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1-7 of 7
- Actor
- Transportation Department
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
"Got a smoke?" Darwin Joston secured himself a permanent place in cult movie history with that particular laconically witty line as laid-back Death Row-bound convict Napoleon Wilson in John Carpenter's outstanding urban action thriller classic Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). Wilson was undoubtedly Joston's best role, and he played it with exceptional skill: mellow, low-key and disarmingly casual with a cool sense of dry ironic humor and a wickedly funny way with a sardonic wisecrack. Joston's terrific portrayal of the acidic and fatalistic Wilson should have led to bigger and better things. Alas, it did not.
He was born as Francis Darwin Solomon on December 9, 1937, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His parents were Mary Elizabeth Smith and Buford Odell Solomon. Joston attended Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina, where he was considered a talented athlete. Following graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1960, Darwin moved to New York and began acting in stage plays and summer stock productions for about five years in the early to mid 1960s. He then moved to Los Angeles to continue his acting career.
Compared to his substantial starring role in "Assault on Precinct 13," most of Joston's other film parts were relatively small: he's an ill-fated soldier in the dreadful killer snake dud Rattlers (1976), a beleaguered pencil-factory clerk in Eraserhead (1977), a drunken truck driver in Coast to Coast (1980), a coroner in the splendidly spooky The Fog (1980) and a typically relaxed FBI agent in the entertainingly crummy science-fiction/horror hoot Time Walker (1982) (Joston was reunited with his fellow "Assault on Precinct 13" cast member Austin Stoker in this latter picture).
Joston also did guest spots on such TV shows as ALF (1986), Hill Street Blues (1981), Remington Steele (1982), Spenser: For Hire (1985), The Rookies (1972), McCloud (1970), Circle of Fear (1972), Ironside (1967), The Rat Patrol (1966), Lassie (1954) (in which he had a recurring role) and The Virginian (1962). In addition to his acting credits, Joston worked behind-the-scenes as either a driver or a transportation captain on such features as The American President (1995), Wild at Heart (1990), La Bamba (1987), Back to the Beach (1987), The Ladies Club (1985), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) and The Buddy Holly Story (1978).
Darwin Joston died of leukemia on June 1, 1998. Although he's no longer with us, Joston nonetheless will forever live on in our hearts and memories as the supremely amiable, if notorious, killer criminal Napoleon Wilson. "Anybody got a smoke?"- Director
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Godfrey Grayson was born on 2 August 1913 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He was a director and writer, known for Meet Simon Cherry (1949), Room to Let (1950) and To Have and to Hold (1951). He was married to Ida Nannestad Hassing. He died on 1 June 1998 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, UK.- Writer
- Producer
- Sound Department
Gordon Auchincloss was born on 11 March 1917 in New York, USA. Gordon was a writer and producer, known for Coke Time (1953), The Matt Dennis Show (1955) and The Jonathan Winters Show (1956). Gordon was married to Anne Davis and Jane Harper Sibley. Gordon died on 1 June 1998 in New York, USA.- Producer
- Cinematographer
- Director
Josh Hanig produced and directed films and television for more than a dozen years. His first film, Men's Lives, (with Will Roberts) was a look at the traditional role of American men. The film won a student Academy Award and went on to wide distribution, winning prizes at several international film festivals. Song of the Canary (with David Davis) a hard-hitting expose about toxic hazards in the environment, was nominated for a national Emmy and won the Best Documentary prizes at the Chicago, Mannheim and Athens Film Festivals. Coming of Age, about inner city youth in Los Angeles, had its premiere at the New York Film Festival, and won Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. He was one of the first producers to open the door to the Soviet Union--traveling to that country just before Gorbachov's Glasnost for a series on Soviet life. He also produced and directed Generation at Risk, a PBS Outreach Special on contemporary teenagers narrated by Sam Waterston; Storytellers, narrated by Glenn Close, a celebration of American writing, starring Kurt Vonnegut, Woody Allen, Alice Walker, Eudora Welty, and other major American writers; and The Common Enemy, a film hosted by Bill Cosby about the joint efforts of Russian and American scientists in the battle against cancer. He wrote and directed for A&E's Ancient Mysteries series and completed a special on the early pioneers of television for The History Channel. Josh also directed music videos with people such as Bobby McFerrin, and directed for the theatre, including productions of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke and Horton Foote's Land of the Astronauts. He also taught at the University of Southern California. Josh grew up in Texas and Indiana, and graduated from Antioch College.- Gottfried Dienst was born on 9 September 1919 in Basel, Switzerland. He died on 1 June 1998 in Basel, Switzerland.
- Lujza Székely was born on 25 September 1904 in Budapest, Hungary. She was an actress, known for Diadalmas élet (1923) and A 111-es (1938). She died on 1 June 1998 in New York, USA.
- Lena Zelwerowiczówna was born on 10 December 1903 in Krakau, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland]. She was an actress, known for Sygnaly (1938). She was married to Józef Ochron. She died on 1 June 1998 in New York City, New York, USA.