by Hans J. Wollstein
biography
The son of scenarist Emilie Johnson, handsome, dark-haired silent screen leading man Emory Johnson began his career in early Broncho Billy Westerns in 1912 and enjoyed his greatest success as a director/star in the mid to late '10s, often in tandem with his wife, Universal ingenue Ella Hall. He seems to have retired from both directing and performing in 1922 but was back as producer/director/writer of The Phantom Express (1932), an oddball mystery-melodrama filmed in the Mojave Desert and released by Poverty Row company Majestic. Johnson, who played unbilled bit parts in films until at least 1941, was the father of actors Richard Emory and Ellen Hall.
