WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.100 I want to start today's deep dive by giving you 00:00:03.100 --> 00:00:05.740 a bit of a puzzle to solve. Oh, OK. I love a 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:08.800 good puzzle. Right. So try to find the connecting 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:11.859 thread between these four very distinct pieces 00:00:11.859 --> 00:00:14.640 of history. Right. Let's hear them. OK. We have 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:18.399 the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the breaking of the 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:21.960 National Football League's color barrier, the 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:26.219 cinematic masterpiece Spartacus, and the Pixar 00:00:26.219 --> 00:00:29.329 movie Toy Story. Wow. I mean, that sounds like 00:00:29.329 --> 00:00:31.250 an impossible trivia question. It really does. 00:00:31.350 --> 00:00:33.350 You're talking about events that span, what, 00:00:33.490 --> 00:00:36.350 almost a century? And they cross entirely different 00:00:36.350 --> 00:00:39.030 cultural arenas too. Yeah. Like international 00:00:39.030 --> 00:00:41.649 sports, civil rights, classical Hollywood cinema, 00:00:42.189 --> 00:00:44.729 and modern computer animation. On the surface, 00:00:45.210 --> 00:00:47.750 They don't seem to belong in the same conversation 00:00:47.750 --> 00:00:50.210 at all. They really don't. But there is a single 00:00:50.210 --> 00:00:52.630 flesh and blood connection tying them all together. 00:00:52.950 --> 00:00:55.829 And today our mission is to explore the extraordinary 00:00:55.829 --> 00:00:58.869 life of the man who links those historical milestones. 00:00:59.090 --> 00:01:01.189 It's quite a life. It is. If you're the kind 00:01:01.189 --> 00:01:04.010 of person who loves those aha moments, you know, 00:01:04.709 --> 00:01:07.290 where seemingly unrelated dots of history suddenly 00:01:07.290 --> 00:01:10.469 connect to reveal this much larger picture. Well. 00:01:10.750 --> 00:01:13.629 This life story is an absolute masterclass in 00:01:13.629 --> 00:01:15.650 Breaking Boundaries. We are diving into the world 00:01:15.650 --> 00:01:18.209 of Woody Strode. And we have a fantastic stack 00:01:18.209 --> 00:01:20.769 of source material for this deep dive. We're 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:25.109 looking at a really comprehensive biographical 00:01:25.109 --> 00:01:28.209 overview of Strode's life. Right? It traces his 00:01:28.209 --> 00:01:30.870 journey from his birth in Los Angeles in 1914 00:01:30.870 --> 00:01:34.500 all the way to his death in 1994. And the sources 00:01:34.500 --> 00:01:37.159 detail his mixed -race heritage, too. He had 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:39.540 African -American, Cherokee, and Creek grandmothers, 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:42.760 and an African -American grandfather. And what 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:44.700 emerges from these pages is a portrait of a man 00:01:44.700 --> 00:01:48.299 who constantly, fundamentally refused to be boxed 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:50.400 in by the incredibly restrictive era he lived 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:52.180 in. Yeah. And before we really get into it, I 00:01:52.180 --> 00:01:54.689 want to ask you directly, the listener. What 00:01:54.689 --> 00:01:56.530 stands out to you when you hear the phrase Hollywood 00:01:56.530 --> 00:01:58.870 pioneer? That's a great question. Because usually 00:01:58.870 --> 00:02:01.409 we picture like a director with a megaphone, 00:02:01.430 --> 00:02:04.950 right? Or an executive inventing some new camera 00:02:04.950 --> 00:02:08.250 angle. Or maybe a screenwriter fighting the studio 00:02:08.250 --> 00:02:11.930 system. You rarely picture a six foot four world 00:02:11.930 --> 00:02:14.330 class decathlete. Which is exactly what Strode 00:02:14.330 --> 00:02:16.030 was. I mean, long before he ever stepped in front 00:02:16.030 --> 00:02:18.789 of a movie camera, he was absolutely dominating 00:02:18.789 --> 00:02:21.310 track and field at UCLA. dominating is almost 00:02:21.310 --> 00:02:23.229 an understatement. It really is. We're talking 00:02:23.229 --> 00:02:26.050 about a guy throwing the shot put over 50 feet. 00:02:26.830 --> 00:02:29.669 And the world record at the time was only 57 00:02:29.669 --> 00:02:32.810 feet. Wow. Yeah. He was high jumping 6 feet 5 00:02:32.810 --> 00:02:35.110 inches when the global record was 6 feet 10. 