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IMDbPro

Darwin Joston(1937-1998)

  • Actor
  • Transportation Department
  • Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
IMDbProStarmeter
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Darwin Joston in Lassie (1954)
Restored Collectors Edition
Play trailer2:03
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
2 Videos
3 Photos
"Got a smoke?" Darwin Joston secured himself a permanent place in cult movie history with that particular laconically witty line as laid-back Death Row-bound convict Napoleon Wilson in John Carpenter's outstanding urban action thriller classic Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). Wilson was undoubtedly Joston's best role, and he played it with exceptional skill: mellow, low-key and disarmingly casual with a cool sense of dry ironic humor and a wickedly funny way with a sardonic wisecrack. Joston's terrific portrayal of the acidic and fatalistic Wilson should have led to bigger and better things. Alas, it did not.

He was born as Francis Darwin Solomon on December 9, 1937, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His parents were Mary Elizabeth Smith and Buford Odell Solomon. Joston attended Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina, where he was considered a talented athlete. Following graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1960, Darwin moved to New York and began acting in stage plays and summer stock productions for about five years in the early to mid 1960s. He then moved to Los Angeles to continue his acting career.

Compared to his substantial starring role in "Assault on Precinct 13," most of Joston's other film parts were relatively small: he's an ill-fated soldier in the dreadful killer snake dud Rattlers (1976), a beleaguered pencil-factory clerk in Eraserhead (1977), a drunken truck driver in Coast to Coast (1980), a coroner in the splendidly spooky The Fog (1980) and a typically relaxed FBI agent in the entertainingly crummy science-fiction/horror hoot Time Walker (1982) (Joston was reunited with his fellow "Assault on Precinct 13" cast member Austin Stoker in this latter picture).

Joston also did guest spots on such TV shows as ALF (1986), Hill Street Blues (1981), Remington Steele (1982), Spenser: For Hire (1985), The Rookies (1972), McCloud (1970), Circle of Fear (1972), Ironside (1967), The Rat Patrol (1966), Lassie (1954) (in which he had a recurring role) and The Virginian (1962). In addition to his acting credits, Joston worked behind-the-scenes as either a driver or a transportation captain on such features as The American President (1995), Wild at Heart (1990), La Bamba (1987), Back to the Beach (1987), The Ladies Club (1986), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) and The Buddy Holly Story (1978).

Darwin Joston died of leukemia on June 1, 1998. Although he's no longer with us, Joston nonetheless will forever live on in our hearts and memories as the supremely amiable, if notorious, killer criminal Napoleon Wilson. "Anybody got a smoke?"
BornDecember 9, 1937
DiedJune 1, 1998(60)
BornDecember 9, 1937
DiedJune 1, 1998(60)
IMDbProStarmeter
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Photos

Darwin Joston and Laurie Zimmer in Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Darwin Joston in Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Known for

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Assault on Precinct 13
7.3
  • Napoleon Wilson
  • 1976
The Fog (1980)
The Fog
6.8
  • Dr. Phibes
  • 1980
Jack Nance in Eraserhead (1977)
Eraserhead
7.3
  • Paul
  • 1977
Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern in Wild at Heart (1990)
Wild at Heart
7.2
  • Transportation Department
  • 1990

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Paul Fusco and Mihaly 'Michu' Meszaros in ALF (1986)
    ALF
  • Washingtoon (1985)
    Washingtoon
  • Robert Clohessy, Michael Warren, and Bruce Weitz in Hill Street Blues (1981)
    Hill Street Blues
  • David Hasselhoff in Knight Rider (1982)
    Knight Rider
  • Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist in Remington Steele (1982)
    Remington Steele
  • Chad Lowe in Spencer (1984)
    Spencer
  • Ernest Borgnine, Jan-Michael Vincent, and Alex Cord in Airwolf (1984)
    Airwolf
    • (uncredited)
  • Time Walker (1982)
    Time Walker
  • Gunmen's Blues (1981)
    Gunmen's Blues
  • Coast to Coast (1980)
    Coast to Coast
  • The Fog (1980)
    The Fog
  • Jack Nance in Eraserhead (1977)
    Eraserhead
  • Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
    Assault on Precinct 13
  • Shazam! (1974)
    Shazam!
  • Rattlers (1976)
    Rattlers
    • (as Darwin Jostin)

Transportation Department

  • Michael Douglas and Annette Bening in The American President (1995)
    The American President
  • Framed (1990)
    Framed
  • Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern in Wild at Heart (1990)
    Wild at Heart
  • Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange in Everybody's All-American (1988)
    Everybody's All-American
  • Keanu Reeves and Lori Loughlin in The Night Before (1988)
    The Night Before
  • Eye on the Sparrow (1987)
    Eye on the Sparrow
  • Paul Reubens, Frankie Avalon, Bob Denver, Annette Funicello, Don Adams, and Stevie Ray Vaughan in Back to the Beach (1987)
    Back to the Beach
  • Lou Diamond Phillips in La Bamba (1987)
    La Bamba
  • The Check Is in the Mail... (1986)
    The Check Is in the Mail...
  • The Ladies Club (1986)
    The Ladies Club
  • Richard Dreyfuss, Bette Midler, and Nick Nolte in Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)
    Down and Out in Beverly Hills
  • The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
    The Buddy Holly Story
  • Ruby and Oswald (1978)
    Ruby and Oswald

Second Unit or Assistant Director

  • Norman and the Killer (1991)
    Norman and the Killer

Videos2

Assault on Precinct 13
Trailer 2:03
Assault on Precinct 13
Assault on Precinct 13
Promo 1:02
Assault on Precinct 13

Personal details

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    • December 9, 1937
    • Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
    • June 1, 1998
    • Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA(leukemia)
    • (divorced, 1 child)
  • (1960's) TV commercial for Allstate Auto Insurance - Actor

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    After working together on Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), Joston and his co-star Austin Stoker remained friends for the rest of Joston's life.

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