Brad Johnson (television actor)
Encyclopedia
Elmer Bradley "Brad" Johnson (July 23, 1924 – April 4, 1981), was an American film and television actor, best remembered for his role as the deputy Lofty Craig on the 1950s Western
series, Annie Oakley
. After his last television appearance, in a 1967 episode of CBS
's Gunsmoke
, Johnson spent the remainder of his life as a real estate
developer in Los Angeles
, California
.
in Yuba County
and Yuba City
in Sutter County
in northern California. His father, Carl Elmer Johnson (1901-1924), died shortly before his son's birth and is interred at the nearby Yuba City Cemetery. His mother, the former Eula Ball Bradley, a native of Michigan
, reared her son through her work as a teacher. When Brad was thirteen, he received his eighth-grade certificate from his mother-teacher's one-room school.
Johnson was thereafter reared for several years in Auburn
and attended Placer High School
there. He relocated to Sacramento
in his senior year. There he worked as a receiving clerk while taking acting classes. During World War II
, Johnson served as a pilot with the United States Army Air Corps
. He flew B25
s in the South Pacific. At the end of the war, he was stationed in Japan
, where he worked at a military radio station as announcer, disc jockey, and writer.
On returning from the Army, he enrolled and later graduated from the University of Southern California
, where the drama department was headed by William De Mille, brother of screen producer Cecil B. De Mille. He worked at the university radio station.He became an announcer and stage manager with KTLA.
In the summer of 1950, Johnson was the resident lead appearing with Anthony Franciosa
in summer stock. He performed in several plays at the Playhouse in the Sky at Lake Tahoe
, near Reno
, Nevada
. Johnson and his wife, the former Adele Cook, co-starred in Born Yesterday and received excellent reviews.
One of Johnson's first screen roles came at the age of twenty-seven, when he appeared in 1951 as one of six unnamed students in Ronald W. Reagan's Bedtime for Bonzo
. In 1952, he had an uncredited role as a reporter in Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth
with Charlton Heston
. He drove to Florida
to procure this role, armed with a rarely written letter of recommendation from Professor De Mille.
, The Range Rider
, Cowboy G-Men
, Stories of the Century
, Circus Boy
, Rescue 8
, State Trooper
, and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
, in which he appeared as John Quinn in the episode "The Iron Horse" (1955) and as Tom Buckner in "Rin Tin Tin and the Second Chance" (1956).
Johnson appeared in all eighty-one episodes of Annie Oakley, a Gene Autry
Flying A Production, as the principled and courageous law enforcement officer to the more unconventional and free-spirited Annie Oakley
, a fictitious portrayal of the famed markswoman from Ohio
. In the story line, Annie, played by Gail Davis
, and her younger brother, Tagg Oakley (portrayed by Jimmy Hawkins
), live in fictitious Diablo, Arizona
. Their uncle, Luke MacTavish, is officially the sheriff, but he is usually away, with Johnson's Lofty Craig, riding his horse Forest, hence minding the office and jail.
Johnson played the role of Ed Masterson
(brother of Bat Masterson
) in the 1957 episode "The Nice Ones Always Die First" of the ABC
half-hour western series, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
, with Hugh O'Brian
in the starring role. In 1958, he played Hurley Abbott in the episode, "The Underdog", in the same series. In 1959, he played Joe Shields in the episode "Wild Cargo" of Dale Robertson
's Tales of Wells Fargo
. That same year he played a character "Hardin" in the episode "Trouble at Tres Cruces" of CBS
's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
. In 1959, Johnson played cowboy
"Whip Johnson" in the CBS situation comedy
Dennis the Menace, starring Jay North
, in the episode "Dennis and the Cowboy".
Between 1952 and 1960, Johnson appeared five times on the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days
, including the roles of legendary sheriff Bill Tilghman
in the episode “The Wedding Dress” and of Sheriff Tom Fuller in "Stagecoach Spy". In 1960, he portrayed Sheriff Dan Blaisdell in "Home Is the Brave" on Clint Walker
's ABC series Cheyenne
. Other Johnson western roles were as Jim Reardon in "A Bullet for the Teacher" (1960) on ABC’s Maverick
, as Will Eckhardt in “The Cathy Eckhardt Story” opposite Susan Oliver
on NBC
’s Wagon Train
, and as Duke Huston in “Vigilantes of Montana” on NBC's Overland Trail
with William Bendix
and Doug McClure
.
Johnson also appeared in three Warner Brothers detective series on ABC: Bourbon Street Beat
, Surfside 6
, and 77 Sunset Strip
. In 1964, he appeared as Jim McDowell in "Doesn't Anybody Know Who I Am?" of NBC's Kraft Suspense Theatre
. His last acting role was his only appearance on James Arness
’s Gunsmoke, as Laskin in the 1967 episode "Cattle Barons".
