07-05-2019, 04:30 PM
Arte Johnson, comedian, age 90...
Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson (January 20, 1929 – July 3, 2019) was an American comic actor who was a regular on television's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In — where he played prominent characters including a German soldier with the catchphrase "verrrry interesting...", and an old man who habitually propositioned Ruth Buzzi's spinster character.
Johnson appeared three times in the 1955–1956 CBS sitcom It's Always Jan, starring Janis Paige and Merry Anders. In 1958, he joined the cast of the short-lived NBC sitcom Sally, starring Joan Caulfield. On that program he played Bascomb Bleacher, Jr., the son of a co-owner of a department store, portrayed by Gale Gordon. In 1960, he played Ariel Lavalerra in the film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's novel The Subterraneans. In 1960 and 1961, he was cast in three episodes of Jackie Cooper's military sitcom/drama series, Hennesey, also on CBS. The following year, he played "Mr. Bates" in the episode "A Secret Life" on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He was cast in an episode of Frank Aletter's sitcom, Bringing Up Buddy. He also appeared in "The Whole Truth", a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone, as an underpaid car salesman who punches dishonest used car lot owner Jack Carson. Before his big breakthrough in Laugh-In, Johnson appeared as Corporal Coogan in the 1962 episode "The Handmade Private" of the anthology series, GE True, hosted by Jack Webb. He played a bumbling navy cameraman on an episode of McHale's Navy in the first season. Also in 1962, he appeared on The Andy Griffith Show as a hotel clerk in the episode "Andy and Barney in the Big City".
Johnson appeared in a comedic role as Charlie, a boom-microphone operator who demonstrates to Jack Benny how to tell a joke properly, on The Jack Benny Program that aired on October 2, 1964. The joke performed in the sketch was the "ugly baby" story, later associated with Flip Wilson.
In 1965, he made a first-season guest appearance on ABC's sitcom, Bewitched as Samantha's (Elizabeth Montgomery) Cousin Edgar. A mute elf, Edgar is initially sent to observe and undermine Samantha's marriage to the non-witch/non-warlock, Darrin---all with the blessing of Endora (Agnes Moorehead). Once he sees how happily married Samantha and Darrin Stephens (Dick York) are, Edgar reverses his mischief and gives his (albeit quiet) blessing to their still-new marriage.
Johnson appeared in one of the final episodes of ABC's The Donna Reed Show in 1966. He was cast in the 1967 satirical James Coburn film The President's Analyst, in which he gave a comically chilling performance as a federal agent with a blindly obedient "orders are orders" mentality.
In 1968, he acted in the Season 3 episode of Lost in Space, "Princess of Space". Johnson played the traitorous robot space pirate Fedor helping the machines to win the war.
Johnson also starred in the 1971 episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery titled "The Flip-Side of Satan", playing ruthless disk jockey J.J. Wilson, who is forced to confront his past transgressions.
Johnson is widely known for his work on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973, on which he played various characters, with his most notable being "Wolfgang", a cigarette-smoking German soldier who believed that World War II was still ongoing, as he scouted the show while hidden behind bushes. He would then invariably comment on the preceding sketch with the catchphrase "Very interesting ...", which Johnson claimed was inspired by a Nazi character who spoke the line during an interrogation scene in the 1942 film Desperate Journey.[4] Often toward the show's close, he (as the Nazi) would offer words of affection to "Lucy and Gary" (Lucille Ball and her second husband, Gary Morton). The Lucy Show on CBS was in direct competition with NBC's Laugh-In on Monday night.[citation needed] Johnson reprised the role while voicing the Nazi-inspired character Virman Vundabar on an episode of Justice League Unlimited.[5]
![[Image: 220px-Lucille_Ball_Arte_Johnson_Glen_Campbell_Hour.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Lucille_Ball_Arte_Johnson_Glen_Campbell_Hour.jpg/220px-Lucille_Ball_Arte_Johnson_Glen_Campbell_Hour.jpg)
Johnson as "Tyrone F. Horneigh" approaching Lucille Ball in a sketch on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1971)
His other iconic Laugh-In character was "Tyrone F. Horneigh" (the last name pronounced "horn-eye," a "clean" variant of the vulgar term "horny"), the white-haired, trench coat-wearing "dirty old man" who repeatedly sought to seduce "Gladys Ormphby," (Ruth Buzzi's brown-clad "spinster" character) on a park bench. Tyrone would enter the scene, muttering a song (usually "In the Merry, Merry Month of May"), and, spying Gladys on the bench, would sit next to her. He would ask her a question, and regardless of the answer, turn it into a double entendre. She would then start hitting him with her purse and he would fall off the bench, sometimes with a plea for medical aid.
To boost ratings in the third season, Tyrone successfully courted Gladys which led to an on-air wedding on the March 16th 1970 episode during the spring ratings sweep. Tiny Tim played best man, with Carol Channing as the bridesmaid and Henry Gibson officiating.[citation needed] (This event is included on the DVD recording of the episode. Both the bride-to-be and groom-to-be walk out of the church just before the wedding vows were to be said.)
Years after Laugh-In ended, the two characters were made into an animated Saturday-morning children's show, Baggy Pants and the Nitwits with Tyrone as a helpful, muttering "superhero".
