Race is not a factor in the world market," Strode said. 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. 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. This man was the definition of a renaissance man, keep reading this article and you will understand exactly why. Woody lived in a modest home overlooking Glendora and the San Gabriel Valley, north east of Los Angeles about 25 miles. [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. 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. "The big studios wanted an actor like Sidney [Poitier] or [Harry] Belafonte," recalled Strode. "On every play, if you're a (skill player) like Motley, Washington, or Strode, you can get pounded on the ground and beaten up," Greenburg said. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Of course being a director from what is still called The Golden Age of Hollywood and despite the fact that Ford considered himself a political progressive (though he was close friends with actors he worked with who were often right wing reactionaries, like John Wayne and James Stewart), his films were not above dealing in negative racial stereotypes often. 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. "Stagecoach" and his cavalry trilogy, "Rio Grande" "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" and "Fort Apache" - were as bloodthirsty savages. How many . Then he asked Stewart to come over. They were unable to find anyone to play the Ethiopian king so Strode was given that role too. John Ford put classic words in my mouth You never seen a Negro come off a mountain like John Wayne before. Decathlete who also played football professionally in the CFL, and enjoyed a successful acting career. Liberty Valance cannot abide anyone standing up to him, and the shingle is an affront. "It had dignity. However Warners obviously thought that, though a black man was the lead in their film, the audience wouldnt be able to handle it. [3], In 1941, Strode had dabbled for several months in professional wrestling. Strode racked up 91 acting credits in six different decades, according to IMDb. In the 1940s, at the beginning of the "Golden Age" of professional wrestling on television, Strode entered the game, campaigning as a "Baby Face" (hero) as opposed to the "Heel" (villain). 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. It takes place in the town of Shinbone, in an unnamed territory that is moving toward a vote on statehood. 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. He was a decathlete and football star who was one of the first African American players in the National Football League in the postwar era. 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. "I have the world market on my side even if I don't have the American market.". How tall was Woody Strode? He was reluctant until they offered him $500 a week. I said, All right, where are the pluckers?" Then Strode realised, I was out in the world market with a bald head. When out on the road with the team, Strode had his first experience with racism, something he wasn't aware of growing up in Los Angeles. Strode also served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. After his football career, he went on to become a film actor, where he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Spartacus in 1960. 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. As we got out of the L.A. area we found these racial tensions. In an interview given before he died, Stewart once described the toll that Fords meanness took on Wayne. "Sergeant Rutledge" boosted Strode's profile but didn't catapult him to superstardom, the Times wrote in 1971, surmising "he and the film, with its sympathies strongly on the side of the Black man, were ahead of their time." As they were preparing to shoot, Ford came up to Stewart and asked, What do you think of Woodys costume?. ", 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.". Sergeant Rutledge is a 1960 western film from Warner Brothers and the director John Ford. My dream is to play a Mexican bandit in the international market."[20]. Rams owner Dan Reeves didn't like that Strode's marriage was interracial: his first wife, Luana, was descended from a Hawaiian queen. Stewart said that he didnt like it. There is a purity to the John Ford style. 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. Racial discrimination slowed their progress in the game. Because, in his very long career as a film director, starting in the silent era in 1917, until Seven Women (his final film in 1965), he made more than his fair share of classics which still stand the test of time, like The Informer, The Grapes of Wrath, The Quiet Man. 20072023 Blackpast.org. Boston Globe December 20, 1981: 1. More info, The cantankerous and eccentric John Ford had filmed other Westerns with John Wayne in colour from The Searchers to She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Posed for one of two paintings commissioned by, Reportedly, his favorite film from his career was, Played college football for the UCLA Bruins, the most integrated collegiate team in the nation in 1939, which included future NFL running back. 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. 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 had five pairs of blue jeans, I was lonely, and I didn't speak the language," he said. Valuing his toughness, Ford cast Strode as Rutledge over future Oscar winners Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Luana Strode), a distant relative of Liliuokalani, the last queen of Hawaii. 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. This quartet struck a blow for racial inclusiveness in pro football as Black Americans sought it nationwide. Local sportswriter Halley Harding, a retired Negro Leagues shortstop, led a civic campaign that pressured the Rams to integrate as a condition of playing in the publicly funded L.A. John Ford put classic words in my mouth.". Woody played for the Los Angeles Rams after their move from Cleveland. "It had dignity. After that I said thats all I needed. The film made Strode a major star in European cinema, increasing his salary to a minimum $150,000 per movie. Prior to 1946, he played semi-pro football. But with his ill health and advancing age, the project was dropped. Reveling in the win postgame, Strode rode a horse into the lobby of the team hotel. He had many murders on his conscience, and much enjoyed using a leather bullwhip. Strode's Associated Press obituary praised his work in Westerns and period dramas, but didn't mention the trail he blazed on the gridiron. 