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Darwin Joston is a Actor, Director and Driver American born on 9 december 1937 at Winston-Salem (USA)

Darwin Joston

Darwin Joston
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Birth name Francis Darwin Solomon
Nationality USA
Birth 9 december 1937 at Winston-Salem (USA)
Death 1 june 1998 (at 60 years) at Winston-Salem (USA)

Francis 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 began his career as a New York stage actor, and he 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.

Biography

Early life & acting career
Joston was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Mary Elizabeth Smith and Buford Odell Solomon; he had one brother, Talmadge Solomon, who became a Church of Christ minister. Joston attended Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina, where he was considered to be a talented athlete. He later studied drama at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated from there in 1960.

After college, Joston moved to New York City and began his professional career as a stage actor in various theater and summer stock productions. He lived and worked in New York for five years and then moved to Los Angeles, California, where, from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s, Joston acted primarily in television. 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 also acted in genre films during this phase of his acting career. Of the two films that were released theatrically, the first was the 1971 western-themed, grindhouse exploitation film, Cain's Cutthroats, in which he played Billy-Joe, a psychopathic, mother-obsessed, sexually-warped Confederate soldier. The second film was the low-budget 1976 horror movie, Rattlers, in which he played a soldier who is killed by a horde of rattlesnakes.


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 both lived in the same Hollywood Hills apartment building and became friends.
Having gotten to know Joston and his dark sense of humor, Carpenter felt that his neighbor would make an interesting anti-hero.

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. According to Joston, Lynch wanted to cast him in the part after seeing one of his previous performances (though Joston did not know which one), and he contacted Joston about playing the role through a mutual friend. 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.

Joston also worked on the transportation crews of two 1978 movies, The Buddy Holly Story and Ruby and Oswald.


Later career
In the 1980s, Joston's acting career became more sporadic, and he made a gradual transition from acting to working full-time as a teamster on film and television transportation crews. He had begun working as a teamster when he was between acting jobs, which, according to Joston, was much of the time; eventually, he became so busy working on film crews that he rarely had time to look for roles. After 1986, he worked primarily in transportation until his retirement in 1994.

In 1982, 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.

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 television role was in a 1986 episode of the comedy series ALF.

From 1986 until 1994, 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 from Los Angeles back to Winston-Salem. Several years later, on June 1, 1998, he died of leukemia at Forsyth Medical Center. His funeral was held on June 4, 1998 at the Oaklawn Baptist Church in Winston-Salem; the services were conducted by his brother, Talmadge, and by Rev. Paul Riggs.


Legacy
Within several months of his death, Joston's friends and family established the F. Darwin Solomon Endowment at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (then known as the North Carolina School of the Arts) in Winston-Salem to commemorate his life and career.

Some, including director Quentin Tarantino, consider Joston to have been a vastly underrated actor whose talent was not duly recognized during his lifetime.

Best films

Wild at Heart (1990)
(Driver)

Usually with

David Lynch
David Lynch
(2 films)
Debra Hill
Debra Hill
(2 films)
Austin Stoker
Austin Stoker
(2 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Darwin Joston (9 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

