George Clayton Johnson

George Clayton Johnson (born July 10, 1929 in Cheyenne, Wyoming) is a science fiction writer most famous for co-writing the novel "Logan's Run" with William F. Nolan.

He is also known for his work in television, writing screenplays for such noted series as "The Twilight Zone" and "".

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 Army, enrolled at 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 Eleven", although most of the details were changed for the film. He joined a circle of Southern California science-fiction writers that included 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).

His support for the legalization of marijuana is also well known.

:"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"

External links

*imdb name|id=0425138|name=George Clayton Johnson
*isfdb name|name=George Clayton Johnson|id=George_Clayton_Johnson
* [http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue355/interview.html All of us are dying, but writer George Clayton Johnson is still living it up] (interview)
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1010748123144886733 Part 1 / 10 George Clayton Johnson interview] in the Archive of American Television
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2251373881890709216 Part 2 / 10 George Clayton Johnson interview] in the Archive of American Television
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6120110204242896137 Part 3 / 10 George Clayton Johnson interview] in the Archive of American Television
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2929529574181235419 Part 4 / 10 George Clayton Johnson interview] in the Archive of American Television
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5540720029486079415 Part 5 / 10 George Clayton Johnson interview] in the Archive of American Television
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4164642612670236432 Part 6 / 10 George Clayton Johnson interview] in the Archive of American Television
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7037501742780581107 Part 7 / 10 George Clayton Johnson interview] in the Archive of American Television
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1871772937227889715 Part 8 / 10 George Clayton Johnson interview] in the Archive of American Television
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2038736334053429403 Part 9 / 10 George Clayton Johnson interview] in the Archive of American Television
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=917435484849843821 Part 10 / 10 George Clayton Johnson interview] in the Archive of American Television