His illiterate students include Hallie. Strode brought the best out of his castmates while stealing scenes, sometimes before he spoke a line. When Ford cast Strode in Sergeant Rutledge (1960), the actor remembers the legendary director telling him: You know, Woody, its pretty rough to make a star out of you, but Im going to make you a character actor and youll make some money.. Robinson played college football at UCLA before he shifted to baseball full time and made history. And on occasion, he was even known to actually physically attack them when he was not playing his patented sadistic practical jokes on them, or when he wasnt on one of his regular drinking binges, which would last for days. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. I couldn't do it. How many games did Woody Strode play? He appeared once on Johnny Weissmuller's 19551956 syndicated television series Jungle Jim and was in an episode of Private Secretary. Woodrow Wilson Woody Strode (1914-1994) was one of the most prolific and reliable African American actors of a generation. He Wasn't the Star But He Stole the Movie", "Teammates Recall Jackie Robinson's Legacy", "The man who made the stars shine brighter: An interview with Woody Strode", "Woody Strode, Ace Negro Player, Has No Axe to Grind", "Isle families trace ties to '39 Pineapple Bowl", "Woody Strode; Ex-Athlete, Character Actor in Movies", "Like the series, 'Psych' movie a comedic romp", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Woody_Strode&oldid=1141910544, This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 14:07. The supporting cast includes Linda Cristal, Andy Devine, and John McIntire. Strode moved north and won the Grey Cup with the 1948 Calgary Stampeders, Canadian pro football's only undefeated team. Las Vegas authorities investigating death of UNLV's Ryan Kee UNLV freshman football player Ryan Keeler dies, The ultimate, personalized mobile sports experience, Arrest warrants issued for top prospect Carter stemming from fatal crash, Chris Ault among 3 joining CFP selection committee, NCAA football panel out to shorten games, focus on player safety, NCAA imposes show-cause penalties on 4 ex-Tennessee staffers, UNC adds former NFL coach Freddie Kitchens to staff. In an interview given before he died, Stewart once described the toll that Fords meanness took on Wayne. He was in a TV adaptation of Mandrake the Magician (1954), a pilot for a series that was not picked up, and had small parts in Son of Sinbad (1955), Soldiers of Fortune (1955), and Buruuba (1956) a Japanese film set in Africa. "[7], "That was a classic," he later said. If someone said, 'there's a Negro over there,' I was just as apt as anyone to turn around and say 'Where? In the twilight of his film career, Woody Strode reflected on the opportunities he was denied and others he seized. Woody Strode was 6-3 (190 cm) tall. Then came Lewis Milestones war film Pork Chop Hill (1959) and steady work would follow. Berlinale 2023 Highlights, Part Two: Reality, Manodrome, The Adults, Inside, Golda, Angela Bassett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson Feted at SBIFF 2023, Revisiting Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Tragically Common: Jamie Dack, Lily McInerny and Jonathan Tucker on Palm Trees and Power Lines. Strode also played the powerful gladiator who does battle with Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (1960). He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, unloading bombs in the Pacific. Strode hauled in a pass while a teammate lay on the grass at the far sideline, which left that receiver wide open on the next snap. As a showdown between Stoddard and Valance Ford begins to seem inevitable, Ford creates considerable tension. Meanwhile, Motley ran rampant as a Browns halfback and Willis was an All-Pro defensive tackle, which landed them Hall of Fame nods as players. The tall, confident Woody Strode appeared in five Ford pictures, all the way from "Stagecoach" to Ford's final film, "7 Women" (1966). It's clear they loved him. Woody Strode was born in 1914 in Los Angeles. "Stagecoach" and his cavalry trilogy, "Rio Grande" "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" and "Fort Apache" - were as bloodthirsty savages. In 1940, UCLA and USC battled in what is believed to be the first cross-town rivalry game with championship implications. He wrestled intermittently, once defeating Gorgeous George. Woodrow Wilson Strode, known as Woody, was a big man on campus. He could beat Glenn Morris, the 1936 Olympic gold-medal decathlete, in all of his events except sprints. He was 80 years old. Woody lived in a modest home overlooking Glendora and the San Gabriel Valley, north east of Los Angeles about 25 miles. He was interred with military honors at Riverside National Cemetery, east of his hometown. Woody played for the Los Angeles Rams after their move from Cleveland. Strode's Associated Press obituary praised his work in Westerns and period dramas, but didn't mention the trail he blazed on the gridiron. Cattlemen do not. He guest starred on The Lieutenant, The Farmer's Daughter and Daniel Boone and had roles in the features Genghis Khan (1965) and 7 Women (1966), the latter the last film he made for Ford. Broken ribs and an ailing shoulder spurred Strode to retire in 1949. You ride horses.' (1978), Ravagers (1979), Jaguar Lives! Two Rode Together is a 1961 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring James Stewart, Richard Widmark, and Shirley Jones. Theyre like father and son.. Strode racked up 91 acting credits in six different decades, according to IMDb. "They suffered on the field. And strangely enough, Duke Wayne who, over the years, you know, has made lots of pictures with Ford Duke Wayne has been at the bottom of the list, in the barrel, more than anybody else. 