When 6’ 3” Bill Johnson ambles into a room, the inhabitants notice.
If he decides to speak, people listen. Actually, Johnson doesn’t just speak; he articulates….with a Shakespearian brand of vocal delivery.
But his voice is not what won him the role of one of the most horrific characters in movie history, it was the “intangibles,” Johnson explains, that opened the gateway to play the iconic “Leatherface,” in creator Tobe Hopper’s 1986 cult classic, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.”
“I could give a multitude of reasons why I had the part, but the solid truth is I went the classic route,”
Johnson tells of why he was selected. “I had an audition and received a call back where I met the writer, and I believe a producer and at the second call back I met Tobe.”
“A simple way to translate it is by using a sports parallel,” he continued. “It was the 'intangibles' like when you notice a player In football you might say every time I look at that #56, he’s all over the ball.”
“For some reason I was their #56, I had the qualities they wanted,” Johnson grins. “They wanted someone like me, a highly romantic type of person with homicidal tendencies.”
“I sort of liken it to the main characters in old country and western tunes,” the actor observed.
Johnson squinted his eyes. His eyebrows formed a deep, sinister, and serious look. Then, with great valor he sang, “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die….”
Today, Johnson lives in Austin, Texas and “like many in the acting industry, I wear many hats.”
Johnson says “actors spend a lot of time trying to get a job and waiting for a call, so, besides any acting, I have stayed busy doing voice over work in commercials, radio and even video games.”
Johnson picked up the acting bug from his high school drama teacher his senior year. He earned a Business in Fine Arts at the University of Texas in Austin, traveled with a National children theater troupe, did some local stage shows and eventually won the role of a lifetime in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Johnson is signing autographs and appearing at the 3rd annual Horror Film Fest in San Antonio, Texas, August 25-29, 2010.
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