TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. How much did Woody Strode weigh when playing? I'd play a Viking with blue contact lenses and a blond wig.". Ransom Stoddard believes in the U. S. Constitution, the rule by law, the trust in government. We heard stories about Kenny Washington where he was just battered throughout the entire football game.". According to Disneyland Vice President Tony Baxter, "In 1954. Theyre like father and son.. Strode had an excellent support part in The Last Voyage (1960) playing a heroic stoker, though he was only billed fifth. Then he asked Stewart to come over. In town, he's nursed back to health by Nora and Peter Ericson, two recent Swedish immigrants who run the local chowhouse. The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City last year enshrined him in the Hall of Great Western Performers. He was a decathlete and football star who was one of the first Black American players in the National Football League in the postwar era. On top of that, in the early 1930's, Ford also made several films with long-lambasted black character . With a strong presence in the screen, he. Strode, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, died of lung cancer in Los Angeles in 1994 at the age of 80. [33], Colo. It's been 15 years since Woody Strode's prime time in Hollywood ]: [4] Strode was a prolific performer, starring in his first . Strode played a single season with the NFL before moving to Canada to play, according to Britannica. His more modest and more successful western, also made for Warners, and released four years earlier, in 1960, Sergeant Rutledge is remarkable and pretty advanced for its period. Ford used him again in Two Rode Together (1962) but it was only a small part, as an Indian. Ford passed away in 1974. 1952: African. Every day, someone was at the bottom of the list in the barrel, as you say, Stewart said of Fords tendency to take his frustrations out on his underlings. His 1968 starring role as a thinly-disguised Patrice Lumumba in Seduto alla sua destra (released in the U.S. as Black Jesus) garnered Strode a great deal of press at the time, but the film is largely forgotten now. Farmers want statehood. John Ford and John Wayne together created much of the mythology of the Old West we carry in our minds. He was always magnificent with a no-nonsense style and quiet intellect that no athlete-turned actor has ever surpassed. He stayed in Europe to make another Western The Unholy Four (1970) and went back to Hollywood to do a TV movie Breakout (1970) and two Westerns The Deserter (also known as "The Devil's Backbone") (1971), and The Gatling Gun (1971). An able stuntman, Strode shot fire arrows and went so far as to bring his own 80-pound bows to set, he told The New York Times in 1971. Acting wasnt his first passion, however, as football at Jefferson High School and UCLA brought him initial fame. When World War II broke out, Strode was playing for the Hollywood Bears in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League. How tall was Woody Strode? He served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II and later went on to have a successful career as an actor. A Los Angeles native, he excelled in athletics at UCLA in the late 1930s, where he was explosive as a decathlete as well as part of the college football team that also included Jackie Robinson - he, Robinson, and future NFL star Kenny Washington made up . Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (July 25, 1914 - December 31, 1994) was an American athlete and actor. In Liberty Valance, a picture I did with Duke, Stewart recounted. Integrating the NFL was the low point of my life. Never billed as a leading man in Hollywood, Strode moved to Rome in the late '60s to pick up prominent and lucrative roles in Spaghetti Westerns. Met his wife, a Hawaiian princess and stand-in for the swim sequences for Dorothy Lamour. Woody Strode weighed 205 lbs (92 kg) when playing. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. When he walks into a bar to fetch Tom, the bartender won't serve him, and Tom slams hard on the bar: "Give him a drink." The film takes place at that turning point in the West when the rule of force gave way to the rule of law, and when literacy began to gain a foothold. Nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his. Woody Strode was born in 1914 in Los Angeles. "You'd have thought I was marrying Lana Turner, the way the whites in Hollywood acted," he later said. Born in Los Angeles, he was an athlete and a football star in his youth. He appeared once on Johnny Weissmuller's 19551956 syndicated television series Jungle Jim and was in an episode of Private Secretary. "I once played a part written for an Irish prize fighter. Thankfully, the show never subjected Woody - or viewers - to that possibility. "[13], In 1948 he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers of the AAFC, but was released before the season started,[14] whereupon he joined the Calgary Stampeders of the Western