Arthur Vaughan Johnson (February 2, 1876 – January 17, 1916) was a pioneer actor and director of the early American silent film era, and uncle of Olympic wrestler and film actor Nat Pendleton.
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Career
Johnson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Rev. Myron A. Johnson. He left college at 19 to join a traveling Shakespearean troupe, later appearing on stage with Sol Smith Russell, Robert B. Mantell and Marie Wainwright. Johnson began as a film actor in 1905 with the Edison Studios in The Bronx, New York, appearing in the one-reel drama The White Caps directed by Wallace McCutcheon, Sr., and Edwin S. Porter. In 1908, he went to work for Biograph Studios, where he acted in films directed by D.W. Griffith including Resurrection (1909) and In Old California (1910), the first movie Griffith ever shot in Hollywood. At Biograph, Arthur Johnson performed with stars such as Mary Pickford and Florence Lawrence. Johnson was reputed to be Griffith's favorite actor.
In 1911, he accepted an offer from Lubin Studios in Philadelphia that allowed him to direct as well as act. With Lottie Briscoe, his frequent co-star at Lubin, Johnson directed and starred in The Belovéd Adventurer (1914), a 15 episode serial by Emmett Campbell Hall. After performing in more than three hundred silent film shorts and directing twenty-six, health problems ended his career in 1915.
Personal life
According to an interview published nine months before his death a few weeks short of his fortieth birthday in 1916, Arthur V. Johnson married actress Maude Webb around 1896; the couple had a daughter who lived with Johnson's parents. Two other sources indicate Johnson married Florence Hackett around 1910, with whom he later appeared in the 1913 film Power of the Cross. He died of tuberculosis in Philadelphia, followed by funeral services there. His remains were later interred at Fairview Cemetery, Chicopee, Massachusetts, nearby Grace Episcopal Church, where his father once served as rector.
He was second cousin to author, illustrator, and photographer Clifton Johnson.