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. I might have to kill you. He appeared in any number of other films, among them The Ten Commandments (1956). Strode was a gladiator in Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) and was in Jungle Man-Eaters (1954), a Jungle Jim film. Otherwise, we would have been inMonument ValleyorBrackettvilleand we would have had colour stock. Who Is Woody Strode's Wife? But they should be.". As a showdown between Stoddard and Valance Ford begins to seem inevitable, Ford creates considerable tension. Robinson played college football at UCLA before he shifted to baseball full time and made history. He had a bigger role in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) for Ford, playing Pompey, John Wayne's hired hand. As played by Jimmy Stewart, Stoddard spends much of the film wearing an apron and washing dishes in the restaurant, sending a hardly ambiguous message about a man who doesn't wear a gun. ), TCM Remembers 1995 in Chronological Order, American actors who appeared in spaghetti westerns. He could beat Glenn Morris, the 1936 Olympic gold-medal decathlete, in . But even worse is the poster for the film (above) on which Strode appears, although his name is listed fourth and in tiny letters even smaller that the third person billed actress Billie Burke, who has a small supporting role with just a few lines. Ransom Stoddard believes in the U. S. Constitution, the rule by law, the trust in government. 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 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. Publicity Listings He said, "Well, they're not tough enough to do what I want Sergeant Rutledge to be. He is a member of famous Actor with the age 80 years old group. 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. 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. He decided to stay in Europe. Lee Marvin moves into full blown stardom - becoming a legitimate box office titan - in one of the greatest Westerns ever made (My Favorite) starring along side Western Film Greats Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Claudia Cardinale, Ralph Belamy . He died the following year at age 80. He appeared once on Johnny Weissmuller's 19551956 syndicated television series Jungle Jim and was in an episode of Private Secretary. Then he asked someone to blow a whistle, which they did, and he called out, Everybody, would you please gather around? So they did. If someone said, 'there's a Negro over there,' I was just as apt as anyone to turn around and say 'Where? On top of that, in the early 1930's, Ford also made several films with long-lambasted black character . He and Kenny Washington integrated the National Football League (NFL), and Strode played for the Los Angeles Rams in 1946 before moving to the Canadian Football League in 1948. Who was Woody Strode, Hollywood star who broke the NFL color barrier? 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. . Canton called this summer, feting Strode and the rest of the Forgotten Four at Johnson and Glauber's urging. Im glad you made it.. 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. Filmography - 1939: Stagecoach. "I had a certain amount of crudeness that went back a hundred years, and that's what he liked. I carried the whole black race across that river."[3]. I'd play a Viking with blue contact lenses and a blond wig.". Strode had begun his association with Ford back in 1939, with an uncredited role in his classic western 'Stagecoach'. Strode landed a major starring role as an expert archer and soldier of fortune in the 1966 Western The Professionals. Keeping to one side, Tom Doniphon observes everything but is slow to act; his strength is silently coiled. Born in Los Angeles, he was an athlete and a football star in his youth. He was also a professional wrestler, wrestling the likes of Gorgeous George. Woody lived in a modest home overlooking Glendora and the San Gabriel Valley, north east of Los Angeles about 25 miles. The drunken marshal won't protect him. Ford isn't making an anachronistic statement on racism, but he's being sure we notice 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. Following Cat Ballou (Oscar) this is one of 4 Westerns . The others were Bill Willis and. [10] Strode and Kenny Washington were two of the first African-Americans to play in major college programs and later the modern National Football League (along with Marion Motley and Bill Willis, who signed with the contemporary rival All-America Football Conference), playing for the Los Angeles Rams in 1946. Despite the lack of opportunities for actors of color in his era, Woody Strode left a legacy worth revisiting. "Their actions on and off the field opened a door that allowed other people to follow.". The Pompey actor assessed: What a miserable film to make.. Besides, there is a complication. [25], His first wife was Princess Luukialuana Kalaeloa (a.k.a. [24], In 2021, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. (1969) and supported Terence Hill and Bud Spencer in Boot Hill (1969) shot in Italy. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. [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. The two became friends, and Ford later gave Wayne his breakthrough role in Stagecoach, the film that launched Wayne to Hollywood stardom. At 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, Strode was an athletic marvel in his prime. [1], Strode was born in Los Angeles. 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. "He is one of the most charismatic actors to work in American motion pictures. Played college football and broke color barrier at the same time as Kenny Washington. Whistlin' Dan: 1932: Stagecoach Man in saloon : 1939: Sundown Tribal Policeman: 1941: Star Spangled Rhythm Rochester's motorcycle chauffeur: 1942: Bride of the Gorilla Nedo - Policeman: 1951: Lion Hunters Walu: 1951: [3] He called it "the first dramatic thing that I had done."[7]. This is all to be seen: The role of a free press, the function of a town meeting, the debate about statehood, the civilizing influence of education. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," the New Yorker's Richard Brody writes, "is the greatest American political movie." I had the greatest Glory Hallelujah ride across the Pecos River that any black man ever had on the screen.