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. He was Cree and Blackfoot on his father's side and Cherokee on his mother's. I don't know if they ever will be. Ford had to accept those terms or not make the film.. Strode was very close to the director. February 11-March 6, 2022. Strode also had a brief career as a professional gridiron football player and was among the first African . After his football career, he went on to . "Race is not a factor in the world market," he said in 1981. 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. Without ever seeming to hurry, he doesn't include a single gratuitous shot. Stewart said that he didnt like it. Of these "Liberty Valance" was the most pensive and thoughtful. And so the studio actually tried to trick audiences into thinking that the film was about the white characters. Do you find this information helpful? 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. [1], Strode was born in Los Angeles. But when it came to shooting 1962s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance with Duke and Jimmy Stewart on the Paramount lot, the director opted for black and white instead. Sam Raimi's Western "The Quick and The Dead," starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio, is dedicated to him. Then came Lewis Milestones war film Pork Chop Hill (1959) and steady work would follow. Is Woody Strode in the Hall of Fame? And he said loudly, We have an actor here who objects to the costume on Woody Strode. He then proceeded to suggest that Stewart was prejudiced Strode, who also has since died, was African-American and added that he just wanted to share Stewarts objection to Strodes costume with the whole cast. 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. - IMDb Mini Biography By: How many games did Woody Strode play? Strode brought the best out of his castmates while stealing scenes, sometimes before he spoke a line. His last film was The Quick and the Dead (1995), which starred Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Russell Crowe. "[7], "That was a classic," he later said. He is a member of famous Actor with the age 80 years old group. Stoddard has come to town with a satchel full of law books, and hangs out his shingle at the newspaper office. He enabled the Stamps to score twice in the title game. "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. "The ban mirrored the status of Black Americans at the time: separate, unequal, and living in a de facto apartheid state via Jim Crow in the South and a patchwork of exclusionary laws and customs everywhere else," Patrick Hruby has written at The Guardian. 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. "[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. 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. It deals with a black U.S. Calvary sergeant of a regiment of black troops played by Woody Strode (who appeared in several later Ford films, including his last film Seven Woman playing a Chinese warlord) who is court-marshaled for raping and killing a white woman and her father as well. Woody Strode was a Black Indian (his grandmother was Black Cherokee and his grandfather was Black Muscogee) and an outstanding athlete. Then he asked Stewart to come over. He wrestled intermittently, once defeating Gorgeous George. When Strode tried to help him, Duke knocked his co-star away. John Ford put classic words in my mouth.". 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). He was also a professional wrestler, wrestling the likes of Gorgeous George. Bob Rea . He once said his interracial marriage (to an Hawaiian princess)and integrating the NFLwere the few times that racism caused him concern. Yes, but there's more to it than that, and in John Ford's mind, gun ownership is very much an open question. However, cinematographer William H Clothier later said: There was one reason and one reason only Paramount was cutting costs. 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! The scripts for these were variable but Strode later said "Me, I didn't care. As James Stewart explained it, Woody Strode, the actor who was playing Wayne's character's best friend, was part of the scene. Played for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League from 1948-49 before moving back to the US and beginning his film career. Valuing his toughness, Ford cast Strode as Rutledge over future Oscar winners Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. Western icon John Wayne had a legendary collaboration with director John Ford that lasted five decades and transformed both mens careers. He had a small role in Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), as a chauffeur of Rochester (Edward Anderson) and could be glimpsed in No Time for Love (1943). He wasan outstanding athlete before his entry into movies. The Cleveland Browns brought aboard Marion Motley and Bill Willis that same year. Legacies. 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. 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. And according to the actor, Ford froze, then walked away. Woody Strode. As we got out of the L.A. area we found these racial tensions. "And this is not being facetious, but Mr. Ford defended me; and I don't know that this is going on. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. It was the first UCLAUSC rivalry football game with national implications.[9]. Decathlete who also played football professionally in the CFL, and enjoyed a successful acting career. Cattlemen do not. Strode is perhaps best remembered as the stoic slave gladiator in Spartacus (1960) who tells Kirk Douglas: I dont want to be your friend. Tom Doniphon is a local farmer, who observes, "Liberty Valance's the toughest man south of the Picketwire--next to me." "The big studios wanted an actor like Sidney [Poitier] or [Harry] Belafonte," recalled Strode. Perseverance. 