Paul America

Paul Johnson (February 25, 1944 – October 19, 1982), better known as Paul America, was an American actor who was a member of Andy Warhol's Superstars. He starred in one Warhol-directed film, My Hustler, and also appeared in Edie Sedgwick's final film Ciao! Manhattan (1972).

Warhol years According to America, he met artist Andy Warhol at Ondine, a New York City discotheque in mid-1965. Warhol found America to be "unbelievably good looking - like a comic strip drawing of Mr. America, clean cut, handsome, very symmetrical". Warhol invited America back to his studio called The Factory located at 231 East 47th Street. America ended up moving into the studio and was eventually christened "Paul America" by Warhol. The name may have derived from Paul's former residence, the Hotel America. It premiered at the Hudson Theater on July 10, 1967, and became Warhol's first financially successful film. The role propelled America to fame and would eventually earn him the title of gay icon. In an interview with The New York Times shortly after the film was released, America claimed he had "was completely unaware of what 'My Hustler' was all about. They didn't tell me. I was on LSD the whole time, and I thought I was just going through some practice motions." He added that the success of the film, along with his constant use of LSD, had made him paranoid: "... I saw cameras coming at me everywhere I went. Even the Con Ed men were shooting me from down in their manholes." America appeared in only two other films for Warhol, neither of which were publicly released. Two sequels followed My Hustler entitled My Hustler: In Apartment and My Hustler: Ingrid. He also had a role in Dan Williams's silent film Harold Stevenson, that also featured Gerard Malanga, Stevenson, and Edie Sedgwick. At various points, America had sexual relationships with curator Henry Geldzahler (with whom he lived briefly), Edie Sedgwick and Sedgwick's friend Chuck Wein. Henry Geldzahler later recalled that America broke into his apartment and stole a landscape by Roy Lichtenstein and several Warhol pieces that photographer Billy Name left with Geldzahler after he left the Factory in 1970. In a December 1967 article in The New York Times, America said he had received $500 from Warhol. The film began shooting in April 1967 but production was halted after America abruptly left during filming. While shooting a scene at the Pan Am Building in which America drops Jane Holzer off, he became frustrated after numerous takes and simply drove away. A year later, the filmmakers discovered that he had driven to his brother's farm in Allegan, Michigan and was imprisoned there on drug-related charges. In order to finish the film, Palmer and Weisman got permission to film America while he was in jail and integrated the footage into the existing footage shot in 1967.

America's post Factory years are largely undocumented. At one point, he was reportedly in the United States Army for a brief period. According to writer Bob Colacello who worked for Warhol in the 1970s, America reappeared at Warhol's new studio at 33 Union Square West in the summer of 1974. Colacello recalls that Warhol became frightened due to America's disheveled appearance and "terrifying stare" and retreated to a back room. America said nothing and left without incident. America tried to contact Warhol via telephone for the last time in July 1982. As he was on a "Do Not Take Calls From" list, his call was not put through.

On October 19, 1982, Paul America was struck by a motorist and killed while walking home from a dental appointment in Ormond Beach, Florida.