Arte Johnson

 ( 1929 Births ) 

Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson (January 20, 1929 – July 3, 2019) was an American actor and comedian, who was best known for his work as a regular and portrayed himself in NBC sketch comedy series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967–1971).

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Biography

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Early life Johnson was born January 20, 1929, in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the son of Abraham Lincoln and Edythe Mackenzie (Goldberg/Golden) Johnson. His father was an attorney. Johnson graduated from Austin High School and received a bachelor's degree in radio journalism from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1949, where he worked at the campus radio station and the University of Illinois Theater Guild with his brother Coslough "Cos" Johnson.

Following brief military service in Korean War (he was discharged due to a Duodenum ulcer he had suffered since childhood), "From Beautiful Downtown Burbank": A Critical History of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, 1968–1973. Erickson, Hal (2000). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, page 74, . he sought employment in Chicago advertising agencies but was unsuccessful and left for New York City to work for Viking Press. In early 1954, Johnson performed in several New York nightclubs, including Le Ruban Bleu and the Village Vanguard. Weekly Variety, January 20, 1954; April 7, 1954. His first job in show business came when he impulsively stepped into an audition line and was cast in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Johnson appeared in Ben Bagley's The Shoestring Revue, which opened off-Broadway on February 28, 1955, at the President Theater in New York.

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Early television and film roles Johnson appeared three times in the 1955–1956 CBS sitcom It's Always Jan, starring Janis Paige and Merry Anders. In 1956 a young Arte Johnson appeared in season 3, episode 22, of Make Room for Daddy in an episode called "Who Can Figure Kids", where he sang and danced. In 1958 he joined the cast of the short-lived NBC sitcom Sally. On that program he played Bascomb Bleacher, Jr., the son of a co-owner of a department store, portrayed by Gale Gordon. He played Ariel Lavalerra in the 1960 film The Subterraneans, an adaptation of Jack Kerouac's 1958 novel of the same name. In 1960 and 1961, he appeared in three episodes of Jackie Cooper's military sitcom/drama series Hennesey, also on CBS. In Alfred Hitchcock Presents he played Mr. Bates in the episode "A Secret Life" (1962). He was cast in an episode of Frank Aletter's sitcom Bringing Up Buddy. He also appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone titled "The Whole Truth" (1961).

Before his big breakthrough in Laugh-In, Johnson was cast for a guest role as Corporal Coogan in the anthology series GE True ("The Handmade Private," 1962). He played a bumbling navy cameraman on an episode of McHale's Navy in the first season and The Andy Griffith Show as a hotel clerk in the episode "Andy and Barney in the Big City" (also 1962). He was a member of the regular cast of the 1962–1963 situation comedy Don't Call Me Charlie!, portraying Corporal Lefkowitz. Johnson appeared in a comedic role as Charlie, a boom-microphone operator who demonstrates to Jack Benny how to tell a joke properly, on The Jack Benny Program that aired on October 2, 1964. The joke performed in the sketch was the "ugly baby" story, later associated with Flip Wilson. He made a guest appearance on ABC's sitcom, Bewitched as Samantha's (Elizabeth Montgomery) Cousin Edgar in the final episode of the first season, airing on June 2, 1965. Also in 1965, Johnson played a rare dramatic supporting role in the film The Third Day as Lester Aldrich, who turns out to be the downtrodden husband of the sleazy nymphomaniac Holly.

Johnson appeared in one of the final episodes of ABC's The Donna Reed Show in 1966. He was cast in the satirical James Coburn film The President's Analyst (1967), in which he gave a comically chilling performance as a federal agent with a blindly obedient "orders are orders" mentality. He appeared in the Season 3 episode of Lost in Space titled "Princess of Space" (1968). Johnson also starred in an episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery titled "The Flip-Side of Satan" (1971).

