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When Robert Redford carried the casket of John “Liver-Eating” Johnston in 1974, it marked a rare moment where Hollywood legend and American folklore met face to face. Johnston, born John Garrison in 1824, was a larger-than-life frontiersman whose violent reputation earned him the chilling nickname. According to lore, after his Native American wife was killed by the Crow, Johnston waged a decades-long war of vengeance, allegedly cutting out and eating the livers of slain Crow warriors as a warning to others. Whether myth or truth, the tales made him a symbol of the brutal wilderness.
Nearly a century later, his remains were moved from a Los Angeles veterans’ cemetery to Cody, Wyoming, thanks to a campaign by students and townspeople. Redford, who had portrayed Johnston in Jeremiah Johnson (1972), served as pallbearer, bringing cinematic and historical threads together. For many, seeing Redford carry the casket felt like the mountain man himself had been escorted home.
Filming Jeremiah Johnson was itself a test of survival. Shot in the wilds of Utah and Arizona, the crew battled blizzards, rugged terrain, and remote locations. Redford recalled, “It was tough, dangerous work, but that was the point. We wanted it to feel as raw and real as the life this man lived.” The film distilled Johnston’s legend into the story of a man fleeing society for solitude in the mountains, only to discover that nature’s silence was as challenging as it was healing.
For Redford, the role was more than a performance; it reflected his own search for peace in nature, something that later defined his Sundance vision. By carrying Johnston’s casket, Redford wasn’t just honoring a character—he was paying tribute to the rugged spirit of the American frontier.