Johnson also made many public appearances in the late 1950s and early 1960s at county and state fairs, rodeos, and western expositions. He developed a popular fast-gun act. He also appeared at the California Gold Rush
commemoration in Auburn, California, in the late 1950s.
toy gun commercials of the 1950s, and Julie Johnson Storozynski. Johnson died at the age of fifty-six in a hospital in Burbank
, California.At the time of his death, Johnson had just completed developing a shopping center. Adele Johnson later remarried and continues to live in southern California.
Johnson was cremated.
Johnson's granddaughter, Julie's daughter, Azura Skye
, who was born just months after his death, is an actress, having appeared in many productions, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer
and with Sandra Bullock
in the film 28 Days
.
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
series, Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley (TV series)
Annie Oakley is an American Western television series which fictionalized the life of famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. It ran from January 1954 to February 1957 in syndication. ABC showed reruns on Saturday and Sunday daytime from 1959–1960 and from 1964-1965...
. After his last television appearance, in a 1967 episode of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, Johnson spent the remainder of his life as a real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
developer in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Early years
Of Swedish extraction, Johnson was born on his paternal grandparents' 100-acre peach farm between MarysvilleMarysville, California
Marysville is the county seat of Yuba County, California, United States. The population was 12,072 at the 2010 census, down from 12,268 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area, often referred to as the Yuba-Sutter Area after the two counties, Yuba and...
in Yuba County
Yuba County, California
Yuba County is a county located in the U.S. state of California's Central Valley, north of Sacramento, along the Feather River. As of the 2010 census, its population was 72,155. The county seat is Marysville. Yuba County is part of the Greater Sacramento area.-History:Yuba County was one of the...
and Yuba City
Yuba City, California
Yuba City is a Northern California city, founded in 1849. It is the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. The population was 64,925 at the 2010 census....
in Sutter County
Sutter County, California
Sutter County is a county located along the Sacramento River in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, north of state capital Sacramento. Sutter County is part of the Greater Sacramento CSA....
in northern California. His father, Carl Elmer Johnson (1901-1924), died shortly before his son's birth and is interred at the nearby Yuba City Cemetery. His mother, the former Eula Ball Bradley, a native of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, reared her son through her work as a teacher. When Brad was thirteen, he received his eighth-grade certificate from his mother-teacher's one-room school.
Johnson was thereafter reared for several years in Auburn
Auburn, California
Auburn is the county seat of Placer County, California. Its population at the 2010 census was 13,330. Auburn is known for its California Gold Rush history.Auburn is part of the Greater Sacramento area.- History :...
and attended Placer High School
Placer High School
Placer High School is a public high school located in Auburn, California and is part of the Placer Union High School District. Auburn is located northeast of Sacramento, California, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.-History, 1897 to 1906:...
there. He relocated to Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
in his senior year. There he worked as a receiving clerk while taking acting classes. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Johnson served as a pilot with the United States Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
. He flew B25
B25
B25, B-25 or B.25 may refer to:* B-25 Mitchell, an American aircraft which saw service during World War II* Blackburn B-25, a 1939 British Fleet Air Arm fighter aircraft...
s in the South Pacific. At the end of the war, he was stationed in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, where he worked at a military radio station as announcer, disc jockey, and writer.
On returning from the Army, he enrolled and later graduated from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, where the drama department was headed by William De Mille, brother of screen producer Cecil B. De Mille. He worked at the university radio station.He became an announcer and stage manager with KTLA.
In the summer of 1950, Johnson was the resident lead appearing with Anthony Franciosa
Anthony Franciosa
Anthony Franciosa was an American actor, usually billed as Tony Franciosa during the height of his career.-Early life:...
in summer stock. He performed in several plays at the Playhouse in the Sky at Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
, near Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. Johnson and his wife, the former Adele Cook, co-starred in Born Yesterday and received excellent reviews.
One of Johnson's first screen roles came at the age of twenty-seven, when he appeared in 1951 as one of six unnamed students in Ronald W. Reagan's Bedtime for Bonzo
Bedtime for Bonzo
Bedtime for Bonzo is a 1951 comedy film directed by Fred de Cordova, starring future U.S. President Ronald Reagan. It revolves around the attempts of the central character, Professor Peter Boyd , to teach human morals to a chimpanzee, hoping to solve the "nature versus nurture" question...
. In 1952, he had an uncredited role as a reporter in Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 drama film set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The film was produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture...
with Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
. He drove to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
to procure this role, armed with a rarely written letter of recommendation from Professor De Mille.
