JOHNSON, Marilyn 1954-

PERSONAL:

Born 1954.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Briarcliff, NY. E-mail—marilynjohnson@aol.com.

CAREER:

Life (magazine), former staff writer; Esquire (magazine), former editor.

WRITINGS:

The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor of articles and poetry to periodicals; contributor to AARP Online; maintains a blog at http://obituaryforum.blogspot.com.

SIDELIGHTS:

While she was a staff writer for Life, Marilyn Johnson wrote the obituaries of such celebrities as Princess Diana, Katharine Hepburn, Jackie Onassis, Johnny Cash, Marlon Brando, and Bob Hope. Having also talked to live celebrities, she confided to Gal Beckerman, in an interview for the Columbia Journalism Review Daily, that there is "something essentially phony about it. When you are writing a send-off to a celebrity, an obituary, what you are doing is essentially casting your eye over their whole career. And that's a much more challenging writing assignment. You really have to think about that and then you have to have insights that are different from other people's insights if you want to stand out."

Johnson became intrigued with obituaries when she saw side-by-side obituaries of two scientists who had died one day apart; one had discovered vitamin C, and the other vitamin K. Johnson noted in the interview that obituaries have changed, and more people have online access to them. In her book, The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries, Johnson studies different styles of obituaries, including the droll and humorous that often come from Great Britain, and personal snapshots such as those used to honor the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the New York Times "Portraits of Grief" series. She studies how they are handled in small towns as opposed to urban areas. Johnson notes that women were once treated in obituaries only as wives and mothers, and that obituaries also concentrated more on the death than the life of the deceased. She also names her favorite obituary writers, explaining her preferences and her favorite subjects, many of whom were very average people who were exceptionally honored. Robert Finn commented in a review for Bookreporter.com: "One recurring theme in Johnson's book is the good obit writer's ability to make the lives of ordinary folks as interesting—even more interesting—than those of the rich and famous."

Johnson writes that obituaries "contain the most creative writing in journalism," and she admires writers whose obituaries reflect "empathy and detachment; sensitivity and bluntness." A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that Johnson's writing reflects these traits, that she "handles her offbeat topic with an appropriate level of humor, while still respecting the gravity of mortality."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Biography, spring, 2006, review of The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries, p. 417.

Booklist, March 1, 1006, Vanessa Bush, review of The Dead Beat, p. 47.

Entertainment Weekly, March 3, 2006, Gregory Kirschling, review of The Dead Beat, p. 106.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2006, review of The Dead Beat, p. 121.

Library Journal, February 15, 2006, Joel W. Tscherne, review of The Dead Beat, p. 125.

New York Times Book Review, March 12, 2006, Jane and Michael Stern, review of The Dead Beat.

Publishers Weekly, January 30, 2006, Tedra Meyer, "Raising the Dead: PW Talks with Marilyn Johnson," p. 50, review of The Dead Beat, p. 57.

ONLINE

Bookreporter.com, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (September 12, 2006), Robert Finn, review of The Dead Beat.

Boston Globe Online,http://www.boston.com/ (April 13, 2006), Tom Long, review of The Dead Beat.

Columbia Journalism Review Daily,http://www.cjrdaily.org/ (March 17, 2006), Gal Beckerman, "Marilyn Johnson on Writing about the Dead, Not the Dying," interview with Marilyn Johnson.

Houston Chronicle Online,http://www.chron.com/ (April 7, 2006), Lynwood Abram, review of The Dead Beat.

Rocky Mountain News Online,http://www.rockymountainnews.com/ (March 10, 2006), Verna Noel Jones, review of The Dead Beat.

San Diego Union-Tribune Online,http://www.signonsandiego.com/ (March 12, 2006), Peter Rowe, review of The Dead Beat.

Seattle Times Online,http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ (September 12, 2006), Barbara Sjoholm, review of The Dead Beat.

Washington Post Online,http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (March 22, 2006), Matt Schudel, review of The Dead Beat.

Village Voice Online,http://www.villagevoice.com/ (March 27, 2006), Paul Collins, review of The Dead Beat. *