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Short American actor and stuntman, a particularly talented pratfall artist. A former circus aerialist and U.S. Navy coxswain, he usually worked for the Columbia studios, particularly in their comedy shorts department. Working in films from 1928 through the late 1950s, a 1943 article claimed that the then-54-year old Johnny was the oldest stuntman in Hollywood.
Among the many actors and actresses he doubled included Moe Howard, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Harry Langdon, El Brendel, Lou Costello, ZaSu Pitts, Charlie Chaplin, Polly Moran, Symona Boniface, Hugh Herbert, Peter Lorre, Joe Besser, Joe DeRita, Joe Penner, Una Merkel, Vera Vague, Martha Raye, Barbara Pepper, and Jane Darwell. In later years, he was a stand-in for young Ricky Nelson on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," and for Billy Gray on "Father Knows Best."
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