Television career
About the time that Johnson appeared on Annie Oakley, he guest-starred in other series of the 1950s, mostly westerns: The Cisco KidThe Cisco Kid (TV series)
The Cisco Kid is a half-hour American Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role, The Cisco Kid, and Leo Carrillo as the jovial sidekick, Pancho...
, The Range Rider
The Range Rider
The Range Rider is an American Western television series that aired in syndication from 1951-1953. A single lost episode was first shown in 1959...
, Cowboy G-Men
Cowboy G-Men
Cowboy G-Men is an American Western series that aired in syndication from September 1952 to June 1953, for a total of thirty-nine episodes.-Synopsis:...
, Stories of the Century
Stories of the Century
Stories of the Century is a Western television series that ran in syndication through Republic Pictures between January 23, 1954, and March 11, 1955.-Synopsis:...
, Circus Boy
Circus Boy
Circus Boy is an American action/adventure/drama series that aired in prime time on NBC, and then on ABC, from 1956 to 1958. It was then rerun by NBC on Saturday mornings, from 1958 to 1960...
, Rescue 8
Rescue 8
Rescue 8 is a syndicated American action drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department Rescue Squad Number 8. It premiered in 1958, and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a decade after. It starred Jim Davis as fireman Wes Cameron, and Lang Jeffries...
, State Trooper
State Trooper (TV series)
State Trooper is a half-hour television crime drama set in the 1950s American West, starring Rod Cameron as Rod Blake, an officer of the Nevada State Troopers. The series aired 104 episodes in syndication from September 25, 1956, to June 25, 1959...
, and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin is an American children's television program which originally aired in 166 episodes on ABC from October 1954 until August 1959. It starred child actor Lee Aaker as Rusty, a boy orphaned in an Indian raid, who was being raised by the soldiers at a US Cavalry post known...
, in which he appeared as John Quinn in the episode "The Iron Horse" (1955) and as Tom Buckner in "Rin Tin Tin and the Second Chance" (1956).
Johnson appeared in all eighty-one episodes of Annie Oakley, a Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
Flying A Production, as the principled and courageous law enforcement officer to the more unconventional and free-spirited Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
, a fictitious portrayal of the famed markswoman from Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. In the story line, Annie, played by Gail Davis
Gail Davis
Gail Davis was an American actress, best known for her starring role as Annie Oakley in the 1950s television Western series Annie Oakley.-Life and career:...
, and her younger brother, Tagg Oakley (portrayed by Jimmy Hawkins
Jimmy Hawkins
James F. Hawkins , known as Jimmy Hawkins, and later, Jim Hawkins, is an American actor and film producer whose career began as a child actor to such Hollywood stars as Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, and Donna Reed...
), live in fictitious Diablo, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. Their uncle, Luke MacTavish, is officially the sheriff, but he is usually away, with Johnson's Lofty Craig, riding his horse Forest, hence minding the office and jail.
Johnson played the role of Ed Masterson
Ed Masterson
Ed Masterson was a lawman and the brother of the American West gunfighters Bat Masterson and James Masterson.-Lawman career:...
(brother of Bat Masterson
Bat Masterson
William Barclay "Bat" Masterson was a figure of the American Old West known as a buffalo hunter, U.S. Marshal and Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler, frontier lawman, and sports editor and columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph...
) in the 1957 episode "The Nice Ones Always Die First" of the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
half-hour western series, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is a Western television series loosely based on the adventures of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour black and white series ran on ABC-TV from 1955 to 1961 and featured Hugh O'Brian as Earp. An off-camera barbershop quartet sang the theme song and hummed...
, with Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian is an American actor, known for his starring role in the ABC television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp .-Early years and career:...
in the starring role. In 1958, he played Hurley Abbott in the episode, "The Underdog", in the same series. In 1959, he played Joe Shields in the episode "Wild Cargo" of Dale Robertson
Dale Robertson
Dayle Lymoine "Dale" Robertson is an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the role of Jim Hardie in the TV series, Tales of Wells Fargo, and the owner of an incomplete railroad line in ABC's The Iron Horse, often appearing as the deceptively thoughtful but...
's Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
. That same year he played a character "Hardin" in the episode "Trouble at Tres Cruces" of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...
. In 1959, Johnson played cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
"Whip Johnson" in the CBS situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
Dennis the Menace, starring Jay North
Jay North
Jay North is an American actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor at the age of six, North became a household name during the early 1960s for his role as the well-meaning, but mischievous, Dennis Mitchell on the CBS situation comedy Dennis the Menace, based on the comic strip created...
, in the episode "Dennis and the Cowboy".
