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The roles he was offered fell within those limited, though notable range. This quartet struck a blow for racial inclusiveness in pro football as Black Americans sought it nationwide. In a later tribute to Strode, the 'Sheriff Woody' character in the Toy Story movies was named after him. However, by the early 1960s, when Ford was in his late 60s and nearing the end of his long career, the director seemed to have mellowed with age, discovering and exploring a more humanist side to himself. 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. "[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). 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. No sentimentality or hopeful message. He broke two ribs and a shoulder. 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'll continue to work in Europe because I'm a star there," Strode said in 1982, per TCM. Additionally, the. And he was dressed in blue overalls, a blue work shirt and boots. 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. Woody Strode was born in 1914 in Los Angeles. 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." 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. [3], "I got a cultural educationmajored in history and education," he said in a 1971 interview. "They suffered on the field. But he also was described once as a tough, two-fisted, hard-drinking Irish sonofabitch who was known to treat actors on his films horribly, by bullying, yelling and even mocking them. Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (July 25, 1914 - December 31, 1994) was an American athlete and actor. 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). The character was named after Woody Strode, the legendary Spartacus actor who starred in numerous Westerns throughout the 1960s and 1970s. This past August in Canton, Ohio, family members accepted the Ralph Hay Pioneer Award on the players' behalf at the enshrinement gala that precedes the NFL season. Strodes best known role was the gladiator Draba in Stanley Kubricks Sparticus (1960). Strode, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, died of lung cancer in Los Angeles in 1994 at the age of 80. 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. Woody Strode was a respected actor with strong African and Native American ancestry. [3] He called it "the first dramatic thing that I had done."[7]. 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. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Bob Rea <bobnray@concentric.net> 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. "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. I might have to kill you. He appeared in any number of other films, among them The Ten Commandments (1956). He did 1,000 push-ups, sit-ups, and knee bends daily. Sam Raimi's Western "The Quick and The Dead," starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio, is dedicated to him. "It took skill to do that fight scene without actually hurting myself or hurting Douglas.". It takes place in the town of Shinbone, in an unnamed territory that is moving toward a vote on statehood. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, How Green Was My Valley among his some 140 films he directed in his career. The drunken marshal won't protect him. This man was the definition of a renaissance man, keep reading this article and you will understand exactly why. (1979), and an episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979). Strode made his first appearance in Sundown (1941) playing a native policeman. Strodes filmography lists 68 appearances. Once dubbed "the Jackie Robinson of cinema" by Jet Magazine, Strode shared a backfield with Robinson and Washington in 1939. The role set his Hollywood career in motion. I carried the whole black race across that river."[3]. 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]). 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. The supporting cast includes Linda Cristal, Andy Devine, and John McIntire. If someone said, 'there's a Negro over there,' I was just as apt as anyone to turn around and say 'Where? At 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, Strode was an athletic marvel in his prime. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. In the film, Strodes character recites the Declaration of Independence but apologizes for forgetting the phrase all men are created equal, a poignant line for the 1962 audience. Pompey/Strode physically carries and thereby saves a drunken, suicidal John Wayne from his burning home. However Warners obviously thought that, though a black man was the lead in their film, the audience wouldnt be able to handle it. 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). Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. The 5/6/70 issue of "Variety", in the Italian Films Shooting column, lists the movie "Violence" filming in Morocco, director. Sergeant Rutledge is a 1960 western film from Warner Brothers and the director John Ford. We heard stories about Kenny Washington where he was just battered throughout the entire football game.". He films mostly on sets, but we're not particularly aware. 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. (Whats a brother got to do to get some respect around here?). He was in The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961) and guest starred twice on Rawhide, playing an Australian aboriginal in one episode and a buffalo soldier in the other. 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'd do that if I could. The result was a few films in which he seemed to be, in a way, making an apology for the wrongs he committed in terms ofhis distorted portrayals of people of color in his previous films. But it must have made a real impact on Ford himself, since, in the early 1970s, he planned to come out of retirement with a new film about the life of the first black graduate of West Point, Henry Flipper. 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). The Cleveland Browns brought aboard Marion Motley and Bill Willis that same year. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. It was the only picture I did with Sergio Leonethe close ups were great, Strode said. Filmography - 1939: Stagecoach. Pompey actor Woody Strode remembered that Ford "kept needling Duke about his failure to make it as a football player", comparing him to Strode who was a former NFL player. 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). 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. Strode racked up 91 acting credits in six different decades, according to IMDb. Hell, we thought we were white. Youd have thought I was marrying Lana Turner, they way Whites in Hollywood acted, he recalled. Valance gives him a choice: Leave town, or face him in a shootout on Main Street. 1951: The Lion Hunters; Bride of the Gorilla. [31], Sheriff Woody of the Toy Story series of animated films is named after Strode,[32] as was the recurring character of the Santa Barbara Coroner in the television series Psych. He had a bigger role in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) for Ford, playing Pompey, John Wayne's hired hand. Ford isn't making an anachronistic statement on racism, but he's being sure we notice it. "But the producers answered, 'Not necessary. And according to the actor, Ford froze, then walked away. Rams owner Dan Reeves didn't like that Strode's marriage was interracial: his first wife, Luana, was descended from a Hawaiian queen. "[7], "That was a classic," he later said. . He was an Indian in Shalako (1968) and played a gunslinger in the opening sequence of Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). 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. Then he asked someone to blow a whistle, which they did, and he called out, Everybody, would you please gather around? So they did. 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