Johnson and his brother Coslough earned Emmy Awards while working on Laugh-In.[6][7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arte_Johnson
Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson (January 20, 1929 – July 3, 2019) was an American comic actor who was a regular on television's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In — where he played prominent characters including a German soldier with the catchphrase "verrrry interesting...", and an old man who habitually propositioned Ruth Buzzi's spinster character.
Johnson appeared three times in the 1955–1956 CBS sitcom It's Always Jan, starring Janis Paige and Merry Anders. In 1958, he joined the cast of the short-lived NBC sitcom Sally, starring Joan Caulfield. On that program he played Bascomb Bleacher, Jr., the son of a co-owner of a department store, portrayed by Gale Gordon. In 1960, he played Ariel Lavalerra in the film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's novel The Subterraneans. In 1960 and 1961, he was cast in three episodes of Jackie Cooper's military sitcom/drama series, Hennesey, also on CBS. The following year, he played "Mr. Bates" in the episode "A Secret Life" on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He was cast in an episode of Frank Aletter's sitcom, Bringing Up Buddy. He also appeared in "The Whole Truth", a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone, as an underpaid car salesman who punches dishonest used car lot owner Jack Carson. Before his big breakthrough in Laugh-In, Johnson appeared as Corporal Coogan in the 1962 episode "The Handmade Private" of the anthology series, GE True, hosted by Jack Webb. He played a bumbling navy cameraman on an episode of McHale's Navy in the first season. Also in 1962, he appeared on The Andy Griffith Show as a hotel clerk in the episode "Andy and Barney in the Big City".
Johnson appeared in a comedic role as Charlie, a boom-microphone operator who demonstrates to Jack Benny how to tell a joke properly, on The Jack Benny Program that aired on October 2, 1964. The joke performed in the sketch was the "ugly baby" story, later associated with Flip Wilson.
In 1965, he made a first-season guest appearance on ABC's sitcom, Bewitched as Samantha's (Elizabeth Montgomery) Cousin Edgar. A mute elf, Edgar is initially sent to observe and undermine Samantha's marriage to the non-witch/non-warlock, Darrin---all with the blessing of Endora (Agnes Moorehead). Once he sees how happily married Samantha and Darrin Stephens (Dick York) are, Edgar reverses his mischief and gives his (albeit quiet) blessing to their still-new marriage.
Johnson appeared in one of the final episodes of ABC's The Donna Reed Show in 1966. He was cast in the 1967 satirical James Coburn film The President's Analyst, in which he gave a comically chilling performance as a federal agent with a blindly obedient "orders are orders" mentality.
In 1968, he acted in the Season 3 episode of Lost in Space, "Princess of Space". Johnson played the traitorous robot space pirate Fedor helping the machines to win the war.
Johnson also starred in the 1971 episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery titled "The Flip-Side of Satan", playing ruthless disk jockey J.J. Wilson, who is forced to confront his past transgressions.
Johnson is widely known for his work on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973, on which he played various characters, with his most notable being "Wolfgang", a cigarette-smoking German soldier who believed that World War II was still ongoing, as he scouted the show while hidden behind bushes. He would then invariably comment on the preceding sketch with the catchphrase "Very interesting ...", which Johnson claimed was inspired by a Nazi character who spoke the line during an interrogation scene in the 1942 film Desperate Journey.[4] Often toward the show's close, he (as the Nazi) would offer words of affection to "Lucy and Gary" (Lucille Ball and her second husband, Gary Morton). The Lucy Show on CBS was in direct competition with NBC's Laugh-In on Monday night.[citation needed] Johnson reprised the role while voicing the Nazi-inspired character Virman Vundabar on an episode of Justice League Unlimited.[5]
![[Image: 220px-Lucille_Ball_Arte_Johnson_Glen_Campbell_Hour.jpg]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lucille_Ball_Arte_Johnson_Glen_Campbell_Hour.jpg)
Johnson as "Tyrone F. Horneigh" approaching Lucille Ball in a sketch on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1971)
His other iconic Laugh-In character was "Tyrone F. Horneigh" (the last name pronounced "horn-eye," a "clean" variant of the vulgar term "horny"), the white-haired, trench coat-wearing "dirty old man" who repeatedly sought to seduce "Gladys Ormphby," (Ruth Buzzi's brown-clad "spinster" character) on a park bench. Tyrone would enter the scene, muttering a song (usually "In the Merry, Merry Month of May"), and, spying Gladys on the bench, would sit next to her. He would ask her a question, and regardless of the answer, turn it into a double entendre. She would then start hitting him with her purse and he would fall off the bench, sometimes with a plea for medical aid.
To boost ratings in the third season, Tyrone successfully courted Gladys which led to an on-air wedding on the March 16th 1970 episode during the spring ratings sweep. Tiny Tim played best man, with Carol Channing as the bridesmaid and Henry Gibson officiating.[citation needed] (This event is included on the DVD recording of the episode. Both the bride-to-be and groom-to-be walk out of the church just before the wedding vows were to be said.)
Years after Laugh-In ended, the two characters were made into an animated Saturday-morning children's show, Baggy Pants and the Nitwits with Tyrone as a helpful, muttering "superhero".
Johnson and his brother Coslough earned Emmy Awards while working on Laugh-In.[6][7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arte_Johnson
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.