‘Rosie O’Neill’s’ Georgann Johnson Wasn’t Always Somebody’s Mother

Georgann Johnson is acting very maternal these days. The mother of four grown daughters, she plays the understanding mother of Sharon Gless on the CBS lawyer series “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill” and the mom of another brilliant female attorney in the hit play “Other People’s Money” at the Pasadena Playhouse.

But Johnson wasn’t always the typical mother. In fact, she played the illicit lover of James Dean on TV in the early 1950s.

“I’m always seen in James Dean retrospectives,” Johnson says. “I worked with James Dean in some half-hour drama where he was a convict and I was the warden’s wife. We have this romantic scene on the porch while the sheriff is away. You get the picture. . . .”

She doesn’t recall too much about her legendary co-star. “All I can remember is for some unknown reason, parting my hair in the middle and realizing what a mistake I made. Oh God, I looked terrible.”

Johnson began acting on live television in 1950. “I started doing live commercials,” she recalls. “I did one for Arrid and I had to say, ‘Arrid has such a lovely, delicate fragrance.’ But I said, ‘Arrid has such a lovely, delicate flavor.’ I just about died. I remember saying, ‘You don’t have to pay me.’ ”

A far more pleasant experience was starring with Wally Cox and Tony Randall in the classic ‘50s comedy “Mr. Peepers.”

“It was a terribly good and terribly funny show and yet very gentle,” she says. “I realize how much a special thing it was at the time.”

Johnson’s waiting impatiently to learn if “Rosie O’Neill” will return for a second season. “I have gotten a lot of very positive feedback on the show from women about the relationship in the series between the mother and the daughter,” Johnson says. “I hope they give us another year. But the business is in such mayhem right now, I don’t know how decisions are made any more.”