Bayard Johnson

Bayard Johnson studied philosophy and writing at the University of Puget Sound. He has written and produced feature films for Warner Brothers, Disney, Sony Pictures, MGM/UA, and 20th Century Fox. Johnson has made two feature films in Africa, and has written movies based on both the classic Tarzan character and on Kipling's Jungle Book. His first African movie, "Damned River" (Zimbabwe, 1988), is among the Top 20 action movies of the 1980s in the Netflix database. With partner Bill Duke (director of "Deep Cover," co-star of "Predator"), Johnson co-wrote a TV series for HBO and produced a feature film (2007's "Cover") about the HIV epidemic. With partner Russell Means, Johnson co-wrote the feature screenplay "Wounded Knee 1973" and the 2012 book "If You've Forgotten the Names of the Clouds, You've Lost Your Way: An Introduction to American Indian Thought and Philosophy." Also with Russell Means, Johnson co-wrote, co-produced, and directed the award-winning short film "Looks Twice," based on a traditional Lakotah story. A licensed Master Mariner, Johnson fished in Alaska and California and worked as captain of an oilspill recovery ship in California while embarking on his writing career. His novel "Damned Right" was published by Fiction Collective 2 in 1994, and in German translation in 1998 (titled "Speed Taxi"). Johnson's short fiction have have surfaced on occasion ["Fiction International," "Exquisite Corpse," "Theater der Zeit" (Berlin), "Alt-X"]. With Mother Nature's Army he has released a number of albums including 1992's "Live At Mama's" and "Coming To Get You 2014." Johnson produced "LSD: Leary/Stokes Duets" (1997) with Timothy Leary, and "The Radical" (1996) with Russell Means.