For Johnny Borgese, the business of special effects is a family one.
Johnny, as a child, would go with his father, Vincent, to Charlie
Chaplin's studio, where his father worked as a stand-in and a stunt man
for Chaplin himself. While accompanying his father on the set, Chaplin
even taught Johnny his famous walk. Chaplin used Vincent's watch in one
of his scenes. Johnny never forgot these encounters. Vincent also did
construction, props, special effects in movies such as Them! (1954) and
The Old Man and the Sea (1958), among others. Vincent retired from
Warner Brothers in 1968 after two decades with the studio. After
returning from the Korean War, Johnny followed his father's footstep
and joined the Local 44 Union in 1955.
During his more than four decades of career, Johnny worked with many
prominent directors and producers, such as Steven Spielberg, Kenneth
Johnson, Nick Corea, Don Richardson and Irwin Allen, "the Master of
Disaster". His collaboration with Allen lasted over a decade yielding
three movies and four TV series, including the hit show "Lost in
Space", which, according to Wikipedia, was also the favorite show of
John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Johnny has a passion for cars. He enjoyed doing modifications on the
Batmobile for the original Batman movie (1966). He still sees the
original designer/builder of the Batmobile, George Barris, in various
functions, including several car shows.
Johnny retired in 1995. He now enjoys watching the shows worked on such
as Batman, Lost in Space, and The Incredible Hulk being replayed on
Syfy Channel.
