The Real Ben Johnson

Last Sunday, I ended the saga (Best of Intentions) of Ben Johnson, history teacher from Oswego, New York, who lost his son, Frank, in a hunting accident, his first wife, Paula, in a traumatic divorce stemming from the loss of their son, and his second wife, Rita, as a result of a tragic mistake that sometimes happens during war.  

I chose the name Johnson because the British commissioner, Sir William Johnson, went to Oswego in the mid Eighteenth Century to enter into a peace treaty with Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa Tribe.  I chose the name Ben because Ben Johnson is one of my favorite actors.

The actor Ben Johnson, of Irish and Cherokee ancestry, was born in Oklahoma in 1918.  Through his father, he developed an interest in horses.  Ben's film career began with the 1943 Howard Hughes western, The Outlaw, when he was hired to bring the horses Hughes bought for the film from Oklahoma to Hollywood.  Once in California, Ben got stunt work because of his ability riding horses.  

The director John Ford hired Ben to be the stunt double for Henry Fonda in his 1948 film, Fort Apache.  So impressed was Ford with Ben's horseback riding that he signed him to a seven-year acting contract.

Ben Johnson's first credited role was in the 1949 John Ford/John Wayne movie, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.  In 1950, he worked again with the two Johns in Rio Grande.  In 1953, Ben had a famous barroom fist fight with Alan Ladd in the classic, Shane.  

In the early 1960s, Ben was in three episodes of Have Gun Will Travel with Richard Boone.  In 1961, he worked with Marlon Brando in One Eyed Jacks.  In 1968, Ben appeared in the Charlton Heston movie, Will Penny, and the Clint Eastwood film, Hang 'Em High.  In 1969, he was one of The Wild Bunch, along with William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and Warren Oates.

 In 1971, Ben was cast in the film The Last Picture Show, directed and co-written by Peter Bogdanovich.  It is a coming of age story of two teenage boys living in a dying small town in north Texas in 1951.  It received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.  All three awards were won by The French Connection.    

In The Last Picture Show, Ben Johnson plays Sam the Lion, the owner of the local pool hall, movie theater and cafe.  There is one touching scene in which he takes the two boys, Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) on a fishing trip.  While there, Sam the Lion recalls a time in his past when he took a young woman to the same place. 

"I brought a young lady swimming out here once.  More than twenty years ago.  It was after my wife had lost her mind and my boys was dead.  Me and this young lady was pretty wild, I guess.  In pretty deep!  We used to come here horse back and go swimming with no bathing suit.  One day, she wanted to swim the horses across this tank.  A kind a crazy thing to do, but we done it anyway.   She bet me a silver dollar she could beat me across.  She did.  The horse I was riding didn't want to take the water.  But, she was always looking for something to do like that.  Something wild!  I bet she's still got that silver dollar."

Ben Johnson received the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Sam the Lion.  He died of a heart attack in 1996 at the age of seventy-seven, mimicking the death of Sam the Lion in The Last Picture Show.