I was a cowboy from the time I hit the ground. An honest-to-goodness Oklahoma cowboy who became an Academy Award winner and World Champion Rodeo Roper (1953). A Tribute to Ben Johnson from John Wayne This article was written in 1995 An honest-to-goodness Oklahoma cowboy who became an Academy Award winner and World Champion Rodeo Roper (1953). He never became a star, and it probably would have surprised him if he had. Johnson spent his first few years as a stunt-man and wrangler, doubling for such famous actors as John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Alan Ladd, and Joel McCrea. I think I got a lot respect from people in the business because of my honesty. Though he played everything from heroes to heavies, in real-life he was a gentleman in every sense of the word who always had a smile and a "Howdy" for a fan. "It was the worst thing I ever read, " Johnson said. After working as a wrangler and stunt-man, Johnson got his first speaking part around 1943 in a movie called Red Riders. I mean, he was a mean old bastard, but if you listened to him, you could learn something. I don't do dirty movies and I don't have to say four-letter words around women and kids to make myself a name.". I think I've won the respect of some people over there and I think I managed to stay real.". He never "went Hollywood". His staying power was simple - Ben Johnson had a natural on-screen presence and was completely believable in his roles. I could always make a living working on a ranch or in a rodeo.". He did it there, in front of me, and when the man walked out, I just said, 'I can't work for you.' "Ben was a very good businessman and invested the money he made in movies very wisely, and in a way that was why he never learned to be a great actor," a friend said. Honesty is like a good horse, you know it'll work anyplace you hook it.". Which fivesome would do best on Family Feud? I told them all the same thing. If you see him as the young Trooper Tyree riding with John Wayne in the classic, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, or later in life as the sympathetic rural sheriff in Sugarland Express, it's easy to get the impression he isn't acting at all. As you walk through, you may notice that everything in the museum has ties to Osage County. But Ben left our lives richer - he showed what a good human being is capable of accomplishing. He decided against reading it, he told the glittering assemblage, because "...the longer I worked on it, the phonier it got." You have to understand that Ben was a very humble person. Johnson was, literally, a cowboy who got into pictures. Johnson eventually had roles in approximately 300 movies, most of them westerns. When Hughes hired him to bring the horses to Monument Valley, Johnson had been working as a cowboy for $40 a month. The Ben Johnson Cowboy Museum welcomes you to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, heart of Osage County and home of the world’s greatest cowboys and cowgirls. Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Thu, Oct 15 As Johnson recalled: "Sam was a fatalist. Johnson, a cowboy who had performed in numerous western movies filmed in Arizona, was in real life a lot like the people he usually portrayed, not particularly at ease in a big crowd. I knew if a cow weighed 1,000 pounds and bought $10 a hundred, I knew how much that was. ProRodeo Hall of Fame & Museum of the American Cowboy, 101 Pro Rodeo Drive, Colorado Springs, CO, Copyright © 2020 ProRodeo Hall of Fame & Museum of the American Cowboy. That a man in his mid-70's was out there riding and roping and WINNING was an inspiration - but not a surprise - it was Ben Johnson. I ran my life a certain way. Fate placed him in the film business in 1940, when he delivered horses to Howard Hughes... Hollywood critics later said Johnson stole the show that night by putting away his unfinished speech. The last words Ford ever said to me was, 'Ben, don't forget to stay real.' I didn't hobnob with the elites because I didn't do drugs and I didn't drink a lot of whiskey oh, I might take a drink now and then, but you know what I mean. He studied the line eight days and eight nights, he said, and then muffed it. ", "Well," he said, "I can't handle phony people, and there are a lot of them in Hollywood. 19 VIDEOS | 83 IMAGES Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. He'd go into a bar, walk through the place and find the biggest guy there, and pick a fight with him. But, I was fortunate because people accepted my character. John Wayne was very professional, and a good fellow to work around. He liked to come out and go riding with me all the time, and he'd roll up a hundred dollar bill and tuck it in my shirt pocket. 9:04 AM PDT Johnson won the Oscar for his role as Sam the Lion, the philosophical owner of a pool hall in a dreary Texas town. He was a real educator. Born June 13, 1918, in Foraker, Okla., Johnson was a world champion in team roping. In 1971, Johnson won an Oscar for best actor in a supporting role for his portrayal of an aging cowboy in The Last Picture Show. "I just returned from the Cannes Film Festival, and all these people over there were asking me about John Wayne and John Ford. Hughes, already a multimillionaire in 1939, gave him $175 a week. Johnson remained obscure, however, until he was hired for a supporting role in Sam Peckinpah's 1969 bloodfest, "The first time I met him was when he asked me to appear in. Born: June 13, 1918 in Foraker, Oklahoma If you see him as the young Trooper Tyree riding with John Wayne in the classic. Now 77 [in June, 1995], he continues to compete in rodeo events, and he still lights up a bit when he recalls that in 1953 he won the world championship in team roping. Oscar Winning Roles in the Same Movie (Part 1), Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story, Boffo! I had no formal education to speak of. His closest friends remained cowboys and Hollywood people who could honestly sit a saddle. He was crazy.". "He wanted me to get these horses from Oklahoma to Arizona and then take them on to Hollywood," Johnson said. But, you know, I am the only cowboy that ever won an Oscar in the movies and a world championship in rodeoing.". He was pretty dingy. Johnson never had any training as an actor.He was a classic case of on the job training. Team Roping • Inducted 1979 Ben Johnson, son of a famous early-day roper, grew up determined to follow in his father’s footsteps. Johnson's ability with a horse and rope led to a warm friendship with Hughes. He'd start drinking whiskey and taking pills and he'd go crazy. I think I got a lot resp, After working as a wrangler and stunt-man, Johnson got his first speaking part around 1943 in a movie called, "I worked with Ford, Steven Spielberg [He was in. Johnson was, literally, a cowboy who got into pictures. