Woody Strode

Woody Strode (born July 28, 1914, Los Angeles, California, U.S.—died December 31, 1994, Glendora, California) was an American character actor who was part of director John Ford’s "family" of actors, appearing in nearly a dozen of Ford’s films. Strode also had a brief career as a professional gridiron football player and was among the first African Americans to play in the National Football League.

While a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, Strode starred on the football team along with two other African American players, Jackie Robinson and Kenny Washington. In 1946 Strode and Washington signed with the Los Angeles Rams, thus (along with two others) integrating professional football in the United States. After a single season with the Rams, Strode played football in Canada and also did a stint as a professional wrestler. He made his film debut in Sundown in 1941, but it was not until the 1950s that he worked regularly in the movie industry. He appeared as the king of Ethiopia in The Ten Commandments (1956). He also gave memorable performances in Spartacus (1960) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), as well as the Ford-directed films Sergeant Rutledge (1960), Two Rode Together (1961), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). In Sergeant Rutledge Strode played the lead role of a cavalry officer wrongly accused of rape and murder. In 1968 he starred in Black Jesus, an Italian production of a story based on the life of African nationalist leader Patrice Lumumba.