Time Walker, 1h23
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Horror
Themes Films about music and musicians, Musical films, Films about extraterrestrial life
Actors Ben Murphy, Nina Axelrod, James Karen, Austin Stoker, Robert Random, Darwin Joston
Roles Lt. Plummer
Rating37% 1.861871.861871.861871.861871.86187
While California University of the Sciences professor Douglas McCadden (Ben Murphy) explores the tomb of the ancient Egyptian king Tutankhamun, an earthquake causes a wall in the tomb to collapse, revealing a hidden chamber. Inside, McCadden finds a mummy in a sarcophagus. Unbeknownst to McCadden, the "mummy" is not the body of a dead Egyptian, but an extraterrestrial alien in suspended animation, being wrapped up and buried alive thousands of years before and covered with a dormant, green fungus.
Gunmen's Blues, 26minutes
Directed by Eric Red
Origin USA
Actors Darwin Joston
Roles Man with No Name / Mr. Smith
Rating63% 3.156253.156253.156253.156253.15625
A mysterious, middle-aged man wearing a dark suit and black leather gloves is the only customer in a Hoboken, New Jersey bar. He looks longingly at a picture of a woman that he keeps in his wallet. He then has a tense conversation with the bartender, in which he reveals that he once lived in Hoboken years ago, but is now passing through "on business" because he is a "travelling salesman."
The Fog
The Fog (1980)
, 1h29
Directed by John Carpenter
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Horror, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Ghost films
Actors Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Houseman, Janet Leigh, Hal Holbrook, Tom Atkins
Roles Dr. Phibes
Rating67% 3.3990353.3990353.3990353.3990353.399035
As the Californian coastal town of Antonio Bay is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary, paranormal activity begins to occur at the stroke of midnight. Town priest Father Malone is in his church when a piece of masonry falls from the wall, revealing a cavity containing an old journal, his grandfather's diary from a century ago. It reveals that in 1880, six of the founders of Antonio Bay (including Malone's grandfather) deliberately sank and plundered a clipper ship named the Elizabeth Dane. The ship was owned by Blake, a wealthy man with leprosy who wanted to establish a leper colony nearby. Gold from the ship was used to build Antonio Bay and its church.
Coast to Coast, 1h35
Directed by Joseph Sargent
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Transport films, Trucker films, Road movies
Actors Dyan Cannon, Robert Blake, Michael Lerner, William Lucking, Maxine Stuart, Quinn K. Redeker
Roles Drunken Trucker #2
Rating51% 2.5612152.5612152.5612152.5612152.561215
Dyan Cannon plays Madie Levrington, a wealthy woman who is also neurotic. She was committed to a New York mental institution by her husband, Benjamin, in order to keep her from divorcing him and taking his money. She manages to escape and, in the process, hitches a ride on a livestock truck.
Eraserhead
Eraserhead (1977)
, 1h29
Directed by David Lynch
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Fantastic, Fantasy, Horror
Themes Films about families
Actors Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Jeanne Bates, Jack Fisk, Jennifer Lynch, Judith Anna Roberts
Roles Paul
Rating73% 3.6503253.6503253.6503253.6503253.650325
The Man in the Planet (Jack Fisk) pulls levers in his home in space, while the head of Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) floats in the sky. A spermatozoon-like creature emerges from Spencer's mouth, floating into the void.
Assault on Precinct 13, 1h31
Directed by Darwin Joston, Austin Stoker, John Carpenter, Nancy Kyes
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Action, Adventure, Crime
Themes L'action se déroule en une journée, Gangster films
Actors Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Kyes, Tony Burton, Kim Richards
Roles Napoleon Wilson
Rating72% 3.649613.649613.649613.649613.64961
The story takes place on a Saturday in Anderson, a crime-infested ghetto in South Central Los Angeles. Members of a local gang known as 'Street Thunder' have recently stolen a large number of assault rifles and pistols. The film begins at 3 a.m. that morning, as a team of heavily-armed LAPD officers ambush and kill six members of the gang. Later, the gang's four warlords swear a blood oath of revenge, known as a "Cholo", against the police and the citizens of Los Angeles.
Rattlers
Rattlers (1976)
, 1h22
Genres Horror
Themes Films about animals, Natural horror films, Films about snakes
Actors Darwin Joston, Celia Kaye
Roles Palmer
Rating41% 2.0672652.0672652.0672652.0672652.067265
When two young boys are savagely attacked and killed by a legion of rattlesnakes in a small California desert town, the local sheriff (Tony Ballen) calls upon herpetologist Dr. Tom Parkinson (Sam Chew), a Los Angeles college professor, to discover why the snakes are displaying abnormal aggression and swarming behavior. The sheriff teams Parkinson with war photographer Ann Bradley (Elisabeth Chauvet).
Cain's Cutthroats, 1h35
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Action, Western
Actors John Carradine, Darwin Joston, Scott Brady, Valda Hansen, Russ McCubbin
Roles Billy Joe
Rating51% 2.5819552.5819552.5819552.5819552.581955
After the end of the Civil War, Confederate army captain Justice Cain (Scott Brady) retires from the military. He becomes a farmer and lives a peaceful life with his son, Jody (by his deceased first wife) and his new wife, Angie (Tereza Thaw), the biracial ex-slave of Cain's former father-in-law.

Director

Assault on Precinct 13, 1h31
Directed by Darwin Joston, Austin Stoker, John Carpenter, Nancy Kyes
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Action, Adventure, Crime
Themes L'action se déroule en une journée, Gangster films
Actors Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Kyes, Tony Burton, Kim Richards
Rating72% 3.649613.649613.649613.649613.64961
The story takes place on a Saturday in Anderson, a crime-infested ghetto in South Central Los Angeles. Members of a local gang known as 'Street Thunder' have recently stolen a large number of assault rifles and pistols. The film begins at 3 a.m. that morning, as a team of heavily-armed LAPD officers ambush and kill six members of the gang. Later, the gang's four warlords swear a blood oath of revenge, known as a "Cholo", against the police and the citizens of Los Angeles.

Team

Wild at Heart, 2h4
Directed by David Lynch
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Crime, Romance
Themes Transport films, Films about automobiles, Road movies
Actors Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover, Diane Ladd, Isabella Rossellini
Roles Driver
Rating71% 3.598363.598363.598363.598363.59836
Lovers Lula and Sailor are separated after he is jailed for killing a man who attacked him with a knife; the assailant, Bobby Ray Lemon, was hired by Lula's mother, Marietta Fortune. Upon Sailor's release, Lula picks him up at the prison where she hands him his snakeskin jacket. They go to a hotel where she reserved a room, make love and go to see the speed metal band Powermad. At the club, Sailor gets into a fight with a man who flirts with Lula, and then leads the band in a rendition of Elvis Presley's "Love Me". Later, back in the room, after making love again, Sailor and Lula finally decide to run away to California, breaking Sailor's parole. Marietta arranges for private detective Johnnie Farragut – her on-off boyfriend – to find them and bring them back. Unbeknownst to Farragut, however, Marietta also hires gangster Marcellus Santos to track them, and kill Sailor. Santos's minions capture and kill Farragut, sending Marietta into a guilt-fueled psychosis.