| Darwin Joston | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | F. Darwin Solomon |
| Born | December 9 1937 Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
| Died | June 1 1998 (aged 60) Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
| Other name(s) | Darwin Jostin |
| Years active | 1966-1986 |
F. Darwin Solomon (December 9, 1937- June 1, 1998) was an American actor known professionally as Darwin Joston (sometimes credited as Darwin Jostin during the early years of his career). Joston appeared in many popular television shows during the 1960s, early 1970s, and mid-1980s, but he is best known for his performances in independent films that later achieved cult status, particularly Assault on Precinct 13.
Contents |
Biography
Early life & acting career
Joston was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[1] He later moved to Los Angeles, California when he began his acting career. From the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s, Joston worked primarily in television and was often cast as a soldier. He appeared in a number of popular series including Lassie (in which he had a recurring role), The Virginian, The Rat Patrol, Ironside, The Rookies, and McCloud. He also had guest roles in episodes of the short-lived series Longstreet and Ghost Story/Circle of Fear. Joston appeared in two genre films during this phase of his acting career. The first of his early film roles was that of Billy-Joe, the psychopathic, mother-obsessed, sexually-warped Confederate soldier in the western-themed, 1971 exploitation film, Cain's Cutthroats. Joston's intense, disturbing performance stands out in a cast comprised largely of little-known actors. Joston's second film was the 1975 horror movie, Rattlers, in which his character ranked among the film's "body count." He played a soldier who is attacked by legions of snakes while trying to change a flat tire.
Assault on Precinct 13
Joston is known for his iconic portrayal of Napoleon Wilson, the sardonic, shotgun-toting, anti-hero in Assault on Precinct 13, John Carpenter's 1976, Howard Hawks-inspired, action film. Carpenter has said that he wrote the Napoleon Wilson role with Joston in mind and imbued the character with some of Joston's personality traits. When Carpenter was writing the screenplay for Assault on Precinct 13, he and Joston lived next door to each other in a Los Angeles neighborhood. Having gotten to know Joston and his dark sense of humor, Carpenter felt that his neighbor would make an interesting anti-hero.[2] This was Joston's largest role, and it is considered to have been his best. Joston's singular performance not only conveys Wilson's stoic toughness, but also emphasizes his irreverent, ironic sense of humor and slowly reveals the character's unexpected capacities for loyalty and tenderness, thereby adding emotional depth and humanity to what otherwise could have been a stereotypical action-hero role. Moreover, Joston's performance has been repeatedly singled out as the film's best and is often cited as one of the primary reasons for Assault on Precinct 13's continued audience appeal.
Eraserhead, The Fog, Gunmen's Blues
During the five years following the release of Assault on Precinct 13, Joston appeared in three more independent films. He played Paul, the beleaguered pencil-factory clerk, in David Lynch's classic 1977 cult film, Eraserhead. He worked with Carpenter again in the 1980 horror film, The Fog, playing the coroner, Dr. Phibes. Shortly afterward, Eric Red, then a young film-maker and a fan of Joston's performance in Assault on Precinct 13, cast Joston in the lead role of the world-weary hitman in Red's 1981 short film, Gunmen's Blues.[3] Joston also worked on the transportation crews of two 1978 movies, The Buddy Holly Story and Ruby and Oswald. In the early 1980s, when Carpenter was scheduled to direct the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel Firestarter, Joston was considered for the role of John Rainbird, the Native-American assassin; but after Universal Pictures executives fired Carpenter from the project (following the commercial failure of The Thing) and replaced him with Mark L. Lester, the role of Rainbird was given to George C. Scott.
Later career
After 1981, Joston's acting career became more sporadic. He got relatively few roles in the early 1980s but worked frequently in 1985 (half of his 1980s acting credits date to this year). He then quit acting in 1986, when he was 48 years old, and spent the rest of his career working on film and television transportation crews until his retirement from the entertainment industry in 1995. Joston's last film role was in the 1982 B-movie (and Mystery Science Theater 3000 favorite) Time Walker (also known as Being from Another Planet), in which he appeared with his Assault on Precinct 13 co-star, Austin Stoker; and the last two years of his acting career were spent playing guest roles in television series such as Hill Street Blues, Spenser: For Hire, Knight Rider, and Remington Steele. He also performed as a voice actor in Showtime's short-lived, 1985 animated series Washingtoon. His final role was in a 1986 episode of the comedy series ALF. From 1986 until 1995, he worked as a driver, driver captain, or transportation captain (sometimes with his son, Shawn Solomon) on various television productions and on films such as Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), La Bamba (1987), Lynch's 1990 film Wild at Heart, and The American President (1995).
Death
After Joston retired, he moved back to Winston-Salem, where he died of leukemia on June 1, 1998 at age 60.[4] Within several months of his death, Joston's friends and family established the F. Darwin Solomon Endowment at the North Carolina School of the Arts to commemorate his life and career.[5] Since the DVD release of Assault on Precinct 13, which has exposed new audiences to Joston's work, many now consider him to have been a vastly underrated actor whose talent was not duly recognized during his lifetime.
References
- ^ "New Endowment Fund Honors Actor," North Carolina School of the Arts Callboard, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Fall 1998), p. 9.
- ^ Q & A session with John Carpenter and Austin Stoker at American Cinematheque's 2002 John Carpenter retrospective, included in the 2003 Assault on Precinct 13 special edition R1 DVD.
- ^ Eric Red interview at Buried.com
- ^ "New Endowment Fund Honors Actor," North Carolina School of the Arts Callboard, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Fall 1998), p. 9.
- ^ "New Endowment Fund Honors Actor," North Carolina School of the Arts Callboard, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Fall 1998), p. 9.
