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Don Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor, producer, director, singer, and songwriter.[1] He portrays Judd Crawford in HBO's Watchmen.

Biography[]

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 called The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart in 1970, which was based on a novel by Robert T. Westbrook. He continued to work on stage, film and television without breaking out into stardom. His notable films from this period were Zachariah (1971), The Harrad Experiment (1973), Lollipop and Roses (1974), and A Boy and His Dog (1975).

From 1984 to 1989, after years of struggling to establish himself as a TV actor (in such fare as Revenge of the Stepford Wives), 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 (really a replica kit on a 1981 Corvette chassis), followed by a Ferrari Testarossa, wore expensive timepieces by Rolex and Ebel, and lived on a 12-metre (40 ft) (later a 42-foot [13 m]) 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.

Johnson later starred in the 1996–2001 CBS-TV police drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin, Jeff Perry, and others. Johnson portrayed the title role of Nash Bridges, an inspector (later promoted to captain) 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.

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 (Jay Baruchel); 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 (Long Flat Balls II), 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. Johnson then 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. [2]


In September 2011, Johnson had a cameo in the comedy A Good Old Fashioned Orgy with Jason Sudeikis.[3]

Johnson had a supporting role in the 2012 Quentin Tarantino film, Django Unchained, playing a southern plantation owner named Spencer 'Big Daddy' Bennett.[4]

In 2015 Johnson began starring in the ABC prime time soap opera Blood & Oil.[5]

In the realm of music, Johnson has released two albums of pop music in the 1980's, one in 1986 and the other in 1989. His single "Heartbeat" reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.[6] 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" with Dickie Betts, which appeared on their 1979 album, Enlightened Rogues. B.B. King and Jules Taub co-wrote the song "Blind Love"; the Allmans covered it. "Till I Loved You" was the title track (a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100) 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.

Credits[]

Watchmen (TV series)[]

Season 1[]

Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • He has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  • Johnson was also the American Power Boat Association's 1988 World Champion of the Offshore World Cup. [7]

References[]

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