Don Johnson

Johnson's first major role was in the 1969 Los Angeles stage production of Fortune and Men's Eyes, in which he played Smitty, the lead role. This exposure led to the quickly forgotten film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970, based on a novel by Robert T. Westbrook, son of columnist Sheilah Graham). He continued to work on stage, film and television without breaking into stardom. His notable films from this period were Zachariah (1971), The Harrad Experiment (1973), Lollipop and Roses (1974), and A Boy and His Dog (1975). In 1976, Johnson was roommates with actor Sal Mineo when Mineo was murdered outside their West Hollywood, California apartment.[8]

From 1984 to 1989, after years of struggling to establish himself as a TV actor (in such fare as Revenge of the Stepford Wives), and a string of pilots, none of which became a TV series, Johnson landed a starring role as undercover police detective Sonny Crockett in the Michael Mann / Universal Television cop series, Miami Vice. The Sonny Crockett character typically wore thousand-dollar Versace and Hugo Boss suits over pastel cotton T-shirts, drove a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona (really a replica kit on a 1981 Corvette chassis), followed by a Ferrari Testarossa, wore expensive timepieces by Rolex and Ebel, and lived on a 12-metre (40 ft) (later a 42-foot [13 m]) Endeavour yacht with his pet alligator, Elvis. Miami Vice was noted for its revolutionary use of music, cinematography, and imagery and its glitzy take on the police drama genre. In the show, his partner was Ricardo Tubbs, played by Philip Michael Thomas. Between seasons, Johnson gained further renown through several TV miniseries, such as the 1985 TV remake of The Long, Hot Summer.

Johnson later starred in the 1996–2001 CBS-TV police drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin, Jeff Perry, Jaime P. Gomez, Kelly Hu, Wendy Moniz, Annette O'Toole, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as his daughter Cassidy, and James Gammon as Nash's father, Nick Bridges. Johnson portrayed the title role of Nash Bridges, an inspector (later promoted to captain) for the San Francisco Police Department. In Nash Bridges Johnson was again paired with a flashy convertible car, this time a Yellow 1971 Plymouth Barracuda.

Don Johnson with Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher at the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006

In the fall of 2005, he briefly starred in The WB courtroom television drama show Just Legal as a jaded lawyer with a very young and idealistic protégé/partner (Jay Baruchel); the show was canceled in October 2005 after just three of the eight produced episodes aired. In January 2007, Johnson began a run in the West End of London production of Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit.

Johnson also has a role in the Norwegian comedy Lange Flate Ballær 2 ("Long Flat Balls II"), directed by Johnson's friend Harald Zwart. Johnson did the movie as a favor to Zwart. The movie was launched March 14, 2008 in Norway, with Johnson making an appearance at the premiere. He next appeared in When in Rome with Danny DeVito, Anjelica Huston, and Kristen Bell.[9]

Johnson and Jon Heder co-hosted WWE's Raw on January 18, 2010.[10]

Johnson had a supporting role in Robert Rodriguez's film Machete. Johnson played Von Jackson, "a twisted border vigilante leading a small army." The film was released on September 3, 2010.

In October 2010, he began appearing on the HBO series Eastbound & Down, playing Kenny Powers' long-lost father, going by the alias "Eduardo Sanchez". He also reprised his role as Sonny Crockett for a Nike commercial with LeBron James where the NBA player contemplates acting and appears alongside Johnson on Miami Vice.[11]

In September 2011, Johnson had a cameo in the comedy A Good Old Fashioned Orgy with Jason Sudeikis.[12]

Johnson had a supporting role in the 2012 Quentin Tarantino film, Django Unchained, playing a southern plantation owner named Spencer 'Big Daddy' Bennett.[13]

In 2014, Johnson starred as the character "Jim Bob" opposite Sam Shepard and Michael C. Hall in Jim Mickle's critically acclaimed crime film, Cold in July.

In 2015 Johnson began starring in the ABC prime time soap opera Blood & Oil.[14]

In 2018, he starred as the character of Arthur, the love interest of Vivian, played by Jane Fonda in Bill Holderman's romantic-comedy Book Club.

