{{short description|American film director}} {{Infobox person | name = Bayard Richard Johnson | birth_date = September 9, 1952 | birth_place = Seattle, Washington, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2016|02|10|1952|09|09}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | alma_mater = University of Puget Sound | occupation = Screenwriter, film producer, author, musician | spouse = Lyndal Johnson | children = Colter Johnson, Ronan Johnson | parents = Richard Johnson, Virginia Johnson }}
'''Bayard Richard Johnson'''<ref>''Washington, Marriage Records, 1854-2013''</ref> (September 9, 1952 – February 10, 2016) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He is best known as the co-writer of ''Damned River'' in 1989, ''The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo'', and ''Tarzan and the Lost City'' in 1998.<ref name=thr>{{cite news|first=Mike|last=Barnes |title=Bayard Johnson, 'Tarzan and the Lost City' Screenwriter, Dies at 63 |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bayard-johnson-tarzan-lost-city-864676 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=2016-02-12 |accessdate=2016-03-05}}</ref><ref name=variety>{{cite news|first=Carmel|last=Dagan |title=Bayard Johnson, Who Wrote ‘Tarzan’ and ‘Jungle Book’ Movies, Dies at 63|url=https://variety.com/2016/film/people-news/bayard-johnson-who-wrote-tarzan-and-jungle-book-movies-dies-at-63-1201703714/ |work=Variety |date=2016-02-11 |accessdate=2016-03-05}}</ref>
==Early life== Johnson, who was born in Seattle, graduated from the University of Puget Sound, where he studied philosophy and writing.<ref name=thr/><ref name=variety/>
==Career== Johnson's first film was 1989's ''Damned River'', which he co-wrote with John Crowther.<ref name=thr/> ''Damned River'', which was filmed in Zimbabwe in 1988, remains on Netflix's "top 20 action movies of the 1980s," as of 2016.<ref name=variety/> Together with Matthew Horton, Johnson co-wrote the 1997 film adaptation of ''The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo'', which was released by TriStar Pictures.<ref name=thr/> He also co-wrote 1998's ''Tarzan and the Lost City'', loosely based on the Tarzan stories by stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
In 2007, Johnson and actor Bill Duke co-produced ''Cover'', a film which explores the HIV epidemic.<ref name=thr/> Duke and Johnson also wrote a television series for HBO, which did not air.<ref name=variety/>
Johnson co-authored the 2013 book, "If You’ve Forgotten the Names of the Clouds, You’ve Lost Your Way: An Introduction to American Indian Thought and Philosophy," with the late Russell Means, an Oglala Lakota Native American rights activist.<ref name=thr/> Together, John and Means directed, produced and penned ''Looks Twice'', a short film based on a Lakota story.<ref name=variety/> Johnson's first novel was "Damned Right,"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Bayard |title=Damned right |date=1994 |publisher=Fiction Collective Two ; Distributed by the Talman Co |isbn=978-0-932511-84-3 |edition=1st |series=Black ice books |location=Boulder, CO : New York}}</ref> published by Black Ice Books in 1994.
In addition to his writing, Johnson co-founded Mother Nature's Army, a band based in Southern California.<ref name=thr/>
==Death== Johnson died from cancer on February 10, 2016, in Los Angeles, California, on the age of 63.<ref name=thr/> He was survived by his parents, Richard and Virginia Johnson; his wife, Lyndal; two sons, Colter and Ronan; and three siblings, Douglas, Silver Moon and Alicia.<ref name=thr/> One of his sons, Colter Johnson, penned and directed the 2015 film, ''Man in a Cage'', which has not yet been released.<ref name=thr/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|id=0424560|name=Bayard Johnson}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Bayard}} Category:1952 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Film producers from Washington (state) Category:Film directors from Washington (state) Category:American male screenwriters Category:University of Puget Sound alumni Category:20th-century American male writers