How Ben Johnson Went From Broke to Hollywood Legend
How Hard & Heroic Work Turned Ben Johnson Into a Western Movie Star
How Hard & Heroic Work Turned Ben Johnson Into a Western Movie Star
This is one heckuva Great Article about one of my favorite western actors. Well worth the follow through - DD
(Clever Journeys) - He was broke. His wife was furious. He had $3 to his name. Then one moment of courage made him a millionaire and a Hollywood legend.
Ben Johnson sat in his beat-up car and did the math. After a year of chasing rodeo glory, he had exactly three dollars. He had one worn-out automobile. His wife had enough of his dreams.
He stood at 6’2″. His face was weathered, like a man who’d spent more time with horses than Hollywood. He made a decision that would change everything.
He was going back to the movies. But not as a star. As a wrangler. A stuntman. The guy in the background risking his neck so the leading men looked good.
It began in 1939. Ben was just a 21-year-old Oklahoma ranch hand. He knew horses better than most people knew their own families.
He’d been hired to deliver 16 horses to a movie set in Arizona—a job that paid an unheard-of $300.
Legendary producer Howard Hughes was on that set. He watched this young cowboy handle those horses like they were dancing partners. He made him an offer on the spot to come work as a wrangler and…