Ben Johnson, Actor, Cowboy, Oklahoman

I was a market manager at the old Hilton in Tucson and frequently had to wade through a posse of cowboys in the lobby, extras that milled about whenever there was a movie director in town casting for a new film.
    It was never easy to get used to it, Buffalo Bob Bad-Ass swaggering across the lobby floor with six-guns strapped to his hips, trudging back and forth in front of the director or location manager. Those idiots were real bothersome, but were real color back ground to tourists that checked in.
    My office was close by, and as I slipped into it, one cowboy was chatting on my phone, head down, at least he wasn't sitting on my desk. None of the local cowboy extras had ever gone that far, barging into our offices like that.
    I admit it, I had a melt down. I piled into him, a little indignant. Working in a hotel, trying to sell the place, keep it full, keep the sales staff busy, happy, gainfully employed, the General Manager, a aggravating little pip-squeak off our backs, one's blood pressure tended to peak.
    Our cowboy sat with his head down, drawling on the phone as I "interrupted " him.
    It was Academy Award Winner Ben Johnson.
    I was so shocked, mid-sentence, I blur,ted out, "Oh, Mr. Johnson, I'm so sorry." I left my office and dashed just outside under a palm tree I loved that guy, he was in nearly every John Wayne picture the Duke ever made.
    He came rushing out all apologetic, took my hand, and said that he didn't mean to give me a bad time, that the front desk said it was OK to use my desk and phone.
    I stopped him and said, " Mr. Johnson, you can use ANY phone in the house - ON ME!, and I'll go along with you to assure you Today, herds of buffalo roam just a hundred yards south of his ranch house, all over that range land, and road. My late wife and I had to slowly draw our car past a few of those beasts that could have easily hooked their horns under our windows and flipped our car. Phew!, they didn't.
    I told him my favorite film of his was "One Eyed Jacks," with Brando. He told me it was a quiet little film that never made much money. My take on it was he was the better actor in a scene where Brando said he would "rip your arms off," Johnson looked like he actually believed him; And I told him that. Ben Johnson was a great character actor, and proved it in the Last Picture Show.
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