24/11/2024
I just started watching "Logan's Run" again for the umpteenth time...no reason really. It was one of my all time favorite movies as a kid. I LOVED the old man, played by Peter Ustinov. I don't even remember the beginning, but something caught my eye - "based on the 1967 novel co-written by George Clayton Johnson". WHAAAT!!?
I met George ONCE, at a PR event honoring the Horror/Sci-Fi writer, Richard Matheson, who wrote "A Stir of Echoes", "What Dreams May Come" and "I Am Legend" - which has been adapted into four screenplays, including the 2007's "I Am Legend", starring Will Smith. He also wrote some of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes.
Ray Bradbury was there also, introducing the great Matheson and getting a little too tipsy RIGHT before his speech. Gino England tapped me on the shoulder and whispered "I think Ray is a asleep." We see his 'assistant' gently tapping him so no one will notice, and Bradbury gets up to give a magnificent speech.
Rewind to the when the guests are arriving. I'm helping Judi Davidson with PR, by assisting the photographer in getting photos. Gino says "you may wanna get a photo of that guy over there." I look at him and say "the old homeless man?" Gino says "yea, that's George Clayton Johnson, he wrote A BUNCH of Twilight Zone episodes". George is dressed in a big, oversized yellow rain coat, with a big floppy hat, long untamed scraggly hair and a bit of sly smile. I walk over to him and ask if we can get his photo. He smiles at me, wreaking of w**d, and says "well sure". Ah man, just the coolest old ex hippie dude, who made his living writing some of most iconic books and screenplays ever. He even wrote "Oceans 11". I've had some really cool adventures, and I'm not done yet.
Onward my friends.
