Don Johnson Bio

This Don Johnson biography contains information believed to be accurate as extracted from sources around the internet including Wikipedia. If you believe there are errors or omissions in this Don Johnson bio, please let us know so that we can correct any inaccuracies.

Don Johnson (born Donnie Wayne Johnson, December 15, 1949), is an American actor known for his work in television and film. Johnson made his screen debut in the 1970 film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, but it wouldn't be until 1984 that Johnson would land his defining role. He played the lead role of Sonny Crockett in the popular 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led 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, a winner of the APBA Offshore World Cup, and has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to being an actor, he is also a singer, songwriter, producer, and director.

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 contestants on the popular television show The Dating Game.

In the late 1960s, 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: Acting

Don Johnson - Early years

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 Zachariah (1971), The Harrad Experiment (1973), Lollipop and Roses (1974), and A Boy and His Dog (1975).

Don Johnson - Miami Vice

After years of struggling to establish himself as a TV actor (in such fare as Revenge of the Stepford Wives) and a string of failed pilots which were never followed by an actual TV series, in September 1984, Johnson's fortunes changed when he landed a starring role as Sonny Crockett in the popular cop series, Miami Vice. In this role, Johnson played an undercover police detective. 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 (13 m) 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.

Don Johnson - Nash Bridges

Johnson later starred in the 1996-2001 drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin, Jaime P. Gomez 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.

Don Johnson - 2000s

In the fall of 2005, 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 canceled in October 2005 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.

Don Johnson also has a role in the Norwegian comedy Lange Flate Ballí¦r 2 ("Long Flat Balls II"), directed by Harald Zwart. The movie was launched March 13, 2008 in Norway, with Johnson making an appearance at the premiere. He continues his career as actor in several new movies.

Don Johnson: Music

Johnson performing with The Allman Brothers Band

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.

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: Personal life

Don Johnson - Relationships and family

Johnson with Griffith circa 1990.

Johnson has had four different wives in five marriages, three of which were short. Among his other extended romantic relationships, he lived with Pamela Miller at some point in the early 1970s.

The chronology of the following relationships is known:

• Johnson had a major supporting role in The Harrad Experiment (released 1973), whose female lead was Tippi Hedren. He met Hedren's daughter, Melanie Griffith around the first half of 1972; she was an uncredited extra. He was aged 22 and she 14 when they began what became a four-year affair, that included marrying, in 1976, for less than a year, at its end (though they would marry again in 1989).
• He lived with Patti D'Arbanville from 1981 to 1985.
• He had a relationship with Barbra Streisand, lasting into at least September 1988, and created a single with her called "Till I Loved You", released that year.
• He and Griffith conceived a child close to the start of 1989, announced wedding plans in mid-February, and were married a second time, from that year until 1996.
• Johnson had a relationship with Jeanne Anderson in 1996.
• On April 29, 1999, he married San Francisco socialite and former preschool teacher Kelley Phleger.

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),
  • a son, Jasper Breckinridge Johnson (born on June 6, 2002) and
  • another son, Deacon Johnson (born on April 29, 2006)

Don Johnson - Legal problems

Johnson has had several brushes with the law. When he was 12 years old, Johnson was arrested for hotwiring cars and sent to reform school.

In 2001, a 36-year-old woman accused an intoxicated Johnson of squeezing and bruising her wrist and lewdly propositioning her outside a restroom at San Francisco restaurant Mas Sake, and claimed while still firmly squeezing her wrist he began drunkenly singing "Heartbeat". The woman's friends made their way acrossed the restaurant to confront Johnson as he continued to sing but said when he saw them he let go of her and quickly 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 were 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 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.

In May 2008, Johnson came within hours of losing his Woody Creek, Colorado home to foreclosure; he paid off his $14.5 million dollar debts less than 24 hours before a scheduled auction of the property.

Don Johnson: Reception

Don Johnson - Awards & recognitions

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 is a popular Miami Vice themed drink made from vodka, gin, curacao, and orange juice.
• In the 2002 movie Showtime, Eddie Murphy's character, Officer Trey Sellers, says upon entering Detective Mitch Preston's (Robert De Niro) newly refurbished apartment, "Maybe we should call Don Johnson and tell him we found his apartment."