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Laugh-In Johnson is best known for his work on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973, on which he played many characters, including "Wolfgang," a cigarette-smoking German soldier oblivious to the fact that World War II was long over, as he skulked while hidden behind a potted plant. He would then invariably comment on a preceding gag with the catchphrase "Very interesting ...," which Johnson claimed was inspired by a Nazi character who spoke the line during an interrogation scene in the film Desperate Journey (1942). Often toward the show's close, he (as the German) would offer words of affection to "Lucy and Gary" (Lucille Ball and her second husband Gary Morton). The Lucy Show and later Here's Lucy on CBS were in direct competition with NBC's Laugh-In on Monday night. Johnson reprised the role briefly on Sesame Street /ref> and while voicing the Nazi-inspired character Virman Vundabar on an episode of Justice League Unlimited. His other prominent Laugh-In character was "Tyrone F. Horneigh" (pronounced "horn-eye," a "clean" variant of the vulgar term "horny"), the white-haired, trench coat-wearing "dirty old man" who repeatedly sought to seduce "Gladys Ormphby," (Ruth Buzzi's brown-clad "spinster" character) on a park bench. Tyrone would enter the scene, muttering a song (usually "In the Merry, Merry Month of May"), and, spying Gladys on the bench, would sit next to her. He would ask her a question, and regardless of the answer, turn it into a double entendre. She would then start hitting him with her purse and he would fall off the bench, sometimes with a plea for help.

To boost ratings in the third season, Tyrone successfully courted Gladys which led to an on-air wedding on the March 16, 1970, episode during the spring ratings sweep. Tiny Tim played best man, with Carol Channing as the bridesmaid, and Henry Gibson officiating. Alas, both bride-to-be and groom-to-be walk out of the church just before the wedding vows are spoken.

Years after Laugh-In ended, the two characters were the subject of an animated Saturday-morning children's show, Baggy Pants and the Nitwits, with Tyrone as a helpful, muttering "superhero."

Johnson and his brother Coslough earned Emmy Awards while working on Laugh-In.

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Later work Johnson guest-starred in two episodes of The Partridge Family ("My Heart Belongs to a Two Car Garage" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls... and Tolls... and Tolls") and the situation comedy A Touch of Grace (1973). He appeared in the first season of the Detroit-produced children's show Hot Fudge (1974) and, for one week, as a celebrity guest panelist on the game show Match Game. From 1976 to 1980, Johnson was a regular celebrity guest judge on The Gong Show.

In 1976, Johnson voiced the animated cartoon character Misterjaw, a blue, German-accented shark, in The Pink Panther Show. He also voiced the character "Rhubarb" on The Houndcats and appeared as a guest on Canadian TV show Celebrity Cooks (1976) with host Bruno Gerussi. Johnson appeared on an episode of the NBC daytime version of Wheel of Fortune in September 1977 as a substitute letter-turner, both to fill in for an injured Susan Stafford, and to promote his short-lived NBC game show Knockout, which aired through early 1978. Instead of being introduced by the show's announcer, he would start the show with a small monologue, then the announcer would introduce the day's contestants. He was cast as Renfield, the comic sidekick of George Hamilton's Dracula in the film Love at First Bite (1979) and appeared in the all-star television disaster film Condominium (1980). He voiced "Weerd" in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985), and played a disgruntled employee denied severance pay in an episode of Airwolf. He also voiced several other characters: Dr. Ludwig Von Strangebuck and Count Ray on two episodes of DuckTales; Devil Smurf on The Smurfs; Top Cat and Lou on Yo Yogi!; and Newt on Animaniacs. Johnson guest-starred in the Murder, She Wrote episode "No Laughing Murder" (1987). He also appeared in an episode of Night Court (1990). From 1991 to 1992, Johnson appeared in multiple episodes of General Hospital as Finian O'Toole. He played the old laboratory head of a team of scientists working on a serum of youth in Second Chance (1996).

Johnson performed more than 80 audiobook readings, including Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan (2006) and Carl Hiaasen's Bad Monkey. He appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Ties That Bind" (2005) as the voice of Virman Vundabar, which was his final acting role before his retirement in 2006.

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Personal life Johnson lived in Southern California with his wife, Gisela. They had four children: Antonia, Joanna, Danny, and Dae. He was previously married to choreographer Texie Waterman.

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Health problems and death Johnson was a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma survivor, which was diagnosed and successfully treated in 1997. Johnson died at his home in Los Angeles, on July 3, 2019, just three years after he being diagnosed with bladder cancer and . He was 90. His ashes were scattered off Hawaii. Gisela Johnson survives him.

