Don Johnson


Donnie Wayne Johnson is an American actor, producer, director, singer, and songwriter. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series Miami Vice, winning a Golden Globe for his work in the role. He also had the eponymous lead role in the 1990s cop series Nash Bridges. He has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Johnson was the American Power Boat Association's 1988 World Champion of the Offshore World Cup.

Early life

Donnie Wayne Johnson was born December 15, 1949, in Flat Creek, Missouri, to Nell, a beautician, and Wayne Fred Johnson, who was a farmer. At the time of his birth, Johnson's mother and father were 17 and 19 years old, respectively. Johnson was raised in poverty in Wichita, Kansas, where his parents relocated when he was six years old.
He graduated from Wichita South High School, where he was involved in the high school's theater program. As a senior, he played the lead role of Tony in West Side Story. His biography noted that he had previously appeared in "Burnt Cork and Melody" and "The Hullabaloo." After graduating from high school in 1967, he enrolled at the University of Kansas as a theater major, but dropped out after one year. He subsequently relocated to San Francisco, California to attend the American Conservatory Theater.

Acting

Early years

Johnson's 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 film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart. He continued to work on stage, film and television without breaking into stardom. His notable films from this period were Zachariah, The Harrad Experiment, Lollipop and Roses, and A Boy and His Dog. In 1976, Johnson was roommates with actor Sal Mineo when Mineo was murdered outside their West Hollywood, California apartment.

''Miami Vice''

From 1984 to 1989, after years of struggling to establish himself as a TV actor, and a string of pilots, none of which became a TV series, Johnson landed a starring role as undercover police detective Sonny Crockett in the Michael Mann / Universal Television cop series, Miami Vice. The Sonny Crockett character typically wore thousand-dollar Versace and Hugo Boss suits over pastel cotton T-shirts, drove a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona, followed by a Ferrari Testarossa, wore expensive timepieces by Rolex and Ebel, and lived on a Endeavour yacht with his pet alligator, Elvis. Miami Vice was noted for its revolutionary use of music, cinematography, and imagery and its glitzy take on the police drama genre. In the show, his partner was Ricardo Tubbs, played by Philip Michael Thomas. Between seasons, Johnson gained further renown through several TV miniseries, such as the 1985 TV remake of The Long, Hot Summer.

''Nash Bridges''

Johnson later starred in the 1996–2001 CBS-TV police drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin, Jeff Perry, Jaime P. Gomez, Kelly Hu, Wendy Moniz, Annette O'Toole, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as his daughter Cassidy, and James Gammon as Nash's father, Nick Bridges. Johnson portrayed the title role of Nash Bridges, an inspector for the San Francisco Police Department. In Nash Bridges Johnson was again paired with a flashy convertible car, this time a Yellow 1971 Plymouth Barracuda.

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 protégé/partner ; the show was canceled in October 2005 after just three of the eight produced episodes aired. In January 2007, Johnson began a run in the West End of London production of Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit.
Johnson also has a role in the Norwegian comedy Lange Flate Ballær 2, directed by Johnson's friend Harald Zwart. Johnson did the movie as a favor to Zwart. The movie was launched March 14, 2008 in Norway, with Johnson making an appearance at the premiere. He next appeared in When in Rome with Danny DeVito, Anjelica Huston, and Kristen Bell.

2010s

Johnson and Jon Heder co-hosted WWE's Raw on January 18, 2010.
Johnson had a supporting role in Robert Rodriguez's film Machete. Johnson played Von Jackson, "a twisted border vigilante leading a small army." The film was released on September 3, 2010.
In October 2010, he began appearing on the HBO series Eastbound & Down, playing Kenny Powers' long-lost father, going by the alias "Eduardo Sanchez". He also reprised his role as Sonny Crockett for a Nike commercial with LeBron James where the NBA player contemplates acting and appears alongside Johnson on Miami Vice.
In September 2011, Johnson had a cameo in the comedy A Good Old Fashioned Orgy with Jason Sudeikis.
Johnson had a supporting role in the 2012 Quentin Tarantino film, Django Unchained, playing a southern plantation owner named Spencer 'Big Daddy' Bennett.
In 2014, Johnson starred as the character "Jim Bob" opposite Sam Shepard and Michael C. Hall in Jim Mickle's critically acclaimed crime film, Cold in July.
In 2015 Johnson began starring in the ABC prime time soap opera Blood & Oil.
In 2018, he starred as the character of Arthur, the love interest of Vivian, played by Jane Fonda in Bill Holderman's romantic-comedy Book Club.
In 2019, Johnson played the role of Richard Drysdale in Rian Johnson's murder-mystery Knives Out, and starred as Police Chief Judd Crawford in the HBO series Watchmen.

