Brian Johnson

Known for CrewBorn 1939-06-29Died 2026-06-15Surrey, England, UK

Brian Johncock (born 29 June 1939) is a British designer and director of film and television special effects. He changed his surname to Johnson during the 1960s. Joining the team of special effects artist Les Bowie, Johnson started his career behind the scenes for Bowie Films on productions such as On the Buses, and for Hammer Films. He is known for his special effects work on TV series including Thunderbirds (1965–66) and films including Alien (1979), for which he received the 1980 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (shared with H. R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Ayling and Nick Allder). Previously, he had built miniature spacecraft models for Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Johnson's work on Space: 1999 influenced the effects of the Star Wars films of the 1970s and 1980s. Impressed by his work, George Lucas visited Johnson during the production of the TV series to offer him the role of effects supervisor for the 1977 film. Having already been commissioned for the second series of Space: 1999, Johnson was unable to accept at the time. He worked on the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), whose special effects were recognised in the form of a 1981 Special Achievement Academy Award (which Johnson shared with Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren and Bruce Nicholson).Read more

Movies & web series

Thunderbirds 60th Anniversary Double Bill - Trapped in the Sky / Terror in New York City

The Beast Within: Making Alien

The Empire Strikes Back

SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back

Alien

Aliens

2001: A Space Odyssey

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Filmed in Supermarionation

Thunderbirds

The NeverEnding Story

The Alien Legacy

Space: 1999

2001: The Making of a Myth

The Medusa Touch

The Day the Earth Caught Fire

Dragonslayer

Alien Attack

Quatermass and the Pit

Revenge of the Pink Panther

Spies Like Us

The Phantom of the Opera

Quatermass 2

First Men in the Moon

Journey Through the Black Sun

Captain Clegg

Krull

The Pirates of Penzance

The Kiss of the Vampire

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

Taste the Blood of Dracula

Space Truckers

The Glitterball

Family Vanished

Highlander III: The Sorcerer

Moon Zero Two

The Crawling Eye

Slipstream

Caged Fury

Into Infinity

The Eagle Obsession

Prisoners in Space

2001: Creating Kubrick’s Space Odyssey

Century 21 Slough

Their Finest Hour

Countdown to Disaster