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[[Image:Torjohnson.jpg|frame|Tor Johnson|166x166px]] |
[[Image:Torjohnson.jpg|frame|Tor Johnson|166x166px]] |
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| − | '''''Birth Name''''' Tor Johansson<br /> |
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| − | '''''Born''''' October 19, 1903<br /> |
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| − | '''''Died''''' May 12, 1971<br /> |
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| ⚫ | Tor Johnson ([[1903]]-[[1971]]) was a Swedish wrestler who barnstormed through the United States during the 1930s, usually under the name of the "Super Swedish Angel." In 1935 he appeared as a wrestler in the W.C. Fields' comedy ''The Man on the Flying Trapeze.'' In 1944 he had his first brush with fantasy films with a bit part in the [[Universal Studios|Universal]] comedy ''The Ghost Catchers'', starring the comedy team of {{w|Olsen and Johnson}}. Over the next two decades, he would continue to make fleeting film appearances (many of them uncredited) while remaining one of the most popular attractions in the wrestling world before retiring from it in the mid 1950s. |
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| − | ==Riffed Movies== |
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| − | ===MST3K=== |
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| − | *''[[Bride of the Monster]] - ''Experiment #423 (as Lobo, but a different one) |
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| + | Starting in the early 1980s Johnson was a frequent subject of cartoons by {{w|Drew Friedman (cartoonist)}}. In all of the cartoons Johnson bears the blank expression he had in ''Plan Nine''. |
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| − | ===Others=== |
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| − | **[[Michael J. Nelson]] Commentaries |
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| − | **[[RiffTrax]] |
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| − | **[[RiffTrax]] Live |
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| − | == |
+ | ==Riffed Movies== |
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| − | Like [[Rondo Hatton]], '''''Tor Johnson''''' needed little makeup to play monsters. Johnson was not deformed like Hatton, but was possessed of a 300-pound-plus frame which lent itself well to the portrayal of superhuman monsters, roles that Tor |
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| + | *''Bride of the Monster'' [[MST3K 423 - Bride of the Monster|Experiment #423]]) - as Lobo |
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| − | Johnson played in a number of films in the 1950s. Usually the actor appeared with a shaved head and little other makeup in fashioning a series of bizarre brainless giants in films like ''[[Bride of the Monster]]'' (1955), ''The Black Sleep'' (1956), ''[[The Unearthly]]'' (1957), and ''[[The Beast of Yucca Flats]]'' (1961). |
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| − | While not an actor of great ability, Johnson certainly was a memorable performer, and his appearance on films was enough to send shivers down the back of many a film-goer, even when he was not playing monsters - in such films as ''The Lemon Drop Kid'' (1951), ''The San Francisco Story'' (1952), ''The Lady in the Iron Mask'' (1952), and ''Journey to Freedom'' (1957). |
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| ⚫ | Tor Johnson was |
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| − | By the mid 1950's, Tor had retired from wrestling and settled into a new career as a movie monster. In 1944 he had his first brush with fantasy films with a bit in the [[wikipedia:Universal Studios|Universal]] comedy ''The Ghost Catchers'', starring the comedy team of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olsen_and_Johnson ''Olsen and Johnson'']. In 1955 he kicked off his starring career in the genre by creating the role of "Lobo" in ''Bride of the Monster'', the final starring film for [[Bela Lugosi]]. Johnson, in fact, would appear in Lugosi's final three films and was a friend of the horror film great in the final years of his life. |
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| − | ''Bride of the Monster'' was a shoddy effort detailing how a crazed scientist (Lugosi) used atomic energy to create a human monster (Johnson), whom he planned to mate with a young girl ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretta_King_Hadler ''Loretta King'']) to create a super race. Johnson had a great deal of footage as the lumbering Lobo, and he soon became a favorite of horror film fans and the part became closely associated with him. Next, he was featured as the mindless giant Curry in ''The Black Sleep'' (1956), an all-star horror outing which had him as the lobotomy victim of a mad scientist ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Rathbone Basil Rathbone]). The film also featured Bela Lugosi as the doctor's mute servant. Johnson worked with Bela one last time on ''Grave Robbers From Outer Space'', an [[Edward D. Wood Jr.]] production about aliens landing on earth and using resurrected corpses to aid them in taking over the world. Lugosi died after filming only a few scenes as Ghoul Man, a resurrected corpse who murders a policeman (Johnson) and turns him into a zombie. It was not until 1959 that the film was finally nationally issued as ''Plan Nine From Outer Space''. |
