Sturmvogel

I am tryng to find out what the actor Richard Johnson is up to and where he is based. Saw him last on TV's Heartbeat quite recently, but he doesn't seem to be doing much film wise. A colleague of mine knew of him years ago when Johnson went into a venture of running an hotel in Wiltshire. Be nice to see him on screen more.

plasticjock

At present he is co-starring on BBC 2's 'The Robinsons' with Martin Freeman and Anna Massey on Thursdays at 2130.

Allen Dace

He's currently appearing in the new BBC2 comedy series 'The Robinsons' on Thursday nights (episode 3 of 6 this week).

He remains mainly a stage actor. In recent years I saw him in 'Plenty' with Cate Blanchett and Mrs Warren's Profession' with Brenda Blethyn. In March 2005 he appeared in The Hollow Crown at Stratford-Upon-Avon.

DAVID RAYNER

Richard Johnson once had a pivotal role in the 1961 Biblical epic, King of Kings, playing a wealthy Roman. But for some reason, his part was entirely cut out in the editing stages…except for one small sequence. He can be seen in the front of the crowd as Jesus (Jeffrey Hunter) enters Jerusalem on his donkey and is about to go into the temple. Jesus pauses for a moment and the two look into each other’s eyes. I wonder if Johnson’s part has survived somewhere. It would be interesting to see his performance in its entirety.

plasticjock

I remember reading in a film mag of the 70's that 7 actors, no names given, 3 British and 4 American had filmed scenes for this film and had all been edited out of the final cinema cut.

This info was in a list of about 20 - 25 Hollywood films of the previous fifteen years showing how, without naming them, some of the big names of the day had done extensive film work that was never seen.

If I remember correctly the record was 'The Longest Day' with 24 actors who were in/on? the shooting script didn't make the final edit. In this case it's understandable as the final film release was so long anyway but what about films like 'Night of the Demon' which had a whopping (in cinematic terms at least) 12 minutes lopped off for release in the American market.

Small wonder there are so many 'scenes deleted' on the IMDB cast lists.

This means that many actors of those era's and possibly today have done much film work that cannot be seen on their cv's...except possibly in final director's cut re-releases or extended or restored footage versions....sometimes long after they have died or retired.

Steve Crook

That was the fate of quite a few actors, especially in their earliest appearances when they were just extras or even had minor speaking roles.

Deborah Kerr's first role on film was as a cigarette girl in a London nightclub in Powell & Pressburger's Contraband (1940) - but she was left on the cutting room floor.

There are a lot, like that one, that we'd like to see - but it's very unlikely that the footage survives.

Steve

Malcolm

Richard Johnson is opening in the Agatha Christie thriller And Then There Were None, in a new version adapted by Kevin Elyot, will open at Gielgud Theatre 25 Oct 2005, following previews from 14 Oct 2005.