A genuine cowboy before an actor, a rodeo champion, stuntman and Oklahoma rancher, Ben Johnson brought to the screen a Western authenticity impossible to fake. Trained in John Ford's company, he shone in westerns such as 'Rio Grande', 'Wagon Master' and 'The Searchers'. His portrayal of the wistful Sam the Lion in Peter Bogdanovich's 'The Last Picture Show' (1971) won him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, crowning decades of quiet work. He also took part in Sam Peckinpah's classic 'The Wild Bunch' (1969) and in 'The Getaway'. A consummate horseman and a man of few words, he embodied like few others the quiet, weathered dignity of the cowboy, on and off camera. Read more