The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Thursday that actor Brad Johnson died of complications from COVID 19 in February. He is best known for his role in Steven Spielberg’s 1989 fantasy drama Always. In this drama, both he and Richard Dreyfuss are competing for the heart of Holly Hunter. (Bad news for Richard. He’s actually a ghost.) Johnson worked consistently on television and cable movies in the 1990s and early 2000s and was a co-leader of the Left Behind series. He was 62 years old.
Born in Arizona, Johnson grew up on a cattle ranch, dropped out of business school shortly before graduation, and accepted a rodeo scholarship to the University of Southern Idaho. He worked full-time at Rodeo Circus, but in 1986 he injured his knee.
A 6-foot-high square-jawed man found a job as his model. This represents Calvin Klein, Bush beer and, of course, Marlboro cigarettes.
“Malboroman was an integral part of American culture. For a long time he was at the same level as 007,” Johnson recalls his position in the 2019 MEL Magazine tarred American folklore. I did. But he confessed that he had never smoked. “But I lit those millions,” he said.
Always the first major acting role of Johnson, which did not drive him to the superstar position, but to appear in movies such as the Philadelphia Experiment II and episodes of the Outer Limit Reboot. It was rare. He appeared on the other side of Danny Glover and Willem Dafoe on the flight of John Milius’s invaders in 1991 and was a love concern of Daphne Zuniga.
This is the first Simpson / Brookheimer work for television. Dennis Rodman starred in the second and last season.
In 2000, Johnson co-starred with Kirk Cameron in “Left Behind: The Movie.” This has moved from direct to video to theatrical release. An adventure drama series based on Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins’ End of days novel targets the Christian market. It wasn’t a breakout hit that was the case with some of the faith-based films that followed, but it was still groundbreaking and had ample legacy for reboots and spin-offs.