Arthur V. Johnson
English postcard. Photo: Lubin.
Arthur V. Johnson was born on February 2, 1876 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA as Arthur Vaughen Johnson. He was a highly prolific actor and director, known for his work at the pre-Hollywood companies of Edison, American Biograph, and Lubin. His high productivity took his toll: in 1915 he had a nervous breakdown due to overwork, he stopped his career, and in early 1916 he died of TBC, almost forty.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Rev. Myron A. Johnson, Arthur Vaughan Johnson left college at 19 to join a traveling Shakespearean troupe. He later appeared on stage with Sol Smith Russell, Robert B. Mantell and Marie Wainwright. Johnson began as a film actor in 1905 with the Edison Studios in The Bronx, New York, appearing in the one-reel drama The White Caps directed by Wallace McCutcheon, Sr., and Edwin S. Porter. In 1908, he went to work for Biograph Studios, where he acted in films directed by D.W. Griffith including The Adventures of Dollie (1908), Resurrection (1909) and In Old California (1910), the first movie Griffith ever shot in Hollywood. At Biograph, Arthur Johnson performed with stars such as Mary Pickford and Florence Lawrence. Johnson was reputed to be Griffith's favorite actor.
In 1911 Johnson accepted an offer from Lubin Studios in Philadelphia that allowed him to direct as well as act. With Lottie Briscoe, his frequent co-star at Lubin, Johnson directed and starred in The Belovéd Adventurer (1914), a 15 episode serial by Emmett Campbell Hall. After performing in more than three hundred silent film shorts and directing twenty-six films, health problems ended Johnson's career in 1915. According to an interview published nine months before his death, Arthur V. Johnson married actress Maude Webb when he was 20 years old; the couple had a daughter who lived with Johnson's parents. Other sources indicate that around 1910 he married Florence Hackett, with whom he appeared in the 1913 film Power of the Cross. Johnson died of tuberculosis in Philadelphia in 1916, a few weeks short of his fortieth birthday.
Sources: English Wikipedia, IMDB. For Johnson's films Rose O'Salem Town (Griffith, Biograph 1910), The Two Brothers (Griffith, Biograph 1910), Heartbeats of Long Ago (Griffith, Biograph 1911), Her Child's Honor (Harry Solter, Lubin, 1911), The District Attorney's Conscience (Johnson, Lubin 1911), see the Dutch EYE Filmmuseum Desmet Playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQr5oaajRw8OvEX7Y5zN0RncTe...
Arthur V. Johnson
English postcard. Photo: Lubin.
Arthur V. Johnson was born on February 2, 1876 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA as Arthur Vaughen Johnson. He was a highly prolific actor and director, known for his work at the pre-Hollywood companies of Edison, American Biograph, and Lubin. His high productivity took his toll: in 1915 he had a nervous breakdown due to overwork, he stopped his career, and in early 1916 he died of TBC, almost forty.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Rev. Myron A. Johnson, Arthur Vaughan Johnson left college at 19 to join a traveling Shakespearean troupe. He later appeared on stage with Sol Smith Russell, Robert B. Mantell and Marie Wainwright. Johnson began as a film actor in 1905 with the Edison Studios in The Bronx, New York, appearing in the one-reel drama The White Caps directed by Wallace McCutcheon, Sr., and Edwin S. Porter. In 1908, he went to work for Biograph Studios, where he acted in films directed by D.W. Griffith including The Adventures of Dollie (1908), Resurrection (1909) and In Old California (1910), the first movie Griffith ever shot in Hollywood. At Biograph, Arthur Johnson performed with stars such as Mary Pickford and Florence Lawrence. Johnson was reputed to be Griffith's favorite actor.
In 1911 Johnson accepted an offer from Lubin Studios in Philadelphia that allowed him to direct as well as act. With Lottie Briscoe, his frequent co-star at Lubin, Johnson directed and starred in The Belovéd Adventurer (1914), a 15 episode serial by Emmett Campbell Hall. After performing in more than three hundred silent film shorts and directing twenty-six films, health problems ended Johnson's career in 1915. According to an interview published nine months before his death, Arthur V. Johnson married actress Maude Webb when he was 20 years old; the couple had a daughter who lived with Johnson's parents. Other sources indicate that around 1910 he married Florence Hackett, with whom he appeared in the 1913 film Power of the Cross. Johnson died of tuberculosis in Philadelphia in 1916, a few weeks short of his fortieth birthday.
Sources: English Wikipedia, IMDB. For Johnson's films Rose O'Salem Town (Griffith, Biograph 1910), The Two Brothers (Griffith, Biograph 1910), Heartbeats of Long Ago (Griffith, Biograph 1911), Her Child's Honor (Harry Solter, Lubin, 1911), The District Attorney's Conscience (Johnson, Lubin 1911), see the Dutch EYE Filmmuseum Desmet Playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQr5oaajRw8OvEX7Y5zN0RncTe...