Music

Johnson released two albums of pop music in the 1980s, one in 1986 and the other in 1989. His single "Heartbeat" reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It was the title track from his first album, and was a collaboration with Robert Tepper. Previously, Johnson worked with Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers, co-writing the songs "Blind Love" and "Can't Take It With You," which appeared on their 1979 album Enlightened Rogues. "Till I Loved You" was the title track of a studio album released on October 25, 1988, on Columbia Records. The song was a duet with then-girlfriend Barbra Streisand. The song was re-released on the Streisand album Duets in 2002.

World Championship Powerboat Racing

In 1986 Johnson scored his first motor sport victory, a 1,100-mile powerboat race, New Orleans to St. Louis, up the Mississippi River. Characterized by shipmates as an aggressive, fearless pilot who did not make mistakes, Johnson was crowned World Powerboat Champion in 1988.

Personal life

Relationships and family

Johnson has had four wives in five marriages, three of which were brief. His first two marriages were annulled within a matter of days. The names of Johnson's first two wives have not been made public, though they were said to have been a dancer and a "rich bimbo". In the early 1970s, Johnson lived with groupie Pamela Des Barres. During the first half of 1972, he met Melanie Griffith, the 14-year-old daughter of his Harrad Experiment co-star Tippi Hedren. When Griffith was 15, she and Johnson began living together in a rented house in Laurel Canyon. On her 18th birthday they became engaged, and were married in January 1976; they separated that July and divorced in November. They reunited and conceived a daughter close to the start of 1989, Dakota Johnson and were married again from that year until 1996.
In 1980, he dated Sally Adams, Telly Savalas's ex-girlfriend and mother of actress Nicollette Sheridan. Cybill Shepherd has written of a liaison with Johnson in her autobiography.
Johnson lived with actress Patti D'Arbanville from 1981 to 1985. The couple has a son, Jesse Wayne Johnson. A 1989 description of the couple's life in the 1980s said,
Johnson next had a relationship with Barbra Streisand, lasting into at least September 1988. Just days after breaking up with Streisand, Johnson was linked to 18-year-old Uma Thurman, before reuniting with Griffith. In 1995–1996, Johnson was engaged to Jodi Lyn O'Keefe who played his daughter on Nash Bridges.
On April 29, 1999, he married San Francisco socialite and Montessori nursery school teacher Jacqueline Phleger, then 30, at the Pacific Heights mansion of Ann and Gordon Getty. Actor Robert Wagner served as best man, and Mayor Willie Brown presided over the civil ceremony. Johnson and Phleger have three children together: a daughter, Atherton Grace, and two sons, Jasper Breckinridge, and Deacon.

Legal problems

In November 2002, German customs officers at the SwissGerman 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 unknown individual who could not be identified. Initially it was thought Johnson was involved in money laundering, but he was cleared of wrongdoing.
In May 2008, within hours of losing his Woody Creek, Colorado home to foreclosure, Johnson paid off his $14.5 million debt.
In July 2010, a Los Angeles jury awarded Johnson $23.2 million in a lawsuit against production company Rysher Entertainment, from whom Johnson sought a share of profits commensurate with his ownership of half the copyright of Nash Bridges. Rysher announced it would appeal the verdict. In January 2013, Rysher settled the suit with a $19 million payment.

Reception

Awards and recognitions

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Featured singles

Videography