Russell David Johnson (November 10, 1924– January 16, 2014) was an American television and film actor, best known for his role as "The Professor" on the CBS television sitcom Gilligan's Island.
Early life
Johnson was born on November 10, 1924, in Ashley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. His parents were Russell Kennedy Johnson (1901-1932) and Minnie Wenonah Smink-Johnson (1902-1976). Johnson was the second oldest of six children. His siblings were: brothers Kenneth (1925-2012), David (1926-1976), and Paul Wesley (1932-1933) [Paul died from pneumonia only weeks after Johnson's father], and sisters Lorraine Johnson-Crosby (b.about 1929)[who was still living at the time of Johnson's death], and Marian L. Johnson-Reeves (1923-2010). Johnson's father died of pneumonia in December, 1932. His mother later re-married to Thomas S. Lewis. As a teenager, Johnson attended Girard College, a private boarding school for fatherless boys, located in Philadelphia.
Military career
After graduating from high school, Johnson enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet. On completing his training, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. He flew 44 combat missions in the Pacific Theater during World War II as a bombardier in B-25 twin-engine medium bombers.
During his lifetime Johnson advanced the field of acoustic design and theater planning by developing adjustable sonic reflectors hanging from the ceiling of his halls to adjust sound depending upon the performer. The reflectors combined with a traditional shoebox shape design are considered trademarks of his firm. Since 1970 Artec has collaborated in the designs for some of the most renowned concert halls, opera houses, theatres, and other performance spaces of the 20th century and have created technical designs for over 21,000 projects worldwide including the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Sala São Paulo in Brazil, Culture and Congress Center in Switzerland, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and Symphony Hall in England.
Russell Johnson (December 1893 – September 7, 1995) was an Americancartoonist, best known as the creator and artist of Mister Oswald, a monthly comic strip that ran for more than six decades in the national trade journal now called Hardware Retailing. The strip documents a large portion of the history of American business life, as seen through the eyes of the main character, Oscar S. Oswald, a prominent citizen of the fictional Dippy Center, USA. Although the strip was known primarily to hardware retailers, a book, Forty Years With Mister Oswald, was published in 1968, collecting the comic strips.
Biography
Johnson was born on a farm outside Gibson City, Illinois. He graduated from Dixon College and Norman School in 1915, whereupon he left small-town life for the big city and a job at Montgomery Ward's in Chicago. As someone who grew up land-locked on a farm in Illinois, Johnson yearned to be out on the high seas, like his favorite comic strip characters, the Katzenjammer Kids, so during World War I he joined the US Navy. Johnson, however, was an excellent marksman from his years of hunting, and was removed from a ship after two weeks, and was made a shooting instructor. He spent the rest of his tour in the Navy on land. While in the Navy, Johnson also began drawing cartoons for Afloat and Ashore, a Naval paper published in Charleston. After the War, he took night classes at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, studying under Billy DeBeck, the creator of Barney Google, and Carl Ed, the creator of Harold Teen.
Wong partnered with the team led by world-renowned acoustician RussellJohnson, who brought the concert hall to life. The team abided by Johnson’s philosophy ... “‘Nothing should interrupt the sound inside,’” Wong recalls Johnson once saying.
Eagle-Tribune
04 Jul 2022
Eagle-Tribune
04 Jul 2022