Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo preformer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper and James Stewart. His break came when John Ford noticed him and gave him a part in an upcoming film, and eventually a star part in Wagon Master. He left Hollywood in 1953 to return to rodeo, where he won a world roping championship, but at the end of the year he had barely cleared expenses. The movies paid better, and were less risky, so he returned to the west coast and a career that saw him in over 300 movies.


Died of a heart attack while visiting his mother in the retirement community where, not only she, but he himself lived. A prize belt buckle that he won for calf roping was stolen from his car when he visited Houston in 1976; on a repeat visit a decade later, he was an on-air guest on radio station KIKK when a caller returned the buckle to him. Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1982. Johnson, his father, and nephew have Belt-Buckle awards for team roping. He initially turned down the role of Sam the Lion in The Last Picture Show (1971) when it was first offered to him by Peter Bogdanovich because he thought the script was "dirty," and he did not approve of swearing and nudity in motion pictures. Bogdanovich appealed to John Ford, who got Johnson to change his mind as a favor to him. With the permission of Bogdanovich, Johnson rewrote his part with the offensive words removed. Johnson went on to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing the role. Was in three movies in a row where his first name was Travis: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Sergant Travis Tyree; Wagon Master (1950), Travis Blue; Rio Grande (1950), Trooper Travis Tyree.