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. This page was last edited on 28 July 2021, at 02:45. Stagecoach (1939 trailer screenshots) (11 F) Media in category "Stagecoach (1939 film)" The following 4 files are in this category, out of 4 total. Dnde ver La diligencia? ", - IMDb Mini Biography By: Without ever seeming to hurry, he doesn't include a single gratuitous shot. He served in the United States Army during World War II. 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). Bert Glennon-John Ford in Stagecoach.jpg 806 620; 276 KB Monument Valley, Arizona, US - panoramio (4).jpg 5,184 3,456; 4.48 MB Stagecoach (1939 poster).jpg 1,970 2,937; 2.32 MB Perseverance. The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City last year enshrined him in the Hall of Great Western Performers. Woody Strode (1914-1994) Born July 28, 1914, in Los Angeles, California, Woody Strode (Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode) was first of the star football athletes to become a successful film actor. Cuenta con una puntuacin bastante buena en IMDb: 7.8 estrellas de 10. "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. (One stylistic touch: In this film, he habitually calls Stoddard "Pilgrim," which expresses an insight into the lawyer's character.). Ransom Stoddard believes in the U. S. Constitution, the rule by law, the trust in government. Publicity Listings Cecil B. DeMille cast him in The Ten Commandments (1956) as a slave at $500 a week for five weeks. (1969) and supported Terence Hill and Bud Spencer in Boot Hill (1969) shot in Italy. And it should be mentioned that Rutledge was also the first time in which a black man was seen as a cowboy, or an Army soldier, and not as a slave, a cook or a Pullman porter in aHollywood feature western. I couldn't do it. And so the studio actually tried to trick audiences into thinking that the film was about the white characters. "They suffered on the field. It was "one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to address racism frankly," the Hollywood Reporter's Seth Abramovitch wrote last year. Official Sites, Impeccable musculature and towering height, Often played quiet, dignified men of action, Was one of the first four blacks who integrated professional football in 1946. But Strode (who started his career in the early 1940s after a legendary athletic record at UCLA as a decathlete and a football star, and who died in 1994) is perfectly cast in the lead role as Rutledge and gives a powerful performance in one of the very few lead roles he ever played, among the 90+ films he appeared in, playing mostly supporting roles, sometimes even uncredited, during the early years of his film career. Woody Strode passed away on December 31, 1994 from lung cancer in Glendora, California. 1942: Star Spangled Rhythm. Tom Doniphon is a local farmer, who observes, "Liberty Valance's the toughest man south of the Picketwire--next to me." "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," the New Yorker's Richard Brody writes, "is the greatest American political movie." I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole, Stewart recalled. "[7], "That was a classic," he later said. 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 . The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, How Green Was My Valley among his some 140 films he directed in his career. 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. 1951: The Lion Hunters; Bride of the Gorilla. If someone said, 'there's a Negro over there,' I was just as apt as anyone to turn around and say 'Where? The film was based upon the 1959 novel Comanche Captives by Will Cook . Then came Lewis Milestones war film Pork Chop Hill (1959) and steady work would follow. This man was the definition of a renaissance man, keep reading this article and you will understand exactly why. Sergeant Rutledge is a 1960 western film from Warner Brothers and the director John Ford. Strodes best known role was the gladiator Draba in Stanley Kubricks Sparticus (1960). We used to sit in the best seats at the Coconut Grove (a nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel) listening to Donald Novis sing. UsefulNotes/Notable Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age. 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. I had the greatest Glory Hallelujah ride across the Pecos River that any black man ever had on the screen. Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (July 25, 1914 December 31, 1994) was an American athlete and actor. John Ford's "Apology" Western 'Sergeant Rutledge' Starring Woody Strode Returning to DVD. "Stagecoach" and his cavalry trilogy, "Rio Grande" "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" and "Fort Apache" - were as bloodthirsty savages. You ride horses.' Who was Woody Strode, Hollywood star who broke the NFL color barrier? 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. (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. What a cast! This is fascism against democracy: the tyranny of the strongman over the ordinary people. "And this is not being facetious, but Mr. Ford defended me; and I don't know that this is going on. 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). On a road game in Chicago, hotel management gave he and Washington $100 each to find another hotel in the Black section of town. It featured African American athlete turned actor Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Strode in his major . I carried the whole black race across that river."[3]. Integrating the NFL was the low point of my life. Valance and his two sidekicks hold up a stagecoach on the way to town, and when one of the passengers, Ransom, stands up to him Liberty nearly whips him to death. Once dubbed "the Jackie Robinson of cinema" by Jet Magazine, Strode shared a backfield with Robinson and Washington in 1939. Played for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League from 1948-49 before moving back to the US and beginning his film career. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. He was always magnificent with a no-nonsense style and quiet intellect that no athlete-turned actor has ever surpassed. ", 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.". Though the film is an ambitious attempt to deal with one aspect of how this country has historically handled Native Americans (and there are several impressive scenes in the film), Cheyenne Autumn is seriously undercut by Fords ponderous direction, a wobbly, meandering script, his stilted wooden Indian characters who, a lot of the time, are standing like stoic statues, with the major speaking parts played by either Latino or Italian-American actors, and too many boring side stories involving white characters. As a showdown between Stoddard and Valance Ford begins to seem inevitable, Ford creates considerable tension. Theyre like father and son.. According to Disneyland Vice President Tony Baxter, "In 1954. 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! And I did it myself. 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.. He went on to depict myriad gunslingers at home and abroad. They were unable to find anyone to play the Ethiopian king so Strode was given that role too. He served in the United States Army during World War II. Strode last appeared on screen posthumously in 1995. He had a bigger role in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) for Ford, playing Pompey, John Wayne's hired hand. 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. They reunited 20 years later when he played the title role in Ford's rather neglected 1960 western . 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