Tor Johnson

Not to be confused with Thor Johnson.

Tor Johnson
Tor Johnson in The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)
Born	Karl Erik Tore Johansson (1903-10-19)19 October 1903 Brännkyrka, Stockholms län, Sweden
Died	12 May 1971(1971-05-12) (aged 67) San Fernando, California, U.S.
Resting place	Plot 177, Eternal Valley Memorial Park, Newhall, Santa Clarita, California
Other names	Super Swedish Angel Thor Johnson King Kong
Occupation(s)	Professional wrestler, actor
Years active	1934–1961
Spouse	Greta Maria Alfrida Johansson
Children	1

Karl Erik Tore Johansson (19 October 1903 – 12 May 1971), better known by the stage name Tor Johnson, was a Swedish professional wrestler and actor. As an actor, Johnson appeared in many B-movies, including some famously directed by Ed Wood. In professional wrestling, Johnson was billed as Thor Johnson and Super Swedish Angel.

Early life

Johnson was born on 19 October 1903 in Brännkyrka, Stockholms län, Sweden, the son of Karl Johan Johansson and Lovisa Kristina Pettersson. His death certificate and grave list 1903 as the year of his birth, contradicting published genealogy records.^[1]

Career

Johnson in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)

Johnson stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 metres)^[2] and weighed 440 pounds (200 kg) at his heaviest. He had a full head of blond hair, but shaved it to maintain an imposing and villainous appearance in his wrestling and acting work. He began getting bit parts in films upon moving to California, usually as the strongman or weightlifter, as early as 1934. In the same year, Johnson was one of over 50 wrestlers who took part in a two-month Los Angeles tournament for California's version of the world title. His film career ended in the early 1960s, after he appeared in a string of low-budget, poorly-rated films. However, he continued to make appearances on television and made a number of commercials.^[3]

Tor Johnson used the ring name Super Swedish Angel to distinguish himself from Nils Phillip Olafsson who used the ring name Swedish Angel. The name was derived from wrestler Maurice Tillet, known as The French Angel.

During his career as an actor, Johnson befriended director Ed Wood, who directed him in a number of films, including Bride of the Monster and Plan 9 from Outer Space; writing for Turner Classic Movies, film critic Donald Liebenson described Johnson's performance in Plan 9 as "gonzo."^[4] Johnson was very friendly to work with; actress Valda Hansen, who worked with Johnson in 1959's Night of the Ghouls, described him as "like a big sugar bun."^[5] During this period, Johnson appeared as a guest contestant on the quiz show You Bet Your Life, during which he showed the show's host, Groucho Marx, his "scariest face." Marx ran off the stage in mock terror, then returned and pleaded: "Don't make that face again!"

Death and legacy

Johnson died of heart failure in San Fernando, California, at the age of 67 and^[6]is buried at Eternal Valley Memorial Park, in Santa Clarita, California.^[7]

Johnson was portrayed by wrestler George "The Animal" Steele in Tim Burton's film Ed Wood (1994).^[8]

Johnson was featured extensively in the early work of cartoonist Drew Friedman, where Johnson was depicted as "Tor", a slow-witted, white-eyed lummox based on Johnson's persona in Ed Wood's films.^[9] The first of the one-page comics, "Tor Johnson at Home", was published in a 1981 issue of Robert Crumb's Weirdo,^[10] and the original artwork was purchased by television writer and producer Eddie Gorodetsky.^[11]

