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Brian Johnson is an award-winning special and visual effects designer and director who has contributed to numerous film and television productions over a career spanning more than 40 years.
Johnson began his career in 1957 at Anglo Scottish Pictures after meeting veteran effects artist and skilled matte painter Les Bowie. He started as a clapper loader and filmed effects plates for Dunkirk (1958). In 1958, he became an effects assistant at Hammer Films before completing his national service in the RAF. He later worked on the 1961 apocalyptic classic The Day the Earth Caught Fire as an effects assistant at Bowie Films.
In 1961, Johnson joined AP Films (later Century 21) under Derek Meddings, initially as a model builder and flyer on Gerry Anderson classics such as Supercar, Fireball XL5, and Stingray. He later became a second unit director on the groundbreaking TV series Thunderbirds. By 1966, Johnson left Century 21, bringing with him extensive experience, and worked on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, contributing to special effects shots that took over two years to complete. The film became a major success and remains one of the most influential and highly regarded science fiction movies to date.
Following 2001, Johnson worked on various film and television projects including Moon Zero Two, On the Buses, Z Cars, and the Hammer production When Dinosaurs Ruled the World, collaborating with acclaimed stop-motion animator Jim Danforth, who received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects. By 1974, Johnson returned to work with Gerry Anderson on the television series Space: 1999, delivering high-quality effects that are still celebrated today. He also designed the iconic Eagle Transporter and other spacecraft for the series. During the production of Space: 1999 at Bray Studios, Johnson was approached by two filmmakers to work on a major American space film but declined as he had committed to the show's second series.
Johnson's next major project was Ridley Scott’s Alien, where he worked alongside friend and Space: 1999 collaborator Nick Allder on model miniature effects sequences at Bray Studios as special effects supervisor. Meanwhile, the American space film became Star Wars, the highest-grossing film of its time, an Academy Award winner, and a worldwide cult phenomenon. The two filmmakers who approached Johnson were George Lucas and Gary Kurtz. Johnson was later invited to work on the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, where he supervised special and visual effects at the renowned Industrial Light and Magic.
In early 1980, Johnson’s work on Alien earned him the 1979 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, which he shared with H.R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Nick Allder, and Dennis Ayling. Shortly after, The Empire Strikes Back was released to global acclaim, and Johnson, along with Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, and Bruce Nicholson, received the 1980 Special Achievement Academy Award for their accomplishments in visual effects.
Johnson went on to work on Dragonslayer at the request of Lucas and Spielberg, earning another Academy Award nomination, though the award went to Raiders of the Lost Ark. This marked his final Lucasfilm project. Subsequently, he contributed to The NeverEnding Story and James Cameron’s Aliens, for which he received a BAFTA award recognizing his visual effects work.
