Dennis Johnson
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Dennis Johnson, who rose from his first television job as a network page to become a network executive and later, a prominent independent producer, died of a heart attack December 23, 2013, while on vacation on St. Barts in the French West Indies. He was sixty-eight.
Johnson was born in 1945 in Kenbridge, Virginia, a small town in the state's southern tobacco farm country. He attended Temple University in Philadelphia, then moved out to Los Angeles. He started his industry career as a page at NBC, on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, and many of his fellow pages remained his lifelong friends.
Dennis Johnson, who rose from his first television job as a network page to become a network executive and later, a prominent independent producer, died of a heart attack December 23, 2013, while on vacation on St. Barts in the French West Indies. He was sixty-eight.
Johnson was born in 1945 in Kenbridge, Virginia, a small town in the state's southern tobacco farm country. He attended Temple University in Philadelphia, then moved out to Los Angeles. He started his industry career as a page at NBC, on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, and many of his fellow pages remained his lifelong friends.
He was swiftly promoted at the network, eventually becoming director of comedy and variety programs. He then moved to ABC as vice-president of programming before heading Osmond Television. Later, he served as senior vice-president of programming at Showtime, where he established the Black Filmmakers Program.
After leaving Showtime, Johnson served as producer or executive producer on several films that brought important social issues to light. They include Keep the Faith, Baby (a biopic of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the first New Yorker of African-American descent to be elected to Congress), Hope & Redemption: The Lena Baker Story (based on the true story of a young African-American mother convicted of murder and executed in Georgia) and The Year That Trembled (about young people facing the Vietnam draft in the days of the Kent State massacre). He also executive produced the TV special From the Heart: The Four Tops 50th Anniversary Celebration.
Among his professional affiliations, he was president of the National Association of Minorities in Cable (NAMIC). He also served on the board of the Special Olympics.
After retiring, Johnson volunteed at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. He was also a congregant at El Montecito Presbyterian in Montecito, California. He volunteered via The Sherry Lansing Foundation and PrimeTime LAUSD as a mentor for mostly minority students in Los Angeles public high schools.
Johnson resided in Beverly Hills and Montecito. He is survived by his partner of twenty-seven years, Russ Patrick, and his sister, Bettie J. Huff.
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