A latex mask based on Johnson's face, sculpted by Pat Newman for Don Post Studios, is described as "the best-selling Halloween horror mask of the late 1960s-early 1970s".^[12]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1934	Registered Nurse	Sonnevich	Uncredited[13]
	Kid Millions	Torturer	Uncredited[14]
1935	Some Class	Tough Guy	Short, Uncredited[15][16]
	Man on the Flying Trapeze	Tosoff	Uncredited[14]
1936	Under Two Flags	Bidou	Uncredited
1941	Shadow of the Thin Man	Jack the Ripper (wrestler)	Uncredited[17]
1942	Gentleman Jim	The Mauler	Uncredited
1943	The Meanest Man in the World	Vladimir Pulasky	Uncredited[18]
	Swing Out the Blues	Weightlifter
1944	Ghost Catchers	Mug	Uncredited[19]
	The Canterville Ghost	Bold Sir Guy	Uncredited[20]
	Lost in a Harem	Majordomo	Uncredited
1945	Sudan	Slaver	Uncredited[17]
1947	Road to Rio	Sandor	Uncredited[21]
1948	State of the Union	Wrestler	Uncredited
	Behind Locked Doors	The Champ	Uncredited"[22]
1949	Alias the Champ	Super Swedish Angel
1950	The Reformer and the Redhead	Big Finnish man	Uncredited[23]
	Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion	Abou Ben
1951	The Lemon Drop Kid	Super Swedish Angel
	Dear Brat		Uncredited
	Angels in the Outfield	Wrestler On TV	Uncredited
1952	The San Francisco Story	Buck	Uncredited[24]
	Lady in the Iron Mask	Renac	Uncredited[25]
1953	Houdini	Strong Man	Uncredited[26]
1955	Bride of the Monster	Lobo
	You're Never Too Young	Train passenger	Uncredited[27]
1956	Carousel	Strongman	Uncredited[28]
	The Black Sleep	Mr. Curry
1957	Journey to Freedom	Giant Turk
	The Unearthly	Lobo	Johnson's character famously delivers the line, "Time for go to bed."[29][30]
	Plan 9 from Outer Space	Inspector Daniel Clay
1959	Night of the Ghouls	Lobo
1961	The Beast of Yucca Flats	Joseph Javorsky / The Beast
1968	Head_(film)	Security guard

Television

Year	Series	Role	Episode
1953–1954	You Are There		"The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown"[31] "The Surrender of Corregidor"[32]
1954	General Electric Theater	Bald Man	"To Lift a Feather"[33]
1954	Rocky Jones, Space Ranger	Naboro	"Inferno in Space"[34]
1956	The Adventures of Hiram Holliday	Bandini the Strongman	"Dancing Mouse"
1959	You Bet Your Life	Tor Johnson	#59-11
1960	Adventures in Paradise	Miko	"Once Around the Circuit"[35] "The Lady From South Chicago"[36]
1960	Peter Gunn	Bruno	"See No Evil"[22]
1960	Bonanza	Busthead Brannigan	"San Francisco"[37]
1961	Shirley Temple's Storybook	The Strongman	"Pippi Longstocking"[38]

