Early life Johnson was born January 20, 1929, in
Benton Harbor, Michigan, the son of Abraham Lincoln and Edythe Mackenzie (Goldberg/Golden) Johnson. His father was an attorney. Johnson graduated from
Austin High School and received a bachelor's degree in radio journalism from
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1949, where he worked at the campus radio station and the University of Illinois Theater Guild with his brother Coslough "Cos" Johnson. Following brief military service in
Korea (he was discharged due to a
duodenal ulcer he had suffered since childhood), he sought employment in Chicago advertising agencies but was unsuccessful and left for New York City to work for
Viking Press. In early 1954, Johnson performed in several New York nightclubs, including Le Ruban Bleu and the
Village Vanguard. His first job in show business came when he impulsively stepped into an audition line and was cast in
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Johnson appeared in
Ben Bagley's
The Shoestring Revue, which opened
off-Broadway on February 28, 1955, at the President Theater in New York. Often toward the show's close, he (as the German) would offer words of affection to "Lucy and Gary" (
Lucille Ball and her second husband
Gary Morton).
The Lucy Show and later ''
Here's Lucy'' on CBS were in
direct competition with NBC's
Laugh-In on
Monday night. Johnson reprised the role briefly on
Sesame Street in the early 1970s, and while voicing the Nazi-inspired character
Virman Vundabar on an episode of
Justice League Unlimited. in a sketch on
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1971) His other prominent
Laugh-In character was "Tyrone F. Horneigh" (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 help. To boost ratings in the third season, Tyrone successfully courted Gladys which led to an on-air wedding on the March 16, 1970, episode during the spring ratings sweep.
Tiny Tim played best man, with
Carol Channing as the bridesmaid, and
Henry Gibson officiating. Alas, both bride-to-be and groom-to-be walk out of the church just before the wedding vows are spoken. Years after
Laugh-In ended, the two characters were the subject of 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.
Later work Johnson guest-starred in two episodes of
The Partridge Family ("My Heart Belongs to a Two Car Garage" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls... and Tolls... and Tolls") and the situation comedy
A Touch of Grace (1973). He appeared in the first season of the Detroit-produced children's show
Hot Fudge (1974) and, for one week, as a celebrity guest panelist on the game show
Match Game. From 1976 to 1980, Johnson was a regular celebrity guest judge on
The Gong Show. In 1976, Johnson voiced the animated cartoon character
Misterjaw, a blue, German-accented shark, in
The Pink Panther Show. He also voiced the character "Rhubarb" on
The Houndcats and appeared as a guest on Canadian TV show
Celebrity Cooks (1976) with host
Bruno Gerussi. Johnson appeared on an episode of the NBC daytime version of
Wheel of Fortune in September 1977 as a substitute letter-turner, both to fill in for an injured
Susan Stafford, and to promote his short-lived NBC game show
Knockout, which aired through early 1978. Instead of being introduced by the show's announcer, he would start the show with a small monologue, then the announcer would introduce the day's contestants. He was cast as Renfield, the comic sidekick of
George Hamilton's
Dracula in the film
Love at First Bite (1979) and appeared in the all-star television disaster film
Condominium (1980). He voiced "Weerd" in
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985), and played a disgruntled employee denied
severance pay in an episode of
Airwolf. He also voiced several other characters: Dr. Ludwig Von Strangebuck and Count Ray on two episodes of
DuckTales; Devil Smurf on
The Smurfs;
Top Cat and Lou on
Yo Yogi!; and Newt on
Animaniacs. Johnson guest-starred in the
Murder, She Wrote episode "No Laughing Murder" (1987). He also appeared in an episode of
Night Court (1990). From 1991 to 1992, Johnson appeared in multiple episodes of
General Hospital as
Finian O'Toole. He played the old laboratory head of a team of scientists working on a serum of youth in
Second Chance (1996). Johnson performed more than 80 audiobook readings, including Gary Shteyngart's
Absurdistan (2006) and
Carl Hiaasen's
Bad Monkey. He appeared in the
Justice League Unlimited episode "The Ties That Bind" (2005) as the voice of
Virman Vundabar, which was his final acting role before his retirement in 2006. ==Personal life==