Chubby Johnson(1903-1974)
- Actor
Chubby Johnson was born Charles Rutledge Johnson on August 13, 1903, in
Terre Haute, Indiana. He made a living as a journalist and did not
become a movie actor until he was in his 40s, making his debut in the
Randolph Scott oater
Réglement de comptes à Abilene Town (1946) in support of
Scott, Ann Dvorak and
Edgar Buchanan. He continued to practice
his craft as a member of the press, serving as a radio announcer as
well as pounding the keys as a columnist, until he was nearly 50.
Chubby appeared in the Errol Flynn
horse opera La révolte des dieux rouges (1950)
as part of an army of quirky character actors, including
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams and
Slim Pickens. Chubby then quit the
Fourth Estate for a Hollywood career.
When Republic Pictures sought a replacement for Eddy Waller to play sidekick to B-movie cowboy star Allan Lane in the Rocky Lane series, Chubby filled in for most of 1951-52. He also starred in the TV series Sky King (1951) as ranch foreman Jim Bell. The low-budget series, a spin-off from a five-year-old radio show in which individual episodes were made for approximately $9,000 each, ran on NBC from Sept 16, 1951, until Oct 26, 1952. The series was then picked up by ABC, which ran the same NBC episodes from November 8, 1952, until September 12, 1954. A season of new episodes was aired in 1955.
Chubby freelanced as a character actor after these stints on the TV, appearing in support of James Stewart in the Anthony Mann classic Les affameurs (1952), and in their Je suis un aventurier (1954), which also featured character actor par excellence Walter Brennan, the movies' first triple-Oscar threat. Chubby then went on to appear in support of Doris Day in La blonde du Far-West (1953), Audie Murphy in Le tueur du Montana (1953), Ronald Reagan in Quand la poudre parle (1953), Barbara Stanwyck and Ronnie again in La reine de la prairie (1954) and James Cagney in La loi de la prairie (1956), one of the legend's rare forays into the western.
Other stars Chubby supported were Richard Chamberlain and Claude Rains in Le motel du crime (1963), the 1963 courtroom drama that won the ill-fated Nick Adams a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination; James Garner in Ne tirez pas sur le shérif (1969); and Burt Reynolds in his audacious debut as a big-screen star as the eponymous Sam Whiskey le dur (1969). He also appeared uncredited in the classic Le train sifflera trois fois (1952).
After appearing as a regular in the short-lived series Frontier Doctor (1956), Chubby appeared as Concho on another TV western, Temple Houston (1963), which starred Jeffrey Hunter. He also guested on many other TV westerns, including Bonanza (1959), Gunsmoke (1955) and L'homme à la carabine (1958).
Chubby continued to appear in films until 1969, with Sam Whiskey le dur (1969) serving as the nightcap to his career. He died on Halloween Day 1974 from complications from a leg infection.
When Republic Pictures sought a replacement for Eddy Waller to play sidekick to B-movie cowboy star Allan Lane in the Rocky Lane series, Chubby filled in for most of 1951-52. He also starred in the TV series Sky King (1951) as ranch foreman Jim Bell. The low-budget series, a spin-off from a five-year-old radio show in which individual episodes were made for approximately $9,000 each, ran on NBC from Sept 16, 1951, until Oct 26, 1952. The series was then picked up by ABC, which ran the same NBC episodes from November 8, 1952, until September 12, 1954. A season of new episodes was aired in 1955.
Chubby freelanced as a character actor after these stints on the TV, appearing in support of James Stewart in the Anthony Mann classic Les affameurs (1952), and in their Je suis un aventurier (1954), which also featured character actor par excellence Walter Brennan, the movies' first triple-Oscar threat. Chubby then went on to appear in support of Doris Day in La blonde du Far-West (1953), Audie Murphy in Le tueur du Montana (1953), Ronald Reagan in Quand la poudre parle (1953), Barbara Stanwyck and Ronnie again in La reine de la prairie (1954) and James Cagney in La loi de la prairie (1956), one of the legend's rare forays into the western.
Other stars Chubby supported were Richard Chamberlain and Claude Rains in Le motel du crime (1963), the 1963 courtroom drama that won the ill-fated Nick Adams a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination; James Garner in Ne tirez pas sur le shérif (1969); and Burt Reynolds in his audacious debut as a big-screen star as the eponymous Sam Whiskey le dur (1969). He also appeared uncredited in the classic Le train sifflera trois fois (1952).
After appearing as a regular in the short-lived series Frontier Doctor (1956), Chubby appeared as Concho on another TV western, Temple Houston (1963), which starred Jeffrey Hunter. He also guested on many other TV westerns, including Bonanza (1959), Gunsmoke (1955) and L'homme à la carabine (1958).
Chubby continued to appear in films until 1969, with Sam Whiskey le dur (1969) serving as the nightcap to his career. He died on Halloween Day 1974 from complications from a leg infection.
