Stephen Russell Johnson (July 12, 1952 – January 26, 2015) was an American music video director, television director,

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

, painter, and writer. Johnson got his start directing a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the song "Girls Like You" by Combonation, which features a young Robin Wright, before moving on to directing videos for popular artists. Johnson directed three music videos for Peter Gabriel: " Big Time", "

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

", and " Sledgehammer". "Sledgehammer" has the distinction of winning nine MTV Video Music Awards, which remains unsurpassed. In addition, Johnson directed the videos for " Road to Nowhere" by

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads

, and " The Bug" and " Walk of Life" by Dire Straits. In addition to directing music videos, Johnson was known for directing all thirteen episodes of the first season of '' Pee-wee's Playhouse'', for which he was nominated for a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...

for Outstanding Directing in Children's Programming. He also spearheaded the creation of the short film ''Universal Declaration of Human Rights'' for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, based on the thirty articles of the ''

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

'' created by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. The film is composed of animated interpretations of the articles from forty-two different animators. Johnson was born on July 12, 1952, in Paola, Kansas, the son of Russell and Lena Wheeler Johnson. He attended high school in Pleasanton, Kansas. He then attended college at Kansas University and the University of Southern California. At USC he made an award-winning movie using stop-motion techniques – as did many of his music videos. Johnson died at the age of 62 on January 26, 2015, in Fort Scott, Kansas, from cardiac complications.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Stephen R. American animated film directors American music video directors 20th-century American painters American television directors American writers 1952 births 2015 deaths 21st-century American painters