Don Johnson

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Don Johnson (1998)

Donald Wayne "Don" Johnson (born December 15, 1949 in Flat Creek , Missouri ) is an American actor and singer . He became internationally known for his role as James "Sonny" Crockett in the television series Miami Vice (1984-1989).

play

1968 to 1983

In 1968 Johnson got his first engagement in a rock musical called Your Own Thing at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Shortly thereafter, he was one of the contestants on the ABC television flirt show The Dating Game . In 1969 he got the lead role of Smitty in Sal Mineo's off-Broadway play Fortune and Men's Eyes .

Johnson made his screen debut a year later with The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart . He received his first brief attention in 1975 with the lead role of Vic in the science fiction cult film The Boy and His Dog , for which he was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Actor by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in the same year .

Johnson was unable to build on this initial success in the next few years. Five series with him alone were canceled after the pilot episode.

1984 to 1989

Don Johnson (1989)

He was best known for his role as police officer James "Sonny" Crockett in the American television series Miami Vice (1984-1989). His role as Sonny Crockett earned him an Emmy (1986) and two Golden Globe nominations (1986/87). In 1986 he won the category “Best Male Leading Actor”. In Germany, he came in first place in the choice for Bravo Otto as a “Male TV Star” in 1987, and came second in the two following years.

In the late 1980s, Johnson was one of the most famous actors in the world. He wanted to build on this success with classic cinema films, on which he concentrated in the following years.

1990 to 2001

After Johnson had hardly made any feature films while working at Miami Vice until 1989 - there have only been three since 1984: Cease Fire (1985), Sweet Hearts Dance with Susan Sarandon and Jeff Daniels in 1988, and Dead Bang - Kurzer Prozess (1989 ) - he then focused on the film genre. The Hot Spot (1990) was not a commercial success. The films Paradise (1991) and Blondes You Don't Kiss (1993) with his then wife Melanie Griffith were also unsuccessful; also the top-cast, but flopped action thriller Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man (1991) - with Mickey Rourke among others .

Johnson returned to television in the following years. In the crime series Nash Bridges (1996-2001) he played the cop of the same name and solved various criminal cases in San Francisco with his colleague Joe Dominguez, played by Cheech Marin . The series became a commercial success. With the comedy Tin Cup , in which Johnson played the antagonist of Kevin Costner , he had another small success with a movie in 1996. In the same year Johnson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his services .

Since 2002

Don Johnson (2019)

2003 saw Johnson in the television film Word of Honor (together with John Heard and Jeanne Tripplehorn ) again. After another year of abstinence, in 2005 he played the leading role of Grant Cooper in the Just Legal series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer , among others . However, the series was discontinued after only one season.

After the lack of success with the above In 2006, Johnson shot the family film Moondance Alexander and the Italian thriller Bastardi . From January to the end of March 2007 Johnson played Nathan Detroit at the West End Theater in London in the musical Guys and Dolls . From April to the beginning of May 2007 he stayed in Norway to film the second part of the comedy Lange Flate Ballær 2 . He played an Admiral Burnett there.

In 2010 he played alongside Danny Trejo with the character of the Texas racist Von Jackson in a larger role in Robert Rodriguez 's action film Machete . In the Oscar-winning film Django Unchained (2013) Don Johnson played the plantation owner Big Daddy . In 2019, he took on the supporting role of Richard Drysdale in Rian Johnson's crime film Knives Out . In the same year he was seen in four episodes of the Watchmen series.

music

First try

Johnson sang in the church choir as a young boy. Johnson sang the tracks Wait for Me and It's Not Over in the soundtrack to one of his first films, The Harrad Experiment . He also released a single called Anna Korina , which was not a commercial success.

Debut album Heartbeat (1986)

At the zenith of his success with the Miami Vice series , Johnson's first album, Heartbeat , was released in the fall of 1986 .

The first single of the same name brought him international top ten placements in the charts. Finally, the song Heartache Away and the ballad Voice on a Hotline were released. Only the maxi single version of Heartache Away is a song called Streetwise that is not on the album, but was used in an episode of the same name in the third season of Miami Vice . Whoopi Goldberg and Olivia Brown sang the background vocals.

With Barbra Streisand , Johnson recorded the duet Till I Loved You in 1988 .

In the last episode of Miami Vice ( Last Order / Freefall ; Seasons five, episodes 112 and 113) Johnson contributed No Way Out, a song produced by Tim Truman - the man responsible for selecting the music for the last season - in 1989 . Shortly afterwards it turned out that the song could not appear on Johnson's second album, which was to be released that same year, due to legal problems. It is therefore still unpublished today.

