George Clayton Johnson

In his five-hour interview, George Clayton Johnson (1929-2015) chronicles his career as a fiction, television, and movie writer. He talks about his association with the 1960 feature film Oceans 11, for which he was the original co-screenwriter and received co-story credit on the movie. He details in depth his association as one of the key collaborators on The Twilight Zone (1959-64) for which he contributed to eight series episodes including the classics "Nothing in the Dark," "A Game of Pool," and "Kick the Can." He describes The Twilight Zone's place in television history and talks about producer Buck Houghton, creator Rod Serling, and writers Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. Johnson speaks in depth about Star Trek, for which he contributed the teleplay to what would become the premiere episode, "The Man Trap." Johnson also talks about his teleplays for such series as Route 66, The Law and Mr. Jones, and Kung Fu. He also discusses the classic science fiction novel Logan's Run, which he co-authored with William F. Nolan. Gary Rutkowski conducted the interview on September 16, 2003 in Pacoima, CA.