Stephen R. Johnson
Stephen Russell Johnson (July 12, 1952 – January 26, 2015) was an American music video director, television director, animator, painter, and writer.
Stephen R. Johnson
- Name
- Stephen R.
- Born
- 12 July 1952
- Birthplace
- Paola, Kansas, U.S,
- Died
- 26 January 2015
- Place of death
- Fort Scott, Kansas, U.S.
- Occupation
- * Director
- Nationality
- United States
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Authority files
wikidata · Q7610312 · wikipedia · Stephen R. Johnson
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Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Stephen R. Johnson • Born — 12 July 1952 • Birthplace — Paola, Kansas, U.S, • Died — 26 January 2015 • Place of death — Fort Scott, Kansas, U.S. • Occupation — * Director • painter • writer
Documentary record
Stephen R. Johnson (1952 – 2015) was a film director. The birth of Stephen R. Johnson is recorded in 1952, and the death in 2015.
Early life and education
Early life and education
Johnson was born on July 12, 1952, in Paola, Kansas, the son of Russell and Lena Wheeler Johnson. He attended high school in Pleasanton, Kansas. He then attended college at the University of Kansas and the University of Southern California. At USC Film School, he made an award-winning movie using stop-motion techniques – as did many of his music videos.
Career
Career
Johnson got his start directing a music video for the song "Girls Like You" by Combonation, which features a young Robin Wright, before moving on to directing videos for popular artists. Johnson directed three music videos for Peter Gabriel: "Big Time", "Steam", and "Sledgehammer". "Sledgehammer" has the distinction of winning nine MTV Video Music Awards, which remains unsurpassed. In addition, Johnson directed the videos for "Road to Nowhere" by Talking Heads, and "The Bug" and "Walk of Life" by Dire Straits. In addition to directing music videos, Johnson was known for directing all thirteen episodes of the first season of Pee-wee's Playhouse, for which he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in Children's Programming. He also spearheaded the creation of the short film Universal Declaration of Human Rights for Amnesty International, based on the thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created by the United Nations. The film is composed of animated interpretations of the articles from forty-two different animators.
Death
Death
Johnson died at the age of 62 on January 26, 2015, in Fort Scott, Kansas, from cardiac complications.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Stephen R. Johnson, revision 1364528357 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Obituary for Stephen Russell Johnson. Cheney-Witt Funeral Chapel.
- 2.Tannenbaum, Rob. I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. Penguin. 2011-10-27. 9781101526415.
- 3.YouTube TaipD9MdErE
- 4.YouTube PBAl9cchQac
- 5.YouTube OJWJE0x7T4Q
- 6.Levy, Glen. The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos – Peter Gabriel, 'Sledgehammer' (1986). TIME. 26 July 2011.
- 7.Megan Buerger. The Next Musical Frontier. WSJ. 28 March 2013.
- 8.YouTube LQiOA7euaYA
- 9.YouTube GG5ghP8XLW8
- 10.YouTube kd9TlGDZGkI
- 11.Imdb.com. Daytime Emmy.
- 12.Amnesty.org. UDHR film – Amnesty International. 11 March 2010.
- 13.Solomon, Charles. World Animators Make a Film for Human Rights. Los Angeles Times. 5 September 1988.
- 14.The Dead Rock Stars Club - January to June 2015.
- 15.Stephen R. Johnson's Obituary on New York Times. New York Times. 2015-02-03.
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 22 September 2026.
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