UPDATE: Evidently, our source – among others – was premature in reporting Johnson’s death three days ago. That said, his son confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the writer died yesterday, Christmas Day. It’s no less sad to see him go. Original article is below.
Sad day in the sci-fi community as it has come to light legendary writer George Clayton Johnson has died at the age of 86.
Johnson is best known for writing several sterling episodes of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek. For the former, he penned (among others) Kick the Can, A Penny for Your Thoughts, A Game of Pool and Nothing in the Dark. For Trek, he wrote The Man Trap, which was the very first episode of the series. (The above picture is Johnson with Robert Redford on the set of Nothing in the Dark.)
Johnson also contributed a few memorable titles for the big screen: he wrote the original story for OCEANS’S 11 (subsequently receiving credit on the remake and its sequels) and adapted Kick the Can for TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE. LOGAN’S RUN was based on the novel he co-wrote with William F. Nolan.
Johnson was the last of the great “Zone” scribes to pass, joining Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson in the other dimension. Check out an interview from 1999 with the man and let him school you on writing!