I know @LionJim is a fan. Interesting history.
Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California.
"I'd been making a dollar a day as a cowboy, and my first check in Hollywood was for $300. After that, you couldn't have driven me back to Oklahoma with a club."
He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper and James Stewart. He left Hollywood in 1953 to return to rodeo, where he won a world roping championship, but at the end of the year he had barely cleared expenses. The movies paid better, and were less risky, so he returned to the west coast and a career that saw him in over 300 movies.
During the making of "Rio Grande" (1949), Johnson and Ford had a brief verbal argument. All seemed well afterward, and nothing further was said of it, so Ben assumed it was completely blown over. However, Ford didn't use Johnson again in another picture for 14 years, when Ben played a small role in "Cheyenne Autumn" (1964). Johnson's lifelong friend Harry Carey Jr. said he believed the reason was that when Ford was casting "The Sun Shines Bright" (1953), Johnson's agent heard that Ford wanted him for the role, called Ford--without Johnson's knowledge--and demanded a hefty salary. Outraged at having been squeezed like that, Ford held it against Johnson, and used that and the argument they had during "Rio Grande" as an excuse not to use him again. They did manage to maintain a friendly relationship nonetheless.
Johnson initially turned down the role of Sam the Lion in "The Last Picture Show" (1971) when it was first offered to him by Peter Bogdanovich because he thought the script was "dirty," and he did not approve of swearing and nudity in motion pictures. Bogdanovich appealed to Ford, who got Johnson to change his mind as a favor to him. With the permission of Bogdanovich, Johnson rewrote his role with the offensive words removed. Johnson went on to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing the role.
From his Oscar speech: "What I'm about to say probably will stir up a lot of conversation around over the country. There's something I'd like to leave in everyone's mind throughout the world: This couldn't have happened to a nicer feller. Thank you." (IMDb/Oscars.org)
Happy Birthday, Ben Johnson!
Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California.
"I'd been making a dollar a day as a cowboy, and my first check in Hollywood was for $300. After that, you couldn't have driven me back to Oklahoma with a club."
He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper and James Stewart. He left Hollywood in 1953 to return to rodeo, where he won a world roping championship, but at the end of the year he had barely cleared expenses. The movies paid better, and were less risky, so he returned to the west coast and a career that saw him in over 300 movies.
During the making of "Rio Grande" (1949), Johnson and Ford had a brief verbal argument. All seemed well afterward, and nothing further was said of it, so Ben assumed it was completely blown over. However, Ford didn't use Johnson again in another picture for 14 years, when Ben played a small role in "Cheyenne Autumn" (1964). Johnson's lifelong friend Harry Carey Jr. said he believed the reason was that when Ford was casting "The Sun Shines Bright" (1953), Johnson's agent heard that Ford wanted him for the role, called Ford--without Johnson's knowledge--and demanded a hefty salary. Outraged at having been squeezed like that, Ford held it against Johnson, and used that and the argument they had during "Rio Grande" as an excuse not to use him again. They did manage to maintain a friendly relationship nonetheless.
Johnson initially turned down the role of Sam the Lion in "The Last Picture Show" (1971) when it was first offered to him by Peter Bogdanovich because he thought the script was "dirty," and he did not approve of swearing and nudity in motion pictures. Bogdanovich appealed to Ford, who got Johnson to change his mind as a favor to him. With the permission of Bogdanovich, Johnson rewrote his role with the offensive words removed. Johnson went on to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing the role.
From his Oscar speech: "What I'm about to say probably will stir up a lot of conversation around over the country. There's something I'd like to leave in everyone's mind throughout the world: This couldn't have happened to a nicer feller. Thank you." (IMDb/Oscars.org)
Happy Birthday, Ben Johnson!