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| − | In 1956 Tor Johnson also had a small part in the musical fantasy ''Carousel'' at [[wikipedia:20th Century Fox|20th Century Fox]]. The next year, he was Lobo again in ''[[The Unearthly]]'', one of the last films released by |
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| − | [[wikipedia:Republic Pictures|Republic]]. Here, Lobo was the servant of a mad scientist ([[John Carradine]]) whose gland experiments had turned him into a brainless giant. The film did give Tor a few lines of dialogue, and in the end he aided the heroine ([[Allison Hayes]]) in escaping the fate he had befallen. In 1959, Tor again repeated the part of Lobo in ''Night of the Ghouls'', a sequel to ''Bride of the Monster''. |
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| − | This time, Lobo is resurrected and becomes involved with two ghosts and a fake spiritualist ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenne_Duncan Kenne Duncan]). Although completed, the film was never issued. Tor had his last starring role in the 1961 |
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| − | Crown International release ''The Beast of Yucca Flats''. Here he played a defecting Russian scientist who is caught in an atomic blast in the Yucca Flats area and is turned in a radioactive rampaging |
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| − | monster. In the early 1970s, the film resurfaced as ''Atomic Monster: The Beast of Yucca Flats''. |
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| − | During the 1960s, Tor Johnson made occasional television appearances on such programs as "''People's Court''", "''You Bet Your Life''" (with [[wikipedia:Groucho Marx|Groucho Marx]]), and "''The Red Skelton Show''". The Groucho Marx appearance is known to be remembered among B-Movie fans to this day. |
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| − | Groucho: "Who are you a battleship?" |
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| − | Tor: "Tor Johnson" |
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| − | Groucho: "You Tor Johnson, why? Did you get angry at him?" |
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| − | He also made a few television commercials. In the late 1960s he recreated the role of Lobo for a series of personal appearances in Southern California. |
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| − | Tor was noted as a friendly man who was easy to work with. Actress Valda Hansen, who appeared with Tor in the 1959 film ''Night of the Ghouls'' described Tor as being "like a big sugar bun." Tor's wife Greta reportedly disliked the monsters he was being cast as because they didn't portray Tor as he actually was.<ref>[http://www.monstershack.net/articles/tor.php Tor Johnson]</ref> |
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| − | Tor Johnson died May 12, 1971, in a Los Angeles hospital after a brief illness. He was survived by his wife and son. |
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| − | Recently, Tor's life was essayed in [[wikipedia:Tim Burton|Tim Burton]]'s brilliant film ''Ed Wood'' (1994) by another popular professional wrestler, George "The Animal" Steele.<ref>[http://www.lethargiclad.com/tor/bio.html]</ref> |
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==Filmography== |
==Filmography== |
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[[Category:Recurring movie actors]] |
[[Category:Recurring movie actors]] |
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[[Category:Stubs]] |
[[Category:Stubs]] |
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| + | [[Category:Deceased Actors]] |
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Revision as of 05:38, 22 July 2020
Tor Johnson
Tor Johnson (1903-1971) was a Swedish wrestler who barnstormed through the United States during the 1930s, usually under the name of the "Super Swedish Angel." In 1935 he appeared as a wrestler in the W.C. Fields' comedy The Man on the Flying Trapeze. In 1944 he had his first brush with fantasy films with a bit part in the Universal comedy The Ghost Catchers, starring the comedy team of Olsen and Johnson. Over the next two decades, he would continue to make fleeting film appearances (many of them uncredited) while remaining one of the most popular attractions in the wrestling world before retiring from it in the mid 1950s.
Starting in the early 1980s Johnson was a frequent subject of cartoons by Drew Friedman (cartoonist). In all of the cartoons Johnson bears the blank expression he had in Plan Nine.
Riffed Movies
- The Unearthly (Experiment #320) - as Lobo
- Bride of the Monster Experiment #423) - as Lobo
- The Beast of Yucca Flats (Experiment #621) - as Joseph Javorsky/The Beast
- Plan 9 from Outer Space (RiffTrax & The Mads Are Back)- as Inspector Clay
Filmography
- The Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
- Under Two Flags (1936)
- The Meanest Man in the World (1943)
- Ghost Catchers (1944)
- Road to Rio (1947)
- Behind Locked Doors (1948)
- State of the Union (1948)
- Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)
- The Lemon Drop Kid (1951)
- The San Francisco Story (1952)
- The Lady in the Iron Mask (1952)
- Bride of the Monster (1956)
- Black Sleep (1956)
- Carousel (1956)
- The Man Who Turned To Stone (1957)
- The Unearthly (1957)
- Journey to Freedom (1957)
- Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
- Night of the Ghouls (1960)
- The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)
- Head (1968)[1]
Gallery
Appearing in The Unearthly
Appearing in Bride of the Monster
Appearing in The Beast of Yucca Flats
Appearing in Plan 9 from Outer Space