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Filmography

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Film

Uncredited

Final film role

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Television

1954	Max Liebman Spectaculars	Chuck Green	Episode: "Best Foot Forward"
1955–1956	It's Always Jan	Stanley Schreiber	4 episodes
1956	The Danny Thomas Show	Bob Martin	Episode: "Who Can Figure Kids?"
1958	Sally	Bascomb Bleacher Jr.	7 episodes
1959	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Wally	Episode: "Ivy League"
1960	The Red Skelton Show	Joe, Census Taker	2 episodes
1960–1961	Hennesey	Seaman Seymour Shatz	3 episodes
1961	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Mr. Bates, the Private Investigator	Season 6 Episode 33: "A Secret Life"
	The Twilight Zone	Irv	Episode: "The Whole Truth"
	Westinghouse Playhouse	Clerk	Episode: "Nan Suits Dan"
	Frontier Circus	Charles Gippner	Episode: "Journey from Hannibal"
	87th Precinct	Hotel Clerk	Episode: "The Very Hard Sell"
1962	The Bob Newhart Show	Himself	1 episode
	Dr. Kildare	Bud Fowler	Episode: "The Glory Hunter"
	The Andy Griffith Show	Hotel Clerk	Episode: "Andy and Barney in the Big City"
	GE True	Corporal Coogan	Episode: "The Handmade Private"
1962–1963	Don't Call Me Charlie!	Corporal Lefkowitz	18 episodes
1963	McHale's Navy	Sweeney	Episode: "Camera, Action, Panic"
1964	The Greatest Show on Earth	Mario	Episode: "Man in a Hole"
	Destry	Lester	Episode: "Deputy for a Day"
	The Jack Benny Program	Charlie	Episode: "The Lucille Ball Show"
	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Beatnik, Chip Broadwater	2 episodes
	Many Happy Returns	Virgil Slamm	Episode: "Krockmeyer on Avon"
1965	Broadside	Charlie	Episode: "The Stowawaves"
	The Cara Williams Show	Fenwick Jr.	Episode: "Fletcher Succeeds in Business Without Really Trying"
	Bewitched	Cousin Edgar	Episode: "Cousin Edgar"
1966	The Dick Van Dyke Show	Bill Schermerhorn	Episode: "I Do Not Choose to Run"
	The Donna Reed Show	Crandall	Episode: "Is There a Small Hotel?"
	The Pruitts of Southampton	Ahmed	Episode: "Phyllis Entertains Royalty"
1966–1967	The Super 6	Super Scuba	Voice
1967–1971	Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In	Himself	93 episodes
1968	The Joey Bishop Show		2 episodes
	Lost in Space	Fedor	Episode: "Princess of Space"
	The Legend of Robin Hood	Much	1 episode
1968–1980	Hollywood Squares	Himself	99 episodes
1969	I Dream of Jeannie		Episode: "The Biggest Star in Hollywood"
	The Pink Panther Show	Misterjaw	Voice
	Love, American Style	Harvey	Episode: "Love and the Living Doll"
1969–1970	The Andy Williams Show	Himself	4 episodes
1969–1977	Storybook Squares	Wolfgang the Nazi, Beethoven	46 episodes
1970	Sesame Street	German Soldier (Wolfgang)	1 episode
1970–1972	The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour	Himself	4 episodes
	The David Frost Show		5 episodes
1970–1974	The Dean Martin Show		4 episodes
1971	Night Gallery	J.J. Wilson	Episode: "Since Aunt Ada Came to Stay/With Apologies to Mr. Hyde/The Flip-Side of Satan"
	Arnold's Closet Revue		TV film
1971–1976	The Mike Douglas Show	Himself	11 episodes
1972	The Houndcats	Rhubarb	13 episodes
1972–1973	The Partridge Family	Morris Tinkler, Nicholas Minsky Pushkin	2 episodes
	Celebrity Bowling	Himself	4 episodes
1973	The Bob Hope Show		1 episode
	The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas	Professor Werner von Bear	Voice, television film
	A Touch of Grace	Charlie	Episode: "The Lodge"
1974	Here's Lucy	Sir Osbird Beechman Place	Episode: "Lucy Is a Bird-Sitter"
	Salty	Chuck	Episode: "Scape Goat"
	Twice in a Lifetime	Ron Talley	TV film
1974–1976	Dinah!	Himself	8 episodes
1974–1978	Match Game	Himself	15 episodes
