Tribute: George Clayton Johnson (1929-2015)

Sad news to report today. The great science fiction author George Clayton Johnson has passed away.

Mr. Johnson co-wrote the genre classic novel Logan's Run with William F. Nolan, and was a near-regular contributor to Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone (1959-1965). 

George Clayton Johnson devised the stories for such installments as "The Four of Us Are Dying," "Execution" and "Ninety Years without Slumbering," and penned the teleplays for  "A Game of Pool, " "Nothing in the Dark" (starring Robert Redford) and "Kick the Can," which was remade for the 1983 Twilight Zone movie by Steven Spielberg.

Mr. Johnson also contributed the story to the 1960 Frank Sinatra film Ocean's 11, and teleplays to such TV series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959), Route 66 (1961), Honey West (1965), and Kung Fu (1974). 

One of his most teleplays was Star Trek's (1966-1969) "The Man Trap," the first aired episode of that classic.

I offer my deepest condolences to Mr. Johnson's family, and reflect that he has left us a great and stimulating legacy of science fiction for all of us to enjoy for years and decades to come.