Mark Johnson (producer)

  Johnson was first introduced to showbusiness in the year 1965 as an actor for the role of the sheriff's deputy in "Spaghetti Western" is an Spanish film written and directed by Jose Luis Borau. He spent ten years of his life in Spain and worked as a movie extra in films such as Franklin Schaffner's Nicholas and Alexandra and David Lean's Dr. Zhivago. The early experiences of his led him to small acting roles in the European western Ride and Kill and the 1964 drama The Thin Red Line. After earning an undergraduate degree in Drama from the University of Virginia and an MA in Film Scholarship from the University of Iowa, Johnson moved to New York. He was enrolled in the Director's Guild training programme. Paul Mazursky's autobiographical drama Next Stop Greenwich Village was one of his first films. Johnson relocated to Los Angeles and worked as an assistant director on such films as Movie Movie, The Brink's Job, Escape from Alcatraz and Mel Brooks's High Anxiety, which was co-written by his business associate Barry Levinson.