In 1946 he was one of the first blacks to play in the National Football League. Strode also played the powerful gladiator who does battle with Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (1960). John Ford and John Wayne together created much of the mythology of the Old West we carry in our minds. An athlete turned actor, Strode was a top-notch decathlete and a football star at UCLA. There are different takes over why, including that he thought it was a better medium. 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. There was nothing nice about it., It is believed that Strode made his film debut as early as 1939 as an unbilled extra in John Fords Stagecoach, but most work at the time saw him in blackface in jungle films. Woody Strode was born on the 25th of July, 2014. 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. In the late 1960s, he appeared in several episodes of the Ron Ely Tarzan television series. He was also a professional wrestler, wrestling the likes of Gorgeous George. 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. 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 was a gladiator in Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) and was in Jungle Man-Eaters (1954), a Jungle Jim film. We both gotta be professionals. Rams owner Dan Reeves didn't like that Strode's marriage was interracial: his first wife, Luana, was descended from a Hawaiian queen. Ransom Stoddard believes in the U. S. Constitution, the rule by law, the trust in government. Strode landed a major starring role as an expert archer and soldier of fortune in the 1966 Western The Professionals. Keyshawn Johnson wrote a book about them. 1941:Sundown. [30], Strode was a dedicated martial artist under the direction of Frank Landers in the art of Seishindo Kenpo. Woody Strode played 10 games over his career. Everyone in Shinbone hates Liberty Valance, but they're powerless against him and his two sidekicks, one of them a giggling fool. It was "one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to address racism frankly," the Hollywood Reporter's Seth Abramovitch wrote last year. ", Also online in my Great Movies Collection: John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath," "Stagecoach," "The Searchers," "Rio Bravo" and "My Darling Clementine," and John Wayne in Howard Hawk's "Red River.". I'm glad you made it.. However Warners obviously thought that, though a black man was the lead in their film, the audience wouldnt be able to handle it. And I looked at Duke Wayne, and he was beaming like a cat that had just eaten the mouse And Duke came over, and said, Well, welcome to the club. I said, All right, where are the pluckers?" Then Strode realised, I was out in the world market with a bald head. [16], In 1952, Strode wrestled almost every week from August 12, 1952, to December 10, 1952, in different cities in California. He is Tom's farmhand and seems to be his only confidant, a protective presence; he always has Tom's back. Strode had an excellent support part in The Last Voyage (1960) playing a heroic stoker, though he was only billed fifth. In 1959 he portrayed the conflicted, some would say cowardly, Private Franklin in Pork Chop Hill, which brought him critical acclaim. Has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The character Woody from the "Toy Story" films is named after Strode, who had appeared in a number of classic Western films. Stewart said that he didnt like it. He attended UCLA, where he played multiple sports and starred for the track and field team. I carried the whole black race across that river."[3]. James Stewart Once Described What It Was Like Working with a Frequent John Wayne Collaborator, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5mcU74rHGM, James Stewart on what it was like to work with John Ford (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5mcU74rHGM). 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. It asks the question: Does a man need to carry a gun in order to disagree or state an opinion? 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. 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). Youd have thought I was marrying Lana Turner, they way Whites in Hollywood acted, he recalled. | Being married with two children, he needed steady work. Keeping to one side, Tom Doniphon observes everything but is slow to act; his strength is silently coiled. This quartet struck a blow for racial inclusiveness in pro football as Black Americans sought it nationwide. 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. (1969) and supported Terence Hill and Bud Spencer in Boot Hill (1969) shot in Italy. Is Woody Strode in the Hall of Fame? "They suffered on the field. Strode is perhaps best remembered as the stoic slave gladiator in Spartacus (1960) who tells Kirk Douglas: I dont want to be your friend. He is killed and his death sparks a gladiator rebellion. But hes eventually taken in by his own men to face trial. Thankfully, the show never subjected Woody - or viewers - to that possibility. In a long flashback involving most of the film, Ford recalls the events leading up to that day. "Their actions on and off the field opened a door that allowed other people to follow.". 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? Waterfield laughs and says: You sons of bitches, youre living good., Strode by then was in his early 30s and his football days were numbered. I make westerns.. He was interred with military honors at Riverside National Cemetery, east of his hometown. Woody Strode was born in California. At 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, Strode was an athletic marvel in his prime. In a long flashback involving most of the film, Ford recalls the events leading up to that day. On a road game in Chicago, hotel management gave he and Washington $100 each to find another hotel in the Black section of town. I've done everything but play an Anglo-Saxon. Racial discrimination slowed their progress in the game. 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. Robinson played college football at UCLA before he shifted to baseball full time and made history. Four years Strode's junior, Washington scampered for a 92-yard touchdown in 1947 and spent three seasons with the Rams before retiring. "Visually, he is a tower of strength and also a tower of endurance," film historian Donald Bogle said about Strode in a Turner Classic Movies segment a couple of years ago. It is made clear in "Liberty Valance" that segregation was the practice in the territory. Additionally, the. In the trailer below, Strode is given third billing, though hes the lead. 