Between 1952 and 1960, Johnson appeared five times on the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
, including the roles of legendary sheriff Bill Tilghman
Bill Tilghman
William Matthew "Bill" Tilghman was a lawman in the American Old West.-Early life :Bill Tilghman was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on July 4, 1854. He became a buffalo hunter at age 15 and claimed he killed over 1000 bison over his five years of activity...
in the episode “The Wedding Dress” and of Sheriff Tom Fuller in "Stagecoach Spy". In 1960, he portrayed Sheriff Dan Blaisdell in "Home Is the Brave" on Clint Walker
Clint Walker
Norman Eugene Walker, known as Clint Walker , is an American actor best known for his cowboy role as "Cheyenne Bodie" in the TV Western series, Cheyenne.-Life and career:...
's ABC series Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...
. Other Johnson western roles were as Jim Reardon in "A Bullet for the Teacher" (1960) on ABC’s Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
, as Will Eckhardt in “The Cathy Eckhardt Story” opposite Susan Oliver
Susan Oliver
Susan Oliver was an American actress, television director and aviator.-Early life and family:Susan Oliver was born Charlotte Gercke, the daughter of journalist George Gercke and astrology practitioner Ruth Hale Oliver, in New York City in 1932. Her parents divorced when she was still a child...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
’s Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
, and as Duke Huston in “Vigilantes of Montana” on NBC's Overland Trail
Overland Trail (TV series)
Overland Trail is a short-lived American Western series which aired on NBC from February 7 to June 6, 1960. The series starred William Bendix and Doug McClure,-Synopsis:...
with William Bendix
William Bendix
William Bendix was an American film, radio, and television actor, best remembered in movies for the title role in the movie The Babe Ruth Story and for portraying clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and television's The Life of Riley...
and Doug McClure
Doug McClure
Douglas Osborne "Doug" McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...
.
Johnson also appeared in three Warner Brothers detective series on ABC: Bourbon Street Beat
Bourbon Street Beat
Bourbon Street Beat is a private detective series which aired on the ABC network from 1959-1960 and featured Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, Richard Long as Rex Randolph, Van Williams as Kenny Madison, and Arlene Howell as Melody Lee Mercer, the secretary at the New Orleans detective agency in which...
, Surfside 6
Surfside 6
Surfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered around a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield, II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison ; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne...
, and 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
. In 1964, he appeared as Jim McDowell in "Doesn't Anybody Know Who I Am?" of NBC's Kraft Suspense Theatre
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Kraft Suspense Theatre, an anthology series, was telecast from 1963 to 1965 on NBC. Sponsored by Kraft Foods, it was seen three weeks out of every four and was pre-empted for Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall specials once monthly...
. His last acting role was his only appearance on James Arness
James Arness
James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
’s Gunsmoke, as Laskin in the 1967 episode "Cattle Barons".
Johnson also made many public appearances in the late 1950s and early 1960s at county and state fairs, rodeos, and western expositions. He developed a popular fast-gun act. He also appeared at the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
commemoration in Auburn, California, in the late 1950s.
Death at 56
Brad and Adele Johnson were married for thirty-one years until his death in 1981. Adele used the stage name "Amanda Webb". Their two children are Sander K. Johnson, who played in MattelMattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
toy gun commercials of the 1950s, and Julie Johnson Storozynski. Johnson died at the age of fifty-six in a hospital in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, California.At the time of his death, Johnson had just completed developing a shopping center. Adele Johnson later remarried and continues to live in southern California.
Johnson was cremated.
Johnson's granddaughter, Julie's daughter, Azura Skye
Azura Skye
Azura Skye is an American actress who first gained recognition for her role as Jane on The WB television sitcom, Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane...
, who was born just months after his death, is an actress, having appeared in many productions, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series that aired from March 10, 1997, until May 20, 2003. The series was created in 1997 by writer-director Joss Whedon under his production tag, Mutant Enemy Productions with later co-executive producers being Jane Espenson, David Fury, David...
and with Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock
Sandra Annette Bullock is an Academy Award winning American actress and producer who rose to fame in the 1990s after roles in successful films such as Demolition Man, Speed, The Net, A Time to Kill, and While You Were Sleeping. She continued with films such as Miss Congeniality, The Lake House,...
in the film 28 Days
28 Days (film)
28 Days is a 2000 American drama film directed by Betty Thomas. Sandra Bullock plays Gwen Cummings, a newspaper columnist obliged to enter rehabilitation for alcoholism. The film costars Viggo Mortensen, Dominic West, Elizabeth Perkins, Steve Buscemi and Diane Ladd.-Plot:Gwen Cummings borrows the...
.