Arte Johnson

Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson (January 20, 1929 – July 3, 2019) was an American actor and comedian who was best known for his work as a regular on television's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.

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.

He would then invariably comment on a preceding gag with the catchphrase "Very interesting ...," which Johnson claimed was inspired by a Nazi character who spoke the line during an interrogation scene in the film Desperate Journey (1942).

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 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.

Johnson appeared three times in the 1955–1956 CBS sitcom It's Always Jan, starring Janis Paige and Merry Anders.

In 1956 a young Arte Johnson appeared in season 3, episode 22, of Make Room for Daddy in an episode called "Who Can Figure Kids", where he sang and danced.

In 1958 he joined the cast of the short-lived NBC sitcom Sally.

On that program he played Bascomb Bleacher, Jr., the son of a co-owner of a department store, portrayed by Gale Gordon.

He played Ariel Lavalerra in the 1960 film The Subterraneans, an adaptation of Jack Kerouac's 1958 novel of the same name.

In 1960 and 1961, he appeared in three episodes of Jackie Cooper's military sitcom/drama series Hennesey, also on CBS.

He also appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone titled "The Whole Truth" (1961).

In Alfred Hitchcock Presents he played Mr. Bates in the episode "A Secret Life" (1962).

He was cast in an episode of Frank Aletter's sitcom Bringing Up Buddy.

Before his big breakthrough in Laugh-In, Johnson was cast for a guest role as Corporal Coogan in the anthology series GE True ("The Handmade Private," 1962).

He played a bumbling navy cameraman on an episode of McHale's Navy in the first season and The Andy Griffith Show as a hotel clerk in the episode "Andy and Barney in the Big City" (also 1962).

He was a member of the regular cast of the 1962–1963 situation comedy Don't Call Me Charlie!, portraying Corporal Lefkowitz.

Johnson appeared in a comedic role as Charlie, a boom-microphone operator who demonstrates to Jack Benny how to tell a joke properly, on The Jack Benny Program that aired on October 2, 1964.

The joke performed in the sketch was the "ugly baby" story, later associated with Flip Wilson.

He made a guest appearance on ABC's sitcom, Bewitched as Samantha's (Elizabeth Montgomery) Cousin Edgar in the final episode of the first season, airing on June 2, 1965.

Also in 1965, Johnson played a rare dramatic supporting role in the film The Third Day as Lester Aldrich, who turns out to be the downtrodden husband of the sleazy nymphomaniac Holly.

Johnson appeared in one of the final episodes of ABC's The Donna Reed Show in 1966.

He was cast in the satirical James Coburn film The President's Analyst (1967), in which he gave a comically chilling performance as a federal agent with a blindly obedient "orders are orders" mentality.

He appeared in the Season 3 episode of Lost in Space titled "Princess of Space" (1968).

Johnson is best known for his work on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973, on which he played many characters, including "Wolfgang," a cigarette-smoking German soldier oblivious to the fact that World War II was long over, as he skulked while hidden behind a potted plant.

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.

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.

Johnson also starred in an episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery titled "The Flip-Side of Satan" (1971).