References

1. Thorsell, Elisabeth. "Tor Johnson Genealogy". Rötters Anbytarforum (in Swedish). Retrieved December 12, 2017.
2. "Tor Johnson". IMDb.
3. Raw, Lawrence (2012). Character Actors in Horror and Science Fiction Films, 1930-1960. McFarland & Company. pp. 117–119. ISBN 978-0786444748.
4. Liebenson, Donald. "Plan 9 from Outer Space Lands in TCM Classic Film Festival!". Turner Classic Movies. Turner Classic Movies Inc. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
5. MacDonald, Heidi (23 November 2011). "Gift Guide: Drew Friedman's new Tor Johnson print". ComicsBeat.
6. Lentz, Harris M., III (2003). Biographical Dictionary of Professional Wrestling (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company. p. 176. ISBN 978-0786417544.
7. Stephens, E.J. (5 April 2009). "Cinema history 'lives on' at Eternal Valley". B. The Signal. Vol. 93, no. 95. Santa Clarita, California: Ian Lamont. pp. 1, 4 – via Newspapers.com.
8. Sonnenberg, Maria (27 July 2014). Stover, Bob (ed.). "The Animal pins problems to the mat". Florida Today. Vol. 49, no. 133. Cocoa, Florida: Jeff Kiel. p. 5E – via Newspapers.com.
9. Friedman, Drew; Friedman, Josh Alan (30 April 2012). Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental. Fantagraphics Books. pp. 4, 21–36. ISBN 978-1-60699-521-1.
10. Friedman, Drew. "Tor Johnson at Home," Weirdo #4 (Last Gasp, Feb. 1982).
11. Friedman, Drew (1 January 2007). The Fun Never Stops!: An Anthology of Comic Art 1991–2006. Fantagraphics Books. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-56097-840-4.
12. "SCVHistory.com LW3638 | Film-Arts | Tor Johnson Latex Halloween Monster Mask, Don Post Studios 1977".
13. III, Harris M. Lentz (1 January 2003). Biographical Dictionary of Professional Wrestling, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-7864-1754-4.
14. Fetrow, Alan G. (1 August 1992). Sound films, 1927-1939: a United States filmography. McFarland. pp. 331, 339. ISBN 978-0-89950-546-6.
15. Alicoate, Chas A. (8 August 1935). "Short Shots". The Film Daily. Vol. 68, no. 33. New York, N.Y.: John W. Alicoate. p. 11 – via Internet Archive.
16. Kann, Maurice, ed. (7 December 1935). "Short Subjects". Motion Picture Daily. Vol. 38, no. 134. New York, N.Y.: Martin Quigley. p. 4 – via Internet Archive.
17. King Hanson, Patricia, ed. (1999). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures: Feature Films, 1941-1950. Vol. 3: Film Entries M-Z. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 1952,2137. ISBN 9780520215214.
18. Fetrow, Alan G. (1 January 1994). Feature Films, 1940-1949: A United States Filmography. McFarland. p. 302. ISBN 978-0-89950-914-3.
19. Dettman, Bruce; Bedford, Michael (1976). The Horror Factory: The Horror Films of Universal, 1931 to 1955. Gordon Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-87968-443-3.
20. Institute, American Film (1999). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures produced in the United States. Feature Films, 1941 - 1950. Vol. 1: Film Entries, A–L. University of California Press. p. 367. ISBN 978-0-520-21521-4.
21. Mielke, Randall G. (1997). Road to Box Office: The Seven Film Comedies of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour, 1940-1962. McFarland & Company. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-7864-0162-8.
22. Freese, Gene (15 September 2017). Classic Movie Fight Scenes: 75 Years of Bare Knuckle Brawls, 1914–1989. McFarland. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-4766-2935-3.
23. King Hanson, Patricia, ed. (1999). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures: Feature Films, 1941-1950. Vol. 2: Film Entries M-Z. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 1952. ISBN 978-0520215214.
24. Wax, Mo, ed. (5 May 1952). "'The San Francisco Story' OK Gun & Fist Stuff". Film Bulletin. Vol. 20, no. 9. Mo Wax. p. 8 – via Internet Archive.
25. Parsons, Louella O., ed. (16 November 1952). "The New Films". The State Journal. Vol. 98, no. 202. Lansing, Michigan: Federated Publications. p. 37 – via Newspapers.com.
26. Fetrow, Alan G. (1999). Feature Films, 1950-1959: A United States Filmography. McFarland. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-7864-0427-8.
27. Neibaur, James L.; Okuda, Ted (1995). The Jerry Lewis films: an analytical filmography of the innovative comic. McFarland & Company Incorporated Pub. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-89950-961-7.
28. Daniel, Blum (1969) [1957]. Screen World. Vol. 8. New York, N.Y.: Biblo & Tannen. p. 32. ISBN 0819602639.
29. "The Tor Top Ten". The Astounding B Monster. The Astounding B Monster. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
30. "Mystery Science Theater 3000, Season 3". Quotes.net. STANDS4 LLC. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
31. Vaile, Edward, ed. (27 December 1953). "Today's Best TV Programs Previewed". Iowa TV Guide. The Des Moines Register. Vol. 105, no. 190. Des Moines, Iowa. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
32. Gianakos, Larry James (1 January 1980). Television Drama Series Programming: A Comprehensive Chronicle, 1947-1959. Scarecrow Press. p. 359. ISBN 978-0-8108-1330-4.
33. Lentz, Harris M. (2001). Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film and Television Credits: Television shows. McFarland. p. 1845. ISBN 978-0-7864-0952-5.
34. Lucanio, Patrick; Coville, Gary (1998). American Science Fiction Television Series of the 1950s: Episode Guides and Casts and Credits for Twenty Shows. McFarland. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-7864-0434-6.
35. Leibfried, Philip; Lane, Chei Mi (17 August 2010). Anna May Wong: A Complete Guide to Her Film, Stage, Radio and Television Work. McFarland. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-4766-0932-4.
36. Chan, Anthony B. (8 February 2007). Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong (1905-1961). Scarecrow Press. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-4616-7041-4.
37. Leiby, Bruce R.; Leiby, Linda F. (31 May 2012). A Reference Guide to Television's Bonanza: Episodes, Personnel and Broadcast History. McFarland. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-4766-0075-8.
38. Noyes, Mike (4 December 2008). "Bride of the Monster - DVD Review". Inside Pulse.

External links

• Tor Johnson at IMDb
• Tor Johnson at Find a Grave