Don Johnson Bio

Don Johnson Biography

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Donnie Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949), more commonly known as Don Johnson, is an American actor well known for his work in television and film. Johnson began his screen debut in the 1970 film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart. It wouldn't be until 1984 that Johnson would land his defining role. Johnson played the lead role of Sonny Crockett in the popular 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice. This lead him to huge success and fame. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges. Johnson is a Golden Globe winning actor for his role in Miami Vice, and a winner of the APBA Offshore World Cup. In addition to being an actor, he is also a singer, songwriter, producer, and director.

Don Johnson: Biography

Don Johnson - Early life and education

Johnson was born in Flat Creek, Missouri, in 1949. His father was a farmer while his mother was a beautician. At the age of 6, he moved from Missouri to Wichita, Kansas. He graduated from South High School in Wichita, Kansas in 1967 and attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. He is of English origin.

In the late 1960s, he was one of the male contestants on the popular television show The Dating Game.

In the late 1960's, Johnson was in a psychedelic rock band called Horses. Also in the band were future members of the band Kingfish, which featured Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir. The band put out one self-titled record on the White Whale label in 1969, later re-issued on the Gear Fab label in 2004 and then on the Rev-Ola label in 2005.

Don Johnson - Relationships and family

At 22, Johnson began a four-year liaison with 14-year-old Melanie Griffith with whom he appeared with in The Harrad Experiment. Johnson was married twice to actress Melanie Griffith (briefly in 1976 and then from 1989-1996). On April 29, 1999, he married San Francisco socialite and former preschool teacher Kelley Phleger.

Johnson lived with Pamela Miller in the early 1970s. From 1981 to 1985 with Patti D'Arbanville.

Johnson had a relationship with Barbra Streisand and created a single with her called "Till I Loved You" in the late 1980's.

According to Cybill Shepherd's autobiography Cybill Disobedience (2000), she and Johnson enjoyed a single sexual encounter when they co-starred in the TV Mini-series The Long Hot Summer (1985).

Johnson had a relationship with Jeanne Anderson in 1996.

Johnson has 5 children:

• With D'Arbanville, a son, Jesse Wayne Johnson (born on December 7, 1982)
• With Griffith, a daughter, Dakota Mayi Johnson (born October 4, 1989)
• With Phleger, a daughter, Atherton Grace Johnson (born on December 28, 1999), and two sons, Jasper Breckinridge Johnson (born on June 6, 2002) and Deacon Johnson (born on April 29, 2006).

Don Johnson: Career

Don Johnson - Acting

1970s

Johnson studied drama at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. His first major role was in the 1969 Los Angeles stage production of Fortune and Men's Eyes in which he played Smitty, the lead role. This exposure led to the quickly forgotten 1970 film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart. He continued to work on stage, film and television without breaking out into stardom. His notable films from this period were The Harrad Experiment (1973) and A Boy and His Dog (1975).

1980s

After numerous years of struggling to establish himself as an accomplished TV actor (in such fare as Revenge of the Stepford Wives) and a string of failed pilot movies which were never followed by an actual TV series, in September of 1984, Johnson's fortunes changed when he became a household name as a result of his starring role as Sonny Crockett in the popular 1980s cop series, Miami Vice. In this role, Johnson played a police detective working undercover as a drug smuggler. He typically wore thousand dollar Versace and Hugo Boss suits over pastel cotton t-shirts, drove a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona (later a Ferrari Testarossa) and lived on a 42-foot yacht with his pet alligator Elvis. Miami Vice was noted for its revolutionary use of music, cinematography, and imagery as well as a more glitzy take on the police drama genre.

In between seasons, Don Johnson gained further renown through several TV miniseries, such as the 1985 TV remake of The Long Hot Summer.

1990s

Johnson later starred in the 1996-2001 drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. Johnson played the title role of Nash Bridges, a detective for the San Francisco Police Department. In Nash Bridges Johnson was again paired with a flashy convertible car, this time an electric yellow 1971 Plymouth Barracuda.

2000s

In the fall of 2006, he briefly starred in The WB courtroom television drama show Just Legal as a jaded lawyer with a very young and idealistic protegé/partner (Jay Baruchel); the show was cancelled in October 2006 after just three episodes aired.

In January 2007, Johnson began a run in the London West End production of Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit. American actor/dancer Patrick Swayze preceded Johnson in the role.

Don Johnson also has a role in the norwegian comedy "Lange flate ballær 2" (Long, flat balls 2), directed by Harald Zwart. The movie was launched March 13th, 2008 in Norway, with Johnson also making an appearance at the premiere.

Don Johnson - Music

Johnson released two albums of pop music in the 1980s, one in 1986 and the other in 1989. His single "Heartbeat", the title track from his first album, reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Previously, Johnson worked with Gregg Allman and Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers, co-writing the songs "Blind Love" and "Can't Take It with You" with Dickie Betts, which appeared on their 1979 album, Enlightened Rogues.

Musical Releases

• Heartbeat album (1986)
  • Heartbeat - Full Length Video VHS (1987)
• Let It Roll album (1989)
• "Till I Loved You" (duet with Barbra Streisand and title track from her 1990 album)
• The Essential album (2003)
• Untitled Album

Don Johnson: Brushes with the law

• When he was 12 years old, Johnson was arrested for hotwiring cars and sent to reform school.

• In 1997, two cast members on Nash Bridges accused Johnson of sexual assault. Both cases were settled with confidential settlements.

• In 2001, a 36-year-old woman accused Johnson of grabbing and bruising her arm and lewdly propositioning her outside a restroom at San Francisco restaurant Mas Sake. The woman's friends went to confront Johnson but said he fled out the back door. Johnson said he was considering buying an advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle to state his side of the story, but later decided to post the notices on his website. Due to insufficient evidence, no charges were filed.

• In November 2002, German customs officers at the Swiss-German border performed a routine search of Johnson's car. Bank statements evidencing US$8 billion in transactions found in the trunk of his car. He was accompanied in his black Mercedes-Benz by three men: an investment adviser, a personal assistant, and a third of unknown identity. Initially it was thought Johnson was involved in money-laundering, but he was cleared of wrongdoing. Upon receiving word of the incident, German tabloids began exploiting and perpetuating the story, at times pointing at the irony (as perceived by them) that Don Johnson has frequently portrayed police officers in his acting works. Johnson explained the incident by saying "I was meeting with some American businessmen in Zurich for a film financing, for a film fund that I was putting together for my company. They gave me some bank statements and some resumes and some other documents, some things to prove that they could perform as investors." The police found and copied these documents, and the money laundering story grew somehow out of this.

Don Johnson: Reception

Don Johnson - Awards & Recognitions

Don Johnson - Don Johnson in popular culture

• The Finnish music group Don Johnson Big Band is named after him.
• In a Calvin and Hobbes comic, when Calvin and Hobbes are getting ready to go to a dinner with Calvin's parents, Hobbes asks, "Do you think I should shave?", to which Calvin replies "Nah, go for the Don Johnson fuzzy look."
• The Don Johnson, a popular drink is named after the Miami Vice Star.
• In the 2002 movie Showtime, Eddie Murphy's character, Officer Trey Sellers, says upon entering Det. Mitch Preston's (Robert De Niro) newly refurbished apartment, "Maybe we should call Don Johnson and tell him we found his apartment."

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