1975	Get Christie Love!	Morton Perkins	Episode: "Murder on High C"
	The Rookies	Justin	Episode: "S.W.A.T."
1975–1976	Tattletales	Himself	10 episodes
1975–1977	The Bobby Vinton Show		12 episodes
1975–1979	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson		6 episodes
1976	The Merv Griffin Show		1 episode
	Celebrity Sweepstakes		4 episodes
	Jigsaw John	Daltry Thomas	Episode: "Too Much, Too Soon"
1977	Baggy Pants and the Nitwits	Tyrone	13 episodes
	Once Upon a Brothers Grimm	Selfish and Mean	TV film
	Bunco
1977–1987	The Love Boat	Various characters	8 episodes
1978	Bud and Lou	Eddie Sherman	TV film
	Kojak	Billy Butler	Episode: "Photo Must Credit Joe Paxton"
1978–1981	Fantasy Island	Ned Plummer, Fred Catlett, Professor Dwayne Clebe, Edgar Breen	4 episodes
1979	The Dukes of Hazzard	Irving	Episode: "Double Sting"
1980	Condominium	Introduction	TV film
	The Love Tapes	Harlan Devane
	A Snow White Christmas	Brawny
1980–1981	CBS Library	Various voices	2 episodes
1981	Password Plus	Himself	5 episodes
1982	The Magical World of Disney	Theodore Oglivie	Episode: "Tales of the Apple Dumpling Gang"
1983	Fame	Cliff Armbruster	Episode: "Star Quality"
	Pac-Man	Additional Voices	Episode: "Here's Super-Pac!/Hey, Hey, Hey... It's P.J."
	The Dukes	Additional voices	7 episodes
	Hotel	Eddie	Episode: "The Offer"
1983–1988	The Smurfs	Devil Smurf, Avalon Custodian, additional voices	13 episodes
1984	Trapper John, M.D.	Dr. Augustus Bunche	Episode: "Play Your Hunch"
1984–1985	Glitter	Clive Richlin	14 episodes
1985	Airwolf	Larry Mason	Episode: "Severance Pay"
	The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo	Weerd	Voice, 13 episodes
	The A-Team	Sydney, Uncle Buckle-Up	Episode: "Uncle Buckle-Up"
	Star Fairies	Dragon Head #2	Voice, television film
1986	Foofur	Additional voices	3 episodes
	The New Mike Hammer	Oscar	Episode: "Murder in the Cards"
1986–1988	The Flintstone Kids	Additional voices	34 episodes
1987	Murder, She Wrote	Phil Rinker	Episode: "No Laughing Murder"
	DuckTales	Count Ray, Dr. Ludwig von Strangeduck	Voice, 2 episodes
	Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers	Farquard, Skull Ghost	Voice, television film
1987–1988	Snorks	Additional Voices	2 episodes
1988	The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley		13 episodes
1988–1989	Fantastic Max		3 episodes
1989	The Further Adventures of SuperTed	Hummingbird	Episode: "Dot's Entertainment"
1990	Night Court	Gregor Korolenko	Episode: "The Glasnost Menagerie"
	Adam-12	Preacher	Episode: "Kid Kop"
1990–1992	Tom & Jerry Kids	Unknown voices	2 episodes
1991	Pros and Cons	Landers	Episode: "It's the Pictures That Got Small"
	Yo Yogi!	Lou	Voice, 9 episodes
1991–1992	General Hospital	Finian O'Toole	Recurring
1992	Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures	Albert Einstein	Episode: "A Stand Up Guy"
1993	Droopy, Master Detective	Shadowman	Voice, episode: "Shadowman and the Blue Pigeon"
	Parker Lewis Can't Lose	Hotel Desk Clerk	Episode: "A Night to Remember"
	Café Americain	Pascal	Episode: "Every Picture Tells a Story... Don't It?"
1994		Pop Perkins	Voice, episode: "A Bright and Shiny Future"
1994–1997	Animaniacs	Newt, Delivery Guy	Voice, 3 episodes A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
1996	Mad About You	Arte Johnson	Episode: "Dream Weaver"
1997	Adventures from the Book of Virtues	John's Please	Voice, episode: "Respect"
1998	The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries	Tommy Tettrazinne	Voice, episode: "Casino Evil/Happy Bathday to You"
2005	Justice League Unlimited	Virman Vundabar	Voice, episode: "The Ties That Bind"

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External links

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