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Don Johnson

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For other persons named Don Johnson, see Don Johnson (disambiguation).
Don Johnson
Image:Miami vice don johnson.jpg
Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas in Miami Vice<small/>

<tr><td style="text-align:left;">Birth name</td><td>Donald Wayne Johnson</td></tr>

Born December 15, 1949
Image:Flag of the United States.svg Flat Creek, Missouri
Height 5'9" (1.75m)
Other name(s) Don Johnson
Notable roles Det. James "Sonny" Crockett</br>Nash Bridges
Spouse(s) Kelley Phleger (1998-present)</br>Melanie Griffith (1976) (1989-1996)

Donald Wayne "Don" Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor well known for his film and television appearances. Johnson became a household name as a result of his role in the popular 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Johnson was born in Flat Creek, Missouri. His father was a farmer, his mother a beautician. At the age of 6, he moved from Missouri to Wichita, Kansas. He graduated from South High School in Wichita, Kansas in 1967 and attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. He is of English origin.

In the late 1960s, he was one of the male contestants on the popular television show The Dating Game.

[edit] Family and Love Life

Image:Don and Melanie.jpg

Johnson was married twice to actress Melanie Griffith (briefly in 1976 and then from 1989-1996). In 1998, he married San Francisco socialite and former preschool teacher Kelley Phleger.

Johnson also lived with Patti D'Arbanville from 1981 to 1985.

Johnson had a relationship with Barbra Streisand and created a single with her called "Till I Loved You".

Johnson had a relationship with Jeanne Anderson in 1996.

Johnson has a son with D'Arbanville, Jesse Wayne Johnson (born on December 7, 1982) ; a daughter with Griffith, Dakota Mayi Johnson (born October 4, 1989) ; and a daughter, Atherton Grace Johnson (born on December 28, 1999), and two sons, Jasper Breckinridge Johnson (born on June 6, 2002), and Deacon (born on April 29, 2006), all with Phleger.

[edit] Early career

Johnson studied drama at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. His 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 1970 film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart. He continued to work on stage, film and television without breaking out into stardom. His notable films from this period were The Harrad Experiment (1973) and A Boy and His Dog (1975). He was referred to as a "six-time loser" [citation needed]in Hollywood as a result of having been featured in six failed pilot television series.

[edit] Major television roles

In September 1984 Johnson's fortunes changed when he became a household name as a result of his co-starring role as Sonny Crockett in the popular 1980s cop series, Miami Vice. In this role, Johnson played a police detective working undercover as a drug smuggler. He typically wore thousand dollar Versace and Hugo Boss suits over pastel cotton t-shirts, drove a Ferrari Daytona (later a Ferrari Testarossa) and lived on a 42-foot yacht with his pet alligator Elvis. Miami Vice was noted for its revolutionary use of music, cinematography, and imagery as well as a more glitzy take on the police drama genre.

Johnson later starred in the 1996-2001 drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. Johnson played the title role of Nash Bridges, a detective for the San Francisco Police Department. In Nash Bridges Johnson was again paired with a flashy convertible car, this time an electric yellow 1971 Plymouth Barracuda.

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 protegé/partner (Jay Baruchel); the show was cancelled in October 2005.

[edit] Awards & Recognitions

[edit] Brushes with the law

Johnson has had several brushes with the law.

  • In 2001, a 36-year-old woman accused Johnson of grabbing and bruising her arm and lewdly propositioning her outside a restroom at San Francisco restaurant, Mas Sake. The woman's friends went to confront Johnson but said he fled out the back door. Johnson said he was considering buying an advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle to state his side of the story, but later decided to post the notices on his website. Due to insufficient evidence, no charges were filed. <ref>http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/johnson1.html</ref> <ref>http://www.lowtek.com/nash/nashbits/</ref>
  • In November 2003, Customs officers at the Swiss-German border asked for autographs and did a routine search of his car when they found what they thought was incriminating evidence. $8 billion US worth of credit notes, cheques and securities were found in the trunk of his car, while he was traveling in Europe. He was accompanied in his black Mercedes-Benz by three men: an investment adviser, a personal assistant and a mystery man.

Initially it was thought Johnson was involved in money-laundering, but he was eventually cleared of wrongdoing. Upon receiving word of the incident, German tabloids began exploiting and perpetuating the story, at times even pointing at the irony (as perceived by them) that Don Johnson has frequently portrayed police officers in his acting works. <ref>http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/16/don.johnson.ap/</ref> <ref>http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|80536|1|,00.html</ref>

[edit] Trivia

  • Johnson's height is 5' 9".
  • Was considered to play Eliot Ness in The Untouchables.[citation needed]
  • Was also considered for the role of Edward Deline on the popular NBC TV Show Las Vegas.
  • Popular Finnish music group Don Johnson Big Band is named after him.
  • He once had a screaming match on the radio with the hosts of the syndicated Ron and Ron Show, Ron Bennington (also known as "Tex Bennington," now of The Ron and Fez Show) and Ron Diaz.
  • Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari gave Johnson a silver Ferrari Testarossa while he was working on Miami Vice. Johnson auctioned the car while going through bankruptcy proceedings. <ref>http://www.celebritywonder.com/html/donjohnson.html</ref>
  • Was the inspiration for Bill Murray's character Don Johnston in the 2005 film Broken Flowers.
  • Briefly released his own brand of aftershave Miami Breeze after the success of Miami Vice but the product was discontinued shortly after due to poor sales.[citation needed]
  • In a Calvin and Hobbes comic, when Calvin and Hobbes are getting ready to go to a dinner with Calvin's parents, Hobbes asks, "Do you think I should shave?", to which Calvin replies "Nah, go for the Don Johnson fuzzy look."
  • The Don Johnson, a popular drink in Chicago is named after the Miami Vice Star. A Miami themed drink containing Malibu Rum, Triple Sec, Orange Juice, and Squirt, the Don Johnson has grown the real life counterpart's popularity on the southside of Chicago.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Television Work

[edit] Music career

Johnson, like a few other celebrities (Eddie Murphy, Philip Michael Thomas, Bruce Willis, Patrick Swayze) in the 1980's decided to venture out into the music business. His hit single Heartbeat reached #5 on the Billboard Charts for 10 straight weeks. He released two albums, one in 1987 and the other in 1989. His first album was received pretty well, but his second tanked.

[edit] Musical Releases

[edit] External links

[edit] References

<references/>de:Don Johnson fr:Don Johnson nl:Don Johnson pl:Don Johnson pt:Don Johnson fi:Don Johnson sv:Don Johnson

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