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Facts About Woody Strode
He was a great athlete and actor.
I haven’t seen Woody Strode in a lot of movies, but when I have, he made an impression. One of the westerns where he made an impression was, The Professionals. More about that later. In addition, he was great as John Wayne’s hired hand in, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.
Perhaps his biggest star turn was in Sergeant Rutledge. It really didn’t catapult Rutledge to huge stardom despite the quality of the movie. In addition, Strode was a tremendous athlete.
While Strode had a great career, in a different time it seems like he would have had so many more opportunities. So, here are some things you didn’t know about Woody Strode.
1: Woody, from Toy Story, was named after Woody Strode.
It’s nice that the movie makers named the character Woody after Woody Strode, but I couldn’t help but notice the character didn’t look like Woody Strode.
2: The cast of The Professionals was a macho bunch including Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, Robert Ryan and Woody Strode.
It’s reported that Burt Lancaster challenged Woody to various feats of strength and came away a dejected loser. I wonder if he had…
