Test audiences and Universal Pictures didn't like that the supposed villain of the film was given a redemption arc and died peacefully, so they returned to the set to shoot the new climax. Though he did kill people and haunted the Opera House, the mob goes from angry to somber and pay their respects. Before the angry mob arrives to the lair, he dies sitting at his organ of a broken heart. She shows him a moment compassion and agrees, and her expression of pity opens Erik's heart, so he sees the error of his ways. The first ending turns out more like the novel's end, where the titular character kidnaps Christine, the woman he loves, and threatens to blow up the Opera House if she doesn't marry him. RELATED: The X-Files: Fight the Future's Most Infamous Scene Purposefully Trolled Fans While being chased by an angry mob became standard in horror movies like Frankensteinand The Wolf Man, this ending was added on after audiences reacted poorly to the original version when shown in previews. The film concludes with an angry mob chasing The Phantom - real name Erik - from his lair and into the streets of Paris before killing him. Despite the character making his mark in cinema history, Chaney's Phantom received an ending that differed from the source material. Lon Chaney, an early Hollywood legend nicknamed "Man of 1000 Faces" for the incredible makeup used in films like London After Midnight and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, saved his most iconic makeup when playing the Opera Ghost. and England. Johnson was pre-deceased by his brother Alfred Ashton Johnson, sister Patricia Johnson Friedman, nephew Craig Johnson and longtime life partner Jerry Hogan.Six decades before Andrew Lloyd Webber made his musical adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, the titular character was best remembered for his terrifying appearance in the 1925 film. great nephews Charles Cortalano (Elizabeth) in White Plains, NY Geoffrey Cortalano (Christine) in Cold Spring, NY Nicholas Cortalano in Garrison, NY Ryan Johnson in Palm Coast, Flor. He is survived by his niece Valerie Cortalano (Bruce) in Garrison, NY nephew Bruce Johnson in Wilton Manors, Flor. In 2003, Johnson and Liff were awarded a Tony Award for excellence in theatre as well as the Hoyt Bowers Award and several Artios Awards from the Casting Society of America. “I don’t think I was the best actor…but I do know, and this may sound very conceited, I really have good taste.” “I used a lot of the stuff I used in my acting classes when I was trying to find the right actor to show to the director,” Johnson said as part of an oral history project conducted by the Primary Stages. That early experience on stage later helped Johnson assess acting talent as a casting director. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the Yale School of Drama. Before moving into other production work, Johnson also worked as an actor, appearing in ”Saint Joan” on Broadway in 1956. Alfred Ashton Johnson, was an obstetrician. His mother, Agatha Gennette Johnson Hagelston, was a high school teacher and his father, Dr. Johnson was born in New York City on Jand raised in Larchmont, New York. “I don’t believe you discover actors,” he said. Johnson summed up his casting philosophy in a 2003 interview with Playbill. Along with his business partner Vincent Liff, he created the casting agency Johnson-Liff, which worked on some of the longest running Broadway shows in history, including “Cats,” “Les Miserables,” and ”The Phantom of the Opera.” Other projects included “The Producers,” “The Wiz,” “The Elephant Man,” “Dreamgirls,” “Miss Saigon” and ”Kiss of the Spiderwoman.” representative until the playwright’s death in 1973.īut it was in selecting the performers who graced some of the most popular plays and musicals of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s that Johnson forged his most enduring legacy. Johnson became a close friend of Coward, serving as his U.S.
It was Coward who gave Johnson an early break, selecting him to be a stage manager for the Broadway production of “Sail Away,” a 1961 musical that was a key stepping stone in the career of another theater luminary, Elaine Stritch. In a career that spanned decades, Johnson worked with Broadway legends such as Hal Prince, Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Merrick and Noël Coward. Geoffrey Johnson, the casting director for “ Cats” and “Les Miserables,” died Friday in New York City at the age of 91, Variety has confirmed.