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, Amazon donates. I always had something else to do I didn't sit around waiting for the phone to ring. "That movie Hughes was making in Monument Valley, The Outlaws, had a scene where the government had rounded up something like 4,000 horses. His father was a foreman for Chapman Barnard, a big rancher in Oklahoma who ran about 20,000 mother cows, an enormous operation, and Ben was unique in the movie business because he'd been working on a ranch as a cowboy since the time he was a little kid. I went to his office to meet him, and I was sitting across the desk from Sam when a stunt-man comes in. He competed in his charity rodeos right to the end, and frequently won! "Every other word that I had was a dirty word, so I turned it down. Johnson, who lived in Mesa a few blocks from his mother, has been working in movies as a stunt-man or actor, since the 1940's. I thought that was pretty good...". I've built my life around the principles of honesty, realism and respect, and if the people in Hollywood are so pumped up on themselves they can't deal with that, I say the hell with 'em. I was just trying to scare him a little.'". But, I was fortunate because people accepted my character. "He didn't have to. "That big silver buckle they gave me means more to me than that Oscar," he said, though he acknowledged the Oscar had a much larger impact on his income than his rodeo award did. The movies were a way to make a living for Johnson. On the set, Wayne was an amiable co-worker, Johnson said. Well, Hughes owned this palomino stud named Cherokee Charlie, which he also used in that movie. I ran my life a certain way. Mini Bio (1) Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. His first major contract came as the result of stopping a runaway team and saving the lives of three men. "That's how I know that John Wayne was an honest man. Johnson is at home in the culture of the West. Ben Johnson, son of a famous early-day roper, grew up determined to follow in his father’s footsteps. STZENW (648), Thu, Oct 15 Just a little quip, of course, but there are many who would agree in an instant. After this trailer has ended, you can watch more western films, Sam ElliottJames StewartRobert DuvallBen JohnsonWalter BrennenRandolph ScottClint EastwoodTommy Lee JonesJohn WayneJoel McCreaTom SelleckAudie MurphyRobert TaylorGene HackmanAndy DevineBurt LancasterGary CooperAlan LaddKevin CostnerKirk DouglasLee MarvinPaul Newman. ', "I says, 'By God, if you did to me what you did to that man there, I'd hit you right in the damn nose and you'd run me out of the business, and I'm not ready to leave..' 'Well,' he says, 'I'm not that bad. Born June 13, 1918, in Foraker, Okla., Johnson was a world champion in team roping. Johnson eventually had roles in approximately 300 movies, most of them westerns. |. on An honest-to-goodness Oklahoma cowboy who became an Academy Award winner and World Champion Rodeo Roper (1953). In 1953, Johnson took a year off from the movie business to compete full-time in rodeos. Fate placed him in the film business in 1940, when he delivered horses to Howard Hughes...In 1972, when Ben Johnson walked to the stage to accept an Academy Award for best supporting actor in The Last Picture Show, he carried with him a fairly predictable though unfinished speech which would at least have saved him the trouble of having to think in front of so many people. on I had no formal education to speak of. Then, holding his shining Oscar in his right hand, he declared, "What I'm about to say will start a controversy around the world:"This couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow!". His decency as a human being always came across. In later years Johnson started sponsoring the Ben Johnson Celebrity rodeos in major cities throughout the country, including Phoenix, to raise money for sick or deprived children. I was a cowboy from the time I hit the ground. Looking for something to watch? Hired as a wrangler by a motion picture outfit, he went to Hollywood with a load of horses, got into stunt work and then into acting. "That movie Hughes was making in Monument Valley, Johnson spent his first few years as a stunt-man and wrangler, doubling for such famous actors as, "You know," he said, "when I left Oklahoma I wasn't even sure which direction Hollywood was, but I could ride a horse pretty good. After he left Howard Hughes, the legendary John Ford hired him as he was embarking on his series of epic cavalry movies in northern Arizona. "It didn't take me long to figure out this was a good deal," Johnson said. Home <> Western Gallery <> Western Dictionary <> Cowboys <> Reining, Western Store <>Western Writers <> Western Stars <> Western TV <> Country Music <> Guns <> Western Vacations, Disclaimer Sitemap Contact Links wESTERN mOVIES. Well, of course, as soon as the herd starts to run, the first thing that palomino does is start running toward the bunch, so I took off after it and roped it real fast.
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