old Oscar. All of them wanted to give me a new job and more money."

Johnson practically arrived in Hollywood on horseback. He was working on a ranch in his native Oklahoma in 1939 when Howard Hughes ordered a load of horses from the ranch for use in "The Outlaw."

Johnson drove the horses by truck to California, and Hughes hired him as the film's horse wrangler.

He was working as a double and stuntman in Westerns when he was discovered by director John Ford, who cast him as a cavalry sergeant in two of his films and gave him the starring role in "The Wagon Master."

It was Ford who reportedly talked Johnson into taking the role in "The Last Picture Show" after Johnson objected to the film's language and nudity.

Johnson appeared in more than 300 films, including "Shane" and "The Wild Bunch," and was the tolerant police chief in "The Sugarland Express." More recently, he appeared in 1991's "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys," and "Radio Flyer."

Johnson completed filming "The Evening Star" in Houston last month. The movie, a sequel to 1983's "Terms of Endearment," also stars Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine, who were in the first movie.

Johnson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994.