George Clayton Johnson

For other people named George Johnson, see George Johnson (disambiguation).

George Clayton Johnson
Johnson in 2006
Born	(1929-07-10) July 10, 1929 Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA
Occupation	Draftsman, telegraph operator, writer
Nationality	American
Period	1959-present
Genres	Science fiction
Notable work(s)	Logan's Run

George Clayton Johnson (born July 10, 1929 in Cheyenne, Wyoming) is an American science fiction writer most famous for co-writing the novel Logan's Run with William F. Nolan (basis for the 1976 film). He is also known for his work in television, writing screenplays for such noted series as The Twilight Zone, such as "Nothing in the Dark", "Kick the Can", "A Game of Pool" and "A Penny for Your Thoughts", and Star Trek, the first aired episode of the series, "The Man Trap". He also wrote the story on which the 1960 and 2001 films Ocean's Eleven were based. He has appeared in numerous anthologies, by editors such as Dennis Etchison, Jason V Brock, and Christopher Conlon. He was proprietor of Cafe Frankenstein. The entire library of his work, including Logan's Run and "Jessica's Run: The New Sequel to Logan's Run" are represented on his behalf by WBMT Agency.

Biography

Born in a barn, he had to repeat the sixth grade and dropped out of school entirely in the eighth. He briefly served as a telegraph operator then draftsman in the United States Army, enrolled at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) under the G.I. Bill, quit to return to his travels around the U.S.A., working as an draftsman, before deciding he wanted to become a writer.

In 1960 the first story Johnson ever wrote served as the basis for the Rat Pack movie Ocean's 11, although most of the details were changed for the film. He joined a circle of Southern California science-fiction writers that included Theodore Sturgeon, William F. Nolan, Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury. Through them he met Rod Serling, to whom he sold his first story ("All of Us Are Dying", produced as "The Four of Us Are Dying") and, later, his first teleplay ("A Penny for Your Thoughts").

"For me, fantasy must be about something, otherwise it's foolishness... ultimately it must be about human beings, it must be about the human condition, it must be another look at infinity, it must be another way of seeing the paradox of existence."

—George Clayton Johnson quoted in The Twilight Zone Companion

Filmography

Twilight Zone episodes

George Clayton Johnson wrote the following stories for The Twilight Zone series:

• The Four of Us Are Dying (1960) (story)
• Execution (1960) (story)
• The Prime Mover (inadvertently credited solely to Charles Beaumont)
• A Penny for Your Thoughts (1961) (teleplay)
• A Game of Pool (1961) (teleplay)
• Nothing in the Dark (1962) (teleplay)
• Kick the Can (1962, also featured in the 1983 movie The Twilight Zone: The Movie) (teleplay)
• Ninety Years Without Slumbering (1963) (story, as Johnson Smith)

Star Trek episode

• The Man Trap (1966, first aired episode of the series)

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

• I'll Take Care of You (1959) (story)

Film appearances

Charles Beaumont: The Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man (As himself. JaSunni Productions, LLC, 2009. Directed by Jason V Brock.)

The AckerMonster Chronicles! (As himself. JaSunni Productions, LLC, 2012. Directed by Jason V Brock.)

Bibliography

Fiction collections

All of Us Are Dying and Other Stories (Subterranean Press, 1999).

Anthologies in which Johnson's fiction has appeared

The Ring of Truth (Featured in Drastic Measures Anthology, Blueberry Lane Books, 2010).

External links

• George Clayton Johnson at the Internet Movie Database
• George Clayton Johnson at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• George Clayton Johnson at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Interviews

• All of us are dying, but writer George Clayton Johnson is still living it up (scifi.com)
• Archive Interview Part 1 of 10 or see playlist