Arte Johnson dies: Emmy-winning \u2018Laugh-In\u2019 star was 90
Arte Johnson, who won an Emmy for his memorable work on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” and worked in TV and film for nearly half a century, died early Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, his family said. He was 90 and had battled bladder and prostate cancer for the past three years.
Johnson earned three consecutive Emmy noms for Laugh-In from 1969-71, winning the first year. He was part of the politically tinged NBC sketch series’ main cast during its entire 1968-73 run, playing myriad characters in the show that launched the careers of such stars as Lily Tomlin, Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley and many others.
Among his most popular characters was 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 drawn-out 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.”
Often toward the show’s close, Johnson’s Nazi would offer words of affection to Lucy and Gary (Lucille Ball and her second husband, EP Gary Morton). Their show “Here’s Lucy” (aka “The Lucy Show”) on CBS aired opposite “Laugh-In” on Monday nights. Johnson reprised the role while voicing the Nazi-inspired character Virman Vundabar on an episode of “Justice League Unlimited.”
Perhaps his most famous recurring “Laugh-In” sketch was as Tyrone F. Horneigh, the trenchcoated, muttering “dirty old man” who would cozy up to Ruth Buzzi’s prim spinster character on a park bench. After attempting to strike up a conversation with some double-entendres, his character inevitably would take multiple purse blows to the noggin.
During the show’s third season, Tyrone successfully courted Gladys, which led to an on-air wedding in a March 1970 episode during the spring ratings sweep. Tiny Tim played best man, with Carol Channing as the bridesmaid and Gibson officiating.
Launching as a midseason replacement in January 1968, “Laugh-In” was a near-instant smash. It topped all of prime time during its first two full seasons — posting a 31.8 rating in 1968-69 and a 26.3 the following season. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series in 1971 and the Best TV Show Golden Globe in 1969.
But Johnson’s career continued long after “Laugh-In” wrapped and began long before it. Born Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson on Jan. 20, 1929 in Benton Harbor, Mich., his first job in show business came when he impulsively stepped into an audition line and was cast in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” the 1953 comedy that starred Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. Johnson later appeared in Ben Bagley’s “The Shoestring Revue,” which opened off-Broadway on Feb. 28, 1955, at the President Theater in New York.
Johnson appeared on three episodes of 1955–56 CBS sitcom “It’s Always Jan,” starring Janis Paige and Merry Anders, and in 1958, he joined the cast of the short-lived NBC sitcom “Sally,” starring Joan Caulfield. 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 CBS military sitcom/drama series, “Hennesey.” The following year, he appeared as Mr. Bates in the episode “A Secret Life” on “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”
The actor’s other pre-“Laugh-In” credits include guest shots on such series as “Dr. Kildare,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” “McHale’s Navy,” “The Jack Benny Program,” “Bewitched,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “The Donna Reed Show” and “The Phyllis Diller Show.” He also appeared in the 1961 “Twilight Zone” episode “The Whole Truth,” playing an underpaid car salesman who punches dishonest used car lot owner Jack Carson, and later appeared in “Twilight Zone” creator Rod Serling’s 1970s anthology series “Night Gallery” as a ruthless disk jockey who is forced to confront his past transgressions.
Johnson continued to work as an actor through the 1990s, focusing mostly on voice-over work later in his career.
He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Gisela, and his brother Coslough Johnson, who won an Emmy in 1968 as part of the “Laugh-In” writing team and would go one to write for the popular “Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.” Johnson’s family said there are no plans for services at this time but that the actor’s ashes will be taken to Hawaii for a ceremony there. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to Actors & Others for Animals, Best Friends and/or to Cancer Research.
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