Wissenswertes

He died only one day before his Des Königs Admiral (1951), Julius Caesar (1970) and Die Schatzinsel (1990) co-star Christopher Lee.

According to several sources, Johnson was at least considered for the part of "James Bond" in James Bond 007 jagt Dr. No (1962). Some say he was actually offered the part but turned it down because he did not want to sign a multi-picture contract. Nonetheless, he did play a very Bondian version of British detective Bulldog Drummond in two late sixties films, Heiße Katzen (1967) and Some Girls Do (1969).

He died in the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea.

M-G-M were pleased with Johnson's work in Wenn das Blut kocht (1959) and signed him to a multi-picture deal, hoping to build him into a new star. They insisted that a role be written into the screenplay of König der Könige (1961) for him, although the film was about to start shooting. Johnson's role - as a character not mentioned in the Bible - took up nearly an hour of screen time, and was then deleted in its entirety before the film reached cinemas.

Founder of United British Artists (1983 - 1987).

Gave a full length commentary for Bis das Blut gefriert (1963) DVD. (August 2003)

16 years prior to playing Bulldog Drummond in Heiße Katzen (1967), he'd had a small part in Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951).

He has two roles in common with his Der codierte Mann (1996) co-star Derek Jacobi: (1) Johnson played King Claudius of Denmark in Hamlet (1970) while Jacobi played him in Hamlet (1996) and (2) Johnson played the Roman Emperor Claudius in The Lost Island (1975) while Jacobi played him in Ich, Claudius, Kaiser & Gott (1976).

He was educated at Parkfield and Felsted Schools.

In 1969 he founded Pagent Entertainments Ltd to produce plays the first being a production of Brief Lives at the Criterion Theatre in London.

In between his second and third marriages he spent 11 years with Françoise Pascal.

Attended Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, UK.

Father-in-law of Will Parnell.

He was considered for the roles of Dr. Hans Fallada, Dr. Bukovsky, Sir Percy Heseltine and Dr. Armstrong in Lifeforce - Die tödliche Bedrohung (1985).

He filmed scenes for König der Könige (1961) but they were deleted before the movie's release.

Father of Sorel Johnson and renowned board game designer Jervis Johnson (who created modern classics like Blood Bowl or Space Hulk) (b. 1959) with Sheila Sweet, Jennifer Johnson with Marie-Louise Nordlund, and Nicholas Johnson (b. 1976) with Françoise Pascal.

Son of Frances Louisa Olive Tweed and Keith Holcombe Johnson.