00:02:35.330 --> 00:02:38.050 So he was literally brushing up against the absolute 00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:40.389 limits of human physical achievement at the time. 00:02:40.469 --> 00:02:42.889 Exactly. And his physique was so striking that 00:02:42.889 --> 00:02:45.129 it actually caused an international incident. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:48.520 Which brings us to the first piece of that opening 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:52.219 puzzle, right? The 1936 Berlin Olympics. Ah, 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:55.439 yes. So Strode posed for a nude athletic portrait 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:58.000 as part of this acclaimed exhibition by an artist 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.860 named Hubert Stowitz, and this was actually displayed 00:03:00.860 --> 00:03:04.219 at those games. But, I mean... Considering this 00:03:04.219 --> 00:03:07.500 is Berlin in 1936, the Third Reich couldn't have 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:09.740 been happy about a black athlete being featured 00:03:09.740 --> 00:03:11.900 as a pinnacle of the human form. Oh, they were 00:03:11.900 --> 00:03:14.520 furious. They actually forced the exhibit to 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:16.800 shut down completely. Gloriously, shut down entirely. 00:03:17.099 --> 00:03:19.919 Completely. The Nazis simply could not tolerate 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:24.139 an exhibition that dared to include heroic classical 00:03:24.139 --> 00:03:27.340 portraits of black and Jewish athletes alongside 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:30.419 their, you know, so -called Aryan ideals. That 00:03:30.419 --> 00:03:33.900 is just incredible. It is. Even as a young man 00:03:33.900 --> 00:03:37.259 thousands of miles away, just the artistic representation 00:03:37.259 --> 00:03:39.900 of Strode's physical form was powerful enough 00:03:39.900 --> 00:03:41.960 to threaten the racist ideology of the Third 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:45.120 Reich. Man, just his image disrupted a fascist 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:47.139 propaganda machine. And he brings that exact 00:03:47.139 --> 00:03:49.520 same world -class physical presence to the football 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:52.120 field. This is where the sources highlight the 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:56.159 legendary 1939 UCLA football team. A truly historic 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:58.479 team. Oh, yeah. They were undefeated. And the 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:00.659 backfield featured three players who became known 00:04:00.659 --> 00:04:03.120 nationally as the Gold Dust Game. It was Woody 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:05.460 Strode, Kenny Washington, and a guy named Jackie 00:04:05.460 --> 00:04:08.759 Robinson. Now, to really understand the trajectory 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:11.979 of Strode's life, we have to look at the specific 00:04:11.979 --> 00:04:13.939 environment he was operating in at this time. 00:04:14.500 --> 00:04:17.939 the sources highlight a very unique, almost sheltered 00:04:17.939 --> 00:04:21.420 reality he experienced in Los Angeles. Strode 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:24.300 himself later said he was unconscious of color 00:04:24.300 --> 00:04:26.699 growing up. He talked about sitting in the best 00:04:26.699 --> 00:04:29.759 seats at the famous Coconut Grove nightclub, 00:04:30.420 --> 00:04:32.040 saying that if someone pointed out a black person 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:34.040 in the room, he'd be just as likely to look around 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:36.500 and say, where? I mean, he literally said, hell, 00:04:36.660 --> 00:04:39.699 we thought we were white. Yes, exactly. And that 00:04:39.699 --> 00:04:43.879 context is crucial. Because in the 1930s, before 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:46.579 national television, celebrity was incredibly 00:04:46.579 --> 00:04:48.620 localized. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, he 00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:50.720 was living in this protective bubble of Pacific 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:53.660 Coast stardom. His athletic prowess bought him 00:04:53.660 --> 00:04:56.439 a level of social access that essentially blinded 00:04:56.439 --> 00:04:58.540 him to the broader reality of the country. Right. 00:04:58.839 --> 00:05:01.120 But when he and his teammates finally got on 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:03.139 trains and traveled out of the LA area to play 00:05:03.139 --> 00:05:06.399 in the