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. At the time Ford yelled: Dont hit him Woody! It was the only picture I did with Sergio Leonethe close ups were great, Strode said. "And this is not being facetious, but Mr. Ford defended me; and I don't know that this is going on. Born in Los Angeles in 1914, Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode died at age 80 on New Year's Eve 1994. But Rutledge faces it heroically and is not passive either, even breaking ranks and official orders to try to track down the evidence and the real killer who will clear him. As the film opens, U. S. Senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) arrives in Shinbone by the new railroad with his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) to attend the funeral of a man named Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). On top of that, in the early 1930's, Ford also made several films with long-lambasted black character . His composition is classical. Strode last appeared on screen posthumously in 1995. The two became friends, and Ford later gave Wayne his breakthrough role in Stagecoach, the film that launched Wayne to Hollywood stardom. They were unable to find anyone to play the Ethiopian king so Strode was given that role too. Ford isn't making an anachronistic statement on racism, but he's being sure we notice it. It's clear they loved him. [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. "I'll continue to work in Europe because I'm a star there," Strode said in 1982, per TCM. When Strode tried to help him, Duke knocked his co-star away. His world-class decathlon capabilities were spearheaded by a 50ft (15m) plus shot put (when the world record was 57ft (17m)) and a 6ft 5in (1.96m) high jump (the world record at time was 6ft 10in (2.08m)). 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. He could beat Glenn Morris, the 1936 Olympic gold-medal decathlete, in . But Ford also effectively takes advantage of the physical, broad-shouldered, overpowering presence of Strode, shooting him often from a low angle to let him dominate the frame and the audience. As an athlete, he helped integrate the NFL. Strode worked in B-movies through the '70s and '80s and acted as the narrator for Mario Van Peebles' Black Western Posse in 1993. Kalaeloa, 19462014), and a daughter, June. United States. "You'd have thought I was marrying Lana Turner, the way the whites in Hollywood acted," he later said. 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). 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. Ford gave Strode the title role in Sergeant Rutledge (1960) as a member of the Ninth Cavalry, who is greatly admired by the other black soldiers in the unit and is falsely accused of the rape and murder of a white woman. 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." As they were preparing to shoot, Ford came up to Stewart and asked, What do you think of Woodys costume?. 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. Then he asked Stewart to come over. He served in the United States Army during World War II. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. And Ford, who was usually straightforward when it came to the visual aspects of his films, shows some real visual and dramatic creativity. 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. They reunited 20 years later when he played the title role in Ford's rather neglected 1960 western . His last film was The Quick and the Dead (1995), which starred Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Russell Crowe. 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. According to Woody, he's even less in control of himself, and all of his faculties, when tickling is involved. Strode was born in Los Angeles on July 25, 1914, the son . "Stagecoach" and his cavalry trilogy, "Rio Grande" "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" and "Fort Apache" - were as bloodthirsty savages. And I did it myself. ", - IMDb Mini Biography By: [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. He appeared once on Johnny Weissmuller's 19551956 syndicated television series Jungle Jim and was in an episode of Private Secretary. But Stewart, an Oscar winner known for such timeless hits as The Philadelphia Story, Vertigo and Mr. If the money was right, I'd play Mickey Mouse.[3], Strode went to Europe to make Scipio the African (1971) and did some more Westerns: The Last Rebel (1971), and The Revengers (1972) (a "regular knockdown, dragout western said Strode[3]). After his football career, he went on to . He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, unloading bombs in the Pacific. Strode made a successful transition from sports hero to the movie screen, though Hollywood seemed more predisposed to his magnificent physique and gallant stride than his acting ability. In the twilight of his film career, Woody Strode reflected on the opportunities he was denied and others he seized. [8] They played eventual conference and national champion USC to a scoreless tie with the 1940 Rose Bowl on the line. Strode had begun his association with Ford back in 1939, with an uncredited role in his classic western 'Stagecoach'. The Legend of Woody Strode. Strode and teammate Kenny Washington were among the best-known college football players in the nation. " [20], Strode was in Che! After the war, Strode played briefly with the Los Angeles Rams and along with Washington became the first African Americans to play in the National Football League. Strode was a college track and football star at UCLA, one of the first Blacks to integrate the NFL, a professional wrestler, a Golden Globe nominated actor, and a WWII veteran. 1951: The Lion Hunters; Bride of the Gorilla. View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro, Movie Images: My Favorite Film Characters of All-Time! Smith Goes to Washington, did not escape Fords sadism unscathed. 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. Indeed Hallie and Nora Ericson (Jeanette Nolan) are the only two noticeable women in town; little wonder Tom's love for Hallie is intense. [3], "I got a cultural educationmajored in history and education," he said in a 1971 interview.

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