Interprovincial Football Union in Canada, where he was a member of Calgary's 1948 Grey Cup Championship team[15] before retiring due to injury in 1949. "But the producers answered, 'Not necessary. Strode, Kenny Washington and Jackie Robinson in 1939 comprised one of the nations most potent backfields and, along with Ray Bartlett, there were four African Americans playing for one team when only a few dozen Blacks competed nationally. Beginning with "Stagecoach" (1939), continuing from 1948 through 1950 with the Cavalry Trilogy ("Fort Apache," "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and "Rio Grande"), and finally to 1962 and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," together in 10 features they largely formed the templates of the Hollywood Western. Stewart said: It looks a bit Uncle Remussy to me. This was a reference to the controversial fictional narrator of 19th century African-American folktales, who was later the main character in Disneys 1946 movie Song of the South a film that Disney does not make available today due to its racist stereotyping. Strode encountered racism in the NFL. In 1940, UCLA and USC battled in what is believed to be the first cross-town rivalry game with championship implications. The pioneering Black character actor relocated from the United States to Europe for a while to pursue bigger and more interesting roles. It's clear they loved him. Opponents from the Deep South resented having to share the field with Black men, the producer of a documentary film about the Forgotten Four, Ross Greenburg, told the UCLA newsroom in 2014. In response, Ford said: Whats wrong with Uncle Remus? The director then called the crews attention and shouted: One of ourplayersdoesn't like Woody's costume. In fact Ford started out his film career as a actor and stuntman in silent films, including D.W. Griffiths notorious The Birth of Nation as one of the Klansmen who comes to the rescue to save the lives of white people under threat by violent renegade black men. In 1959 he portrayed the conflicted, some would say cowardly, Private Franklin in Pork Chop Hill, which brought him critical acclaim. [24], In 2021, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Pompey/Strode physically carries and thereby saves a drunken, suicidal John Wayne from his burning home. Then he asked someone to blow a whistle, which they did, and he called out, Everybody, would you please gather around? So they did. "[20], During Ford's declining years Strode spent four months sleeping on the director's floor as his caregiver, and he was later present at Ford's death.[22]. He was also a professional wrestler, wrestling the likes of Gorgeous George. "These four men created a foundation on which generations built," Lonnie Bunch, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, once said. He went on to depict myriad gunslingers at home and abroad. In movies and life, Strode's range was remarkable. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. As the two actors filmed an exterior shot on a horse-drawn cart, Wayne was close to losing control of the horses. [30], Strode was a dedicated martial artist under the direction of Frank Landers in the art of Seishindo Kenpo. The one awkward movement in the film comes at the big climax when the real killer reveals himself during the trial, in a scene so overwrought and overacted that it produces more guffaws than shock. Strode's later appearances included Cuba Crossing (1980),The Dukes of Hazzard (1980), Scream (1981), Fantasy Island (1981), Vigilante (1982), Invaders of the Lost Gold (1982), Angkor: Cambodia Express (1983), The Black Stallion Returns (1983), The Violent Breed (1984), Jungle Warriors (1984), The Cotton Club (1984), The Final Executioner (1984), Lust in the Dust (1985), On Fire (1987), and A Gathering of Old Men (1987). In 1963, he was cast opposite Jock Mahoney's Tarzan as both the dying leader of an unnamed Asian country and that leader's unsavory brother, Khan, in Tarzan's Three Challenges. Is Woody Strode in the Hall of Fame? Then came Lewis Milestones war film Pork Chop Hill (1959) and steady work would follow. What is it whats the idea? And I said, I dont know!, And I didnt know, Stewart added. Valance and his two sidekicks hold up a stagecoach on the way to town, and when one of the passengers, Ransom, stands up to him Liberty nearly whips him to death. I make westerns.. "He treated me like a son," said Strode. Years ago Shinbone was held in a grip of terror by the sadistic Liberty Valance (played by Lee Marvin in a performance evoking savage cruelty). Professional Football Player, Actor. The character was named after Woody Strode, the legendary Spartacus actor who starred in numerous Westerns throughout the 1960s and 1970s. And I did it myself. The scripts for these were variable but Strode later said "Me, I didn't care. The role set his Hollywood career in motion. The roles he was offered fell within those limited, though notable range. Everyone in Shinbone hates Liberty Valance, but they're powerless against him and his two sidekicks, one of them a giggling fool. Look instead at a debate that continues between the lawyer and the farmer about guns. Woody lived in a modest home overlooking Glendora and the San Gabriel Valley, north east of Los Angeles about 25 miles. Bit of a game changer." Though Woody usually means well, he's not always the . Canton called this summer, feting Strode and the rest of the Forgotten Four at Johnson and Glauber's urging. I had the greatest Glory Hallelujah ride across the Pecos River that any black man ever had on the screen. John Ford put classic words in my mouth.". Strode last appeared on screen posthumously in 1995. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. The retired NFL wideout, in tandem with his co-author Bob Glauber, persuaded the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2022 to recognize the so-called Forgotten Four as pathfinders. M, Last edited on 27 February 2023, at 14:07, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, Pacific Coast Professional Football League, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, "Woody Strode (19141994) Find A Grave Memorial", "Woody Strode? Another well-known role was Pompey, John Waynes servant in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Strode was born in Los Angeles on July 25, 1914, the son . Working in the restaurant is young Hallie. He became part of Hollywood lore after meeting director John Ford and becoming a part of the Ford "family," appearing in four Ford motion pictures. Additionally, the director kept mocking Wayne for not enlisting in World War II, which made the star feel guilty in his later years. John Ford put classic words in my mouth You never seen a Negro come off a mountain like John Wayne before. And during the trial sequences, Ford frequently dims the courtroom lights, leaving only Rutledge lit, alone in the witness chair surrounded by darkness alone and helpless as many black men on trial have felt, accused of a crime they did not commit. Woodrow Wilson Woody Strode (1914-1994) was one of the most prolific and reliable African American actors of a generation. No black men had played in the NFL from 1933 to 1946. His parents were from New Orleans; his grandmother was African-American and "part Cherokee" and his grandfather was an African-American who claimed his own grandmother was Creek. I don't know if they ever will be. Woody Strode, byname of Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode, (born July 28, 1914, Los Angeles, California, U.S.died December 31, 1994, Glendora, California), American character actor who was part of director John Ford's "family" of actors, appearing in nearly a dozen of Ford's films. He guest starred on The Man from Blackhawk (1960). But Pompey won't drink. 1951: The Lion Hunters; Bride of the Gorilla. He was also in Key West (1973), Loaded Guns (1975), The Manhunter (1975), We Are No Angels (1975), Winterhawk (1975), Keoma (1976), episodes of The Quest (1976) and How the West Was Won (1977), Oil (1977), Martinelli, Outside Man (1977), Kingdom of the Spiders (1977), Cowboy-San! "It had dignity. lcula de 1939 dirigida per John Ford; Film von John Ford (1939); filme de 1939 dirigido por John Ford; film; ; film t 1939 fan John Ford; film din 1939 regizat de John Ford; , 1939; film de John Ford; cinta de 1939 dirichita por John Ford; 1939; 1939 film by John Ford; 1939; film uit 1939; 1939 ; filme de 1939 dirigit per John Ford; pelcula de John Ford; vuoden 1939 elokuva; filme de 1939 dirixido por John Ford; 1939 ; 1939 ; film frn 1939 regisserad av John Ford; Stagecoach; Hllenfahrt nach Santa F; ; Stagecoach; Stagecoach; Chevauche fantastique; ; De fantastische Rit, Monument Valley, Arizona, US - panoramio (4).jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Stagecoach_(1939_film)&oldid=577190049, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Strode and Washington, an All-American in 1939, linked up the following year with the Hollywood Bears of the minor Pacific Coast Professional Football League. DON'T MISSJohn Wayne: The Searchers set revelation that saw John Ford speechless[THE SEARCHERS]How the West Was Won: Idiot drunk producer, near-death and more[HOW THE WEST WAS WON]John Wayne: Why Elvis turned down Dukes offer to co-star in Western[ELVIS]. It's clear they loved him. You ride horses.' Doubling as a defender, Strode scooped an errant lateral at midfield and returned the fumble to the opposing red zone, teeing up a TD rush. But with his ill health and advancing age, the project was dropped. In comparison, Ford had made combat documentaries for the Office of Strategic Services and had been wounded at the Battle of Midway, while Ranse star Stewart had been a bomber pilot who served with distinction. Of these "Liberty Valance" was the most pensive and thoughtful. We both gotta be professionals. And according to the actor, Ford froze, then walked away. "I know Gus well." "Shawn." "Him too. 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