In 2019, Johnson played the role of Richard Drysdale in Rian Johnson's murder-mystery Knives Out, and starred as Police Chief Judd Crawford in the HBO series Watchmen.

Johnson in 1989

Johnson has had four wives in five marriages, three of which were brief. His first two marriages were annulled within a matter of days.[1][17] The names of Johnson's first two wives have not been made public, though they were said to have been a dancer and a "rich bimbo".[18] In the early 1970s, Johnson lived with groupie Pamela Des Barres.[19] During the first half of 1972, he met Melanie Griffith, the 14-year-old daughter of his Harrad Experiment co-star Tippi Hedren.[20] When Griffith was 15, she and Johnson began living together in a rented house in Laurel Canyon.[20] On her 18th birthday they became engaged, and were married in January 1976; they separated that July and divorced in November.[21][22] They reunited and conceived a daughter close to the start of 1989,[20] Dakota Johnson (born October 4, 1989) and were married again from that year until 1996.

In 1980, he dated Sally Adams, Telly Savalas's ex-girlfriend and mother of actress Nicollette Sheridan.[23] Cybill Shepherd has written of a liaison with Johnson in her autobiography.[24]

Johnson lived with actress Patti D'Arbanville[22] from 1981 to 1985.[25] The couple has a son, Jesse Wayne Johnson (born December 7, 1982).[26] A 1989 description of the couple's life in the 1980s said,

...[On] Jan. 17, 1981, ... D'Arbanville ... met Johnson at an L.A. restaurant. "I saw this gorgeous guy," she says, "and I ran after him. saying, 'Hey you.' It turned out to be Donny. I said, 'So, Donny, how many times have you been married?' He said, 'Three.' I said, 'Say hello to No. 4.'...." Johnson ditched his date, Tanya Tucker, and spent the night with Patti. "One month later," she says, "I was pregnant." The couple planned to marry that fall, but D'Arbanville changed her mind. "I didn't see the point," she says. "Besides, there were areas in which we didn't get along." Drinking was one of them. Shortly after becoming pregnant, Patti sobered up. "Donny didn't," she says "[and] we grew further apart." ... Johnson eventually stopped drinking with D'Arbanville's help.... Miami Vice took Johnson to Florida in 1984, and the couple split a year later....[25]

Johnson next had a relationship with Barbra Streisand, lasting into at least September 1988. Just days after breaking up with Streisand, Johnson (then 38) was linked to 18-year-old Uma Thurman,[27] before reuniting with Griffith. In 1995–1996, Johnson was engaged to Jodi Lyn O'Keefe who played his daughter on Nash Bridges.

On April 29, 1999, he married San Francisco socialite and Montessori nursery school teacher Jacqueline (Kelley) Phleger, then 30, at the Pacific Heights mansion of Ann and Gordon Getty.[28] Actor Robert Wagner served as best man, and Mayor Willie Brown presided over the civil ceremony.[28] Johnson and Phleger have three children together: a daughter, Atherton Grace (born December 28, 1999),[29] and two sons, Jasper Breckinridge (born June 6, 2002),[30] and Deacon (born April 29, 2006).[31][32]

In November 2002,[33] German customs officers at the Swiss–German[33] border performed a routine search of Johnson's car.[33] Bank statements evidencing US$8 billion in transactions were found in the trunk of his car.[33][34][35] He was accompanied in his black Mercedes-Benz[34] by three men: an investment adviser,[34] a personal assistant,[34] and a third unknown individual who could not be identified.[34] Initially it was thought Johnson was involved in money laundering,[35] but he was cleared of wrongdoing.[36]

In May 2008, within hours of losing his Woody Creek, Colorado home to foreclosure, Johnson paid off his $14.5 million debt.[37]

In July 2010, a Los Angeles jury awarded Johnson $23.2 million in a lawsuit against production company Rysher Entertainment, from whom Johnson sought a share of profits commensurate with his ownership of half the copyright of Nash Bridges.[38] Rysher announced it would appeal the verdict.[39] In January 2013, Rysher settled the suit with a $19 million payment.[40]