Osa Johnson on AllMovie

No sooner had 20-year-old singer Osa Leighty married explorer Martin E. Johnson than the two of them were off on another of his far-reaching photographic expeditions. From 1912 to 1937, Osa and Martin Johnson produced some of the best and most entertaining documentary films in the business. The Johnsons were born showpersons, packing their films with thrills, spills and comedy relief often at the expense of total authenticity. Their most famous efforts include Cannibals of the South Seas, which included an unforgettable moment in which a cannibal chief warily watches himself on screen; Simba (1928), produced under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History; and Congorilla (1932), their first talking picture. In 1937, Martin Johnson was killed in a plane crash. Though badly injured, Osa recovered sufficiently to act as a Hollywood technical advisor. In 1940, she wrote her autobiography, I Married Adventure, adapting it into a documentary feature in 1940; two years later, she produced African Paradise. The Johnson Safari Museum has since been established in Chanute, Kansas, the birthplace of Osa Johnson.