Let it Roll (1989)

In the summer of 1989, Johnson's second studio album Let it Roll was released , on which he - with the exception of the song that gave the album its name - strikes a rather slow note. Probably less known in the US due to the end of Miami Vice, the album made it into the European top ten .

With Tell It Like It Is , a cover song for the Aaron Neville classic from 1966, Johnson achieved his greatest musical success. Previously, Other People's Lives and most recently the ballad What If it Takes All Night with Barbra Streisand as a background singer had appeared. The duet A Better Place with the singer Yuri, who is known in Spanish-speaking countries , was also released for promotional purposes .

Since 1990

Johnson released two best-of albums called Collection Gold (1995) and The Essential (1997).

Sports

In 1987 Don Johnson started as a co-driver in the American Powerboat League APBA Offshore World Cup and then became world champion himself in the Outboard Performance Craft class in 1988 . He tried to defend the title in 1989 and then retired from powerboats at the end of the season .

Private life

The son of a farmer experienced his parents' divorce at the age of eleven and moved with his mother and four siblings to Wichita , Kansas . As a youth he came into conflict with the law several times. Johnson graduated from Wichita South High School. One of the teachers discovered his acting talent and got him a drama scholarship to the University of Kansas .

Johnson, who has garnered media attention for his drug problems and divorce, has six children: son Jesse Johnson with actress Patti D'Arbanville , actress Dakota Johnson with Melanie Griffith, and daughter Atherton Grace Johnson and sons Jasper Breckenridge -Johnson and Deacon Johnson with his wife Kelley Phleger. Johnson was married to Griffith twice. They married for the first time in 1976 and divorced again that year. They were married a second time from 1989 to 1996.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1986 Heartbeat DE3
gold
gold

(27 weeks)DE 		AT3 (22 weeks)
AT 		CH7 (17 weeks)
CH 		- US17th
gold
gold

(27 weeks)US
First published: September 1986
1989 Let it roll DE2
gold
gold

(24 weeks)DE 		AT23 (6 weeks)
AT 		CH6th
gold
gold

(15 weeks)CH 		- -
First published: June 1989

Compilations

  • 1995: Collection Gold
  • 1997: The Essential

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1986 Heartbeat
Heartbeat 		DE6 (18 weeks)
DE 		AT3 (14 weeks)
AT 		CH6 (11 weeks)
CH 		UK46 (6 weeks)
UK 		US5 (15 weeks)
US
First published: August 1986
Heartache Away
Heartbeat 		DE31 (12 weeks)
DE 		AT22 (6 weeks)
AT 		- - US56 (11 weeks)
US
First published: November 1986
1988 Till I Loved You
Till I Loved You 		DE26 (8 weeks)
DE 		- - UK16 (7 weeks)
UK 		US25 (12 weeks)
US
First published: October 1988
with Barbra Streisand
1989 Tell It Like It Is
Let It Roll 		DE2 (22 weeks)
DE 		AT13 (12 weeks)
AT 		CH6 (15 weeks)
CH 		UK84 (3 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: June 1989
Other People's Lives
Let It Roll 		DE57 (11 weeks)
DE 		- - - -
First published: October 1989

More singles

  • 1987: Voice on a hotline
  • 1989: A Better Place (with Yuri)
  • 1989: What If It Takes All Night

Filmography (selection)

Dubbing voice

Don Johnson's standard voice for the German-language dubbing gives him Reent Reins .

Web links

Commons : Don Johnson  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ NY Times: Yachting; Powerboat Final Plans Grueling Course With Safety in Mind. From: www.nytimes.com , November 9, 1987, accessed November 18, 2012 .
  2. ↑ NY Times: 1988: THE YEAR IN SPORTS; The Winners of Individual and Team Championships. From: www.nytimes.com , December 26, 1988, accessed November 18, 2012 .
  3. ↑ NY Times: YACHTING; Star of TV and Powerboating. From: www.nytimes.com , October 15, 1989, accessed November 18, 2012 .
  4. ↑ a b RP-Online: The ups and downs of Don Johnson. On: www.rp-online.de , accessed on December 7, 2012 .
  5. ↑ Patti's Biography. Retrieved December 7, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Dailymail: Baby's first big role! Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson's daughter Dakota promotes star turn in Fox sitcom. From: www.dailymail.co.uk , August 27, 2012, accessed December 7, 2012 .
  7. ↑ Feature film - website: The wild years are over - Don Johnson is dad again. From: www.spielfilm.de , June 10, 2002, accessed December 7, 2012 .
  8. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
personal data
SURNAME Johnson, Don
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johnson, Donald Wayne (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 15, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Flat Creek , Missouri , United States