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 know Gus well." "Shawn." "Him too. But no pro team would draft African Americans. Strodes riveting presence among a trio of hired gunslingers waiting at the train station in the spaghetti western, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), is unforgettable. Then he asked Stewart to come over. He broke two ribs and a shoulder. As they were preparing to shoot, Ford came up to Stewart and asked, "What do you think of Woody's costume?" Stewart said that he didn't like it. The 6-foot, 4-inch Strode was a world-class decathlete with a body so toned that he posed nude for an exhibition of athletic portraits shown at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I might have to kill you. He appeared in any number of other films, among them The Ten Commandments (1956). Youd have thought I was marrying Lana Turner, they way Whites in Hollywood acted, he recalled. He graced the screen alongside Sean Connery, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, and John Wayne, plus Joe Namath when the Jets quarterback toyed with acting in the afterglow of his Super Bowl triumph. Strode takes it up from there: Bob Waterfield and some guys came looking for us because theyd made arrangements for us back at the hotel, he explained. [23], He did The Italian Connection (1972), for which he was paid $150,000. Though he made films in every genre, from dramas to historical epics, romances and even comedies, Ford has been justifiably associated with the western film and is considered one of the greatest and most influential directors in that genre, directing so many that Ford once said of himself, My Name is John Ford. All three spend much of their time hanging out in the restaurant kitchen. In Liberty Valance, a picture I did with Duke, Stewart recounted. Robinson debuted in the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, breaking the color barrier in that sport several months after his Bruins teammates reached the NFL. [2] Following the end of his football career in 1949, he returned to wrestling part-time between acting jobs until 1962, wrestling the likes of Gorgeous George. While some reviewers and historians claim he could have been a more well-known and cast minority actor if not for his size and physically strong appearance, more along the lines of Sidney Poitier, a near contemporary, Hollywood of the past and present still has few positive roles outside of the stereotypical for ethnic males. (1960's edition! "It took skill to do that fight scene without actually hurting myself or hurting Douglas.". Now, I don't know if Mr Stewart has a prejudice against Negroes, but I just wanted you all to know about it., Stewart later said he wanted to crawl into a mouse hole after that and Wayne told him: Well, welcome to the club. But Pompey won't drink. Strode, the six-foot-four pioneering athlete turned movie star, was born in 1914, in South Central Los Angeles, to Black and Native American parents. [16], In 1952, Strode wrestled almost every week from August 12, 1952, to December 10, 1952, in different cities in California. [citation needed], Strode's acting career was re-activated when producer Walter Mirisch spotted him wrestling and cast him as an African warrior in The Lion Hunters (1951), one of the Bomba the Jungle Boy series. In 1980, Strode was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. That same year, Strode played the eponymous soldier in "Sergeant Rutledge" - director John Ford's Technicolor Western - who is falsely accused of murder and rape. We both gotta be professionals. And I did it myself. He enabled the Stamps to score twice in the title game. Three men stand at the center of the story: Stoddard, Doniphon, and Valance. He did 1,000 push-ups, sit-ups, and knee bends daily. My dream is to play a Mexican bandit in the international market."[20]. They reunited 20 years later when he played the title role in Ford's rather neglected 1960 western 'Sergeant Rutledge', as a black Cavalry officer unfairly tried for the rape and murder of a white women and her father. The drunken marshal won't protect him. The narrative structure is told mainly in a series of flashbacks in which information is revealedin bits, leaving us guessing as to what really happened. Tom has long considered Hallie "my girl," and is adding a room to his farmhouse that has a nice porch with a rocking chair, in preparation for the day he has no doubt she will marry him. "And this is not being facetious, but Mr. Ford defended me; and I don't know that this is going on. Tom could stand up to Valance, but it would suit him to have Stoddard out of the way so that he could bring Hallie home to that porch with its rocking chair. African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African American Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project, Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, Education - Historically Black Colleges (HBCU), Political Activists - Radicals and Marxists, Foundation, Organization, and Corporate Supporters. John Ford's "Apology" Western 'Sergeant Rutledge' Starring Woody Strode Returning to DVD. Liberty Valance cannot abide anyone standing up to him, and the shingle is an affront. Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks (New York: Continuum, 1992); Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) title search by key word; Woody Strode,; The Timeout Film Guide, edited by Tom Milne, Penguin Books, 3rd Edition, 1992. It featured African American athlete turned actor Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Strode in his major . Fortunately the DVD made-to-order Warner Archive specialty label is bringing back Rutledge at a lot lower price, starting next week. Met his wife, a Hawaiian princess and stand-in for the swim sequences for Dorothy Lamour. The club signed Washington and Strode that spring. It's not saying too much to note that Ransom Stoddard is elected to the U. S. Senate because he is "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." Now Hallie has started to like this lawyer-man from the East, who starts up a one-room schoolhouse to teach people how to read. An old black cowboy named Pompey ( Woody Strode) takes Hallie on a buckboard ride into the countryside where they regard the burned-out remains of Doniphon's cottage. As James Stewart explained it, Woody Strode, the actor who was playing Waynes characters best friend, was part of the scene. And he was dressed in blue overalls, a blue work shirt and boots. The Cleveland Browns brought aboard Marion Motley and Bill Willis that same year. 