Bayard Richard Johnson''Washington, Marriage Records, 1854-2013'' (September 9, 1952 – February 10, 2016) was an American

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

. He is best known as the co-writer of ''

Damned River ''Damned River'' is a 1989 American action film directed by Michael Schroeder and co-written by John Crowther and Bayard Johnson. The film stars Stephen Shellen, Lisa Aliff, John Terlesky, Marc Poppel, Bradford Bancroft and Louis van Niekerk. The ...

'' in 1989, '' The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo'', and ''

Tarzan and the Lost City ''Tarzan and the Lost City'' is a 1998 American adventure film directed by Carl Schenkel, and starring Casper Van Dien and Jane March with Steven Waddington. The screenplay by Bayard Johnson and J. Anderson Black is loosely based on the Tarzan stor ...

'' in 1998.

Early life

Johnson, who was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, graduated from the

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound (UPS or Puget Sound) is a private university in Tacoma, Washington. The university draws approximately 2,600 students from 44 states and 16 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 traditional an ...

, where he studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and writing.

Career

Johnson's first film was 1989's ''

'', which he co-wrote with John Crowther. ''Damned River'', which was filmed in Zimbabwe in 1988, remains on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

's "top 20 action movies of the 1980s," as of 2016. Together with Matthew Horton, Johnson co-wrote the 1997

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of '' The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo'', which was released by TriStar Pictures. He also co-wrote 1998's ''

'', loosely based on the Tarzan stories by stories by

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

. In 2007, Johnson and actor Bill Duke co-produced ''Cover'', a film which explores the

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

epidemic. Duke and Johnson also wrote a television series for HBO, which did not air. Johnson co-authored the 2013 book, "If You’ve Forgotten the Names of the Clouds, You’ve Lost Your Way: An Introduction to American Indian Thought and Philosophy," with the late

Russell Means Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, musician, and writer. He became a prominent member of the American Ind ...

, an

Oglala Lakota The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority ...

Native American rights activist. Together, John and Means directed, produced and penned ''Looks Twice'', a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

based on a Lakota story. Johnson's first novel was "Damned Right

published by Black Ice Books in 1994. In addition to his writing, Johnson co-founded Mother Nature's Army, a band based in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

Death

Johnson died from cancer on February 10, 2016, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, on the age of 63. He was survived by his parents, Richard and Virginia Johnson; his wife, Lyndal; two sons, Colter and Ronan; and three siblings, Douglas, Silver Moon and Alicia. One of his sons, Colter Johnson, penned and directed the 2015 film, ''Man in a Cage'', which has not yet been released.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Bayard 1952 births 2016 deaths American film producers American film directors American male screenwriters University of Puget Sound alumni 20th-century male writers