Harry Johnson, an actor with scores of credit spanning 40 years that ranged from the unique Battlestar Galactica to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a number of Dick Wolf sequence and the well-known “Harry & Louise” commercials, died January 2 of in Los Angeles after an extended sickness. He was 81.
His spouse, Christiane, confirmed his passing to Deadline.
Typically credited as Chip Johnson within the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s, he was among the many final contract gamers for Common Studios, Johnson started his display profession with the multi-part pilot episode of Battlestar Galactica in 1978 and went on to guest-star on dozens of TV sequence together with M*A*S*H, Quincy M.E., The Unimaginable Hulk, Simon & Simon, The Biggest American Hero, Freeway to Heaven, The A-Workforce, L.A. Legislation, Dynasty, Who’s the Boss?, Thirtysomething, Melrose Place, Occasion of 5, Roswell, Resurrection Blvd., Judging Amy, Days of Our Lives and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
He was a prolific ADR voice actor and in addition labored on a number of Want for Velocity video video games. Johnson’s most profitable interval got here operating the voice-over or looping teams on a number of Dick Wolf reveals for greater than twenty years, together with all of the Legislation & Order and Chicago sequence.
He additionally appeared in such options as Actual Genius, Warlock and The Spitfire Grill and in a number of TV motion pictures, notably starring reverse Batman alum Adam West within the 1981 sci-fi telepic Time Warp.
Johnson famously performed Harry in a string of “Harry & Louise” TV and radio advertisements in 1993-94 that focused President Invoice Clinton’s well being care plan. Funded by the Well being Insurance coverage Affiliation of America to the tune of $15 million-$20 million, the spots have been so profitable — one well-known line was “”Should you let the federal government select, we lose” — that the Democratic Nationwide Committee finally ran reply advertisements.
Johnson and Louise Claire Clark reprised their roles for election-year commercials in 2000 and 2004. Harry & Louise resurfaced once more in an advert that premiered throughout the 2008 Democratic Nationwide Conference and once more the next, that point for a industrial advert supporting President Barack Obama’s new well being care plan. The spots have been parodied throughout the 2006 Oscars broadcast, with a voiceover by then-Colbert Report host Stephen Colbert.
Here’s a assortment of among the “Harry & Louise advertisements:
Johnson later authored books, underneath the identify Harry Fort. His first novel was 2013’s Fugitive Romance: The Fictional Memoir of a Hollywood Screenwriter, and his second guide was the short-story assortment Miracles & Misfits. His essays, brief tales and poetry have appeared in quite a lot of literary journals and periodicals.
His spouse instructed Deadline that Johnson cherished to sail and was famend with colleagues for his wit and behavior of bringing a brightness to units, making work a pleasure.
Together with Christiane, his spouse of 15 years, Johnson is survived by his stepchildren Oliver and Penelope. A memorial service is pending.