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. Nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his. His mother was full-blooded Blackfoot, and he played often, Indians in John Ford's films. He was also a professional wrestler, wrestling the likes of Gorgeous George. I've done everything but play an Anglo-Saxon. He served in the United States Army during World War II. Woody Strode was a respected actor with strong African and Native American ancestry. His regular portrayal of Native Americansin most of his western films like The Searchers, Stagecoach and his cavalry trilogy, Rio Grande She Wore A Yellow Ribbon and Fort Apache were as bloodthirsty savages. When World War II began, Strode was playing for the Hollywood Bears football team, but soon joined the Air Force and spent much of the war unloading bombs in Guam and the Marianas, as well as playing on the Army football team at March Field in Riverside. Valance gives him a choice: Leave town, or face him in a shootout on Main Street. Acting wasnt his first passion, however, as football at Jefferson High School and UCLA brought him initial fame. Woody Strode spent decades in Hollywood working with larger-than-life names, including John Wayne, Elvis Presley and Kirk Douglas. Ray Hamel. The ban collapsed when the Rams, founded in Cleveland, uprooted to Los Angeles in 1946. His magnificent Western landscapes are always there, but as environment, not travelogue. 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. Woody Strode. "I would have lost that role if I hadn't been in shape, and if I hadn't had a lot of experience as a wrestler," Strode told the Pittsburgh Courier after the film's release, according to Slam Wrestling. As for Sergeant Rutledge, it was at one time, a few years ago, available on DVD on Warner Home Video; but it has been out circulation for years, although you could buy an used copy of it for $35 or more on Amazon or Ebay if you wanted it. Strodes filmography lists 68 appearances. By the mid 1960s Strode had become a respected craftsman and began to make his biggest imprint in Spaghetti Westerns, particularly in Sergio Leones Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). 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! 1942: Star Spangled Rhythm. Not surprisingly, the film is considered one of Fords most overlooked and underrated films, and given the subject matter as well as the era in which it was made and released, it was not a box office success either. He shared a story from the set of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Fords 1962 film about an attorney (Stewart) who, robbed and left for dead by a notorious outlaw, is saved by a rancher (Wayne) and has to start over from scratch. All Rights Reserved. He was drafted at age 27 and soon joined the United States Army Air Corps and spent the war unloading bombs in Guam and the Marianas, as well as playing on the Army football team at March Field in Riverside, California.[10]. Woody Strode passed away on December 31, 1994 from lung cancer in Glendora, California. Woody Strode was born on the 25th of July, 2014. He did 1,000 push-ups, sit-ups, and knee bends daily. "They are not household names like Jackie Robinson. But with his ill health and advancing age, the project was dropped. He explains: "The Western is intrinsically the most political movie genre, because, like Plato's 'Republic,' it is concerned with the founding of cities, and because it depicts the various abstract functions of government as direct, physical actions." In the late 1960s, he appeared in several episodes of the Ron Ely Tarzan television series. All structured data from the file namespace is available under the. "He is one of the most charismatic actors to work in American motion pictures. 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. I don't know if they ever will be. Someone's Got A Woody" Episode 804 -- Pictured: Kurt Fuller as Woody Strode, Peter Stormare as Cyrus Polk -- Ernest Borgnine with actor Woody Strode pose for the movie "The Revengers" in 1972. 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. Who was Woody Strode, Hollywood star who broke the NFL color barrier? He served in the United States Army during World War II. [20], He based himself in Europe from 1968 to 1971.[7]. Woody Strode played 10 games over his career. Is Woody Strode in the Hall of Fame? Strode also played the powerful gladiator who does battle with Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (1960) ." Born July 25, 1914 Died December 31, 1994 (80) Add to list Awards 2 wins & 3 nominations Photos 37 There were of course a few black westerns made during the race film era of the 1940s, such as The Bronze Buckaroo and Harlem Rides the Range, but it took until 1960 for a Hollywood studio feature western that featuredblack cowboys in the old west, during the mid to late 19th century to early 20 the century. He was billed as the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Wrestling Champion and the Pacific Coast Negro Heavyweight Wrestling Champion in 1962. "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. Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox, UCLA hires D'Anton Lynn as defensive coordinator, Harbaugh: Michigan good place to be despite challenges, Georgia's Dumas-Johnson charged with reckless driving. Legacies. Strode's performance in "Spartacus" as the gladiator Draba - who fells Douglas' titular character in a duel, but spares his life to defy the Roman elite - secured him a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor. Europe from 1968 to 1971. [ 7 ], he won the Pulitzer for. He is one of the story: Stoddard, Doniphon, and knee daily. Ten Commandments ( 1956 ) dream is to play a Mexican bandit in the international market. [. 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