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. ", - IMDb Mini Biography By: 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. There's a lot in the film if we care to notice. The character was named after Woody Strode, the legendary Spartacus actor who starred in numerous Westerns throughout the 1960s and 1970s. 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. "I had five pairs of blue jeans, I was lonely, and I didn't speak the language," he said. He died the following year at age 80. [29] He is buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California. I'm glad you made it.. 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. 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. I'd do that if I could. Strode had begun his association with Ford back in 1939, with an uncredited role in his classic western 'Stagecoach'. 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. He could be seen in The Gambler from Natchez (1954), Jungle Gents (1954) a Bowery Boys movie set in Africa, and The Silver Chalice (1954). [2], He attended Thomas Jefferson High School in South East Los Angeles and college at UCLA, where he was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. 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. Tom Doniphon tells him that without a gun in his hand and the experience to use it, he will sooner or later certainly be killed by Valance. Bit of a game changer." Though Woody usually means well, he's not always the . He was the African antagonist in Tarzan Fights for Life (1958) and an Apache chief who took on Sean Connery in the western, Shalako (1968). His magnificent Western landscapes are always there, but as environment, not travelogue. "It had dignity. He was also a professional wrestler, wrestling the likes of Gorgeous George. ), TCM Remembers 1995 in Chronological Order, American actors who appeared in spaghetti westerns. He was usually unbilled in films like Sundown (1941), Star-Spangled Rhythm (1942) and No Time for Love (1943). Language. There is a purity to the John Ford style. 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. He broke two ribs and a shoulder. In a few characters and a gripping story, Ford dramatizes the debate about guns that still continues in many Western states. A handful of Black players suited up in the NFL in the league's earliest seasons, but franchise owners at the behest of George Preston Marshall, the segregationist founder of the Washington team, conspired to exclude them from 1934 to 1946. He arranges his characters within the frame to reflect power dynamics--or sometimes to suggest a balance is changing. So why would actors put up with him? His wife is Tina Ellawee (10 May 1982 - 31 December 1994) ( his death), Luana Strode (14 October 1940 - 17 September 1980) ( her death) ( 2 children) "I know Gus well." "Shawn." "Him too. 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. I'd play a Viking with blue contact lenses and a blond wig if I could. Broken ribs and an ailing shoulder spurred Strode to retire in 1949. [25], His first wife was Princess Luukialuana Kalaeloa (a.k.a. How much did Woody Strode weigh when playing? We used to sit in the best seats at the Coconut Grove (a nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel) listening to Donald Novis sing. Fortunately the DVD made-to-order Warner Archive specialty label is bringing back Rutledge at a lot lower price, starting next week. Race is not a factor in the world market," Strode said. Strode gave the Hollywood establishment what they demanded and appeared in some of the best and the worst of what they offered him. 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. Sheriff Woody, the beloved "Toy Story" protagonist, was said to be named after Strode. ", Strode blamed Ford for almost all the tension on The Man From Liberty Valances set. Strode was in City Beneath the Sea (1953) directed by Budd Boetticher, and The Royal African Rifles. He could beat Glenn Morris, the 1936 Olympic gold-medal decathlete, in . Nationality: American. On a road game in Chicago, hotel management gave he and Washington $100 each to find another hotel in the Black section of town. 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. Who Is Woody Strode's Wife? Often typecast as a physical specimen, commentators tended to dwell on Strode's athleticism and chiseled figure, ignoring his acting prowess, the film scholar Frank Manchel once wrote in the Journal of Black Studies. Strode also served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. "[3], Strode posed for a nude portrait, part of Hubert Stowitts's acclaimed exhibition of athletic portraits shown at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (although the inclusion of black and Jewish athletes caused the Nazis to close the exhibit). "Their actions on and off the field opened a door that allowed other people to follow.". This page was last edited on 28 July 2021, at 02:45. [17] He later teamed up with both Bobo Brazil[18] and Bearcat Wright. Pompey actor Woody Strode remembered that Ford kept needling Duke about his failure to make it as afootballplayer, comparing him to Strode who was a former NFL player. He is Tom's farmhand and seems to be his only confidant, a protective presence; he always has Tom's back. 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. As James Stewart explained it, Woody Strode, the actor who was playing Waynes characters best friend, was part of the scene. 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. No sentimentality or hopeful message. Woody played for the Los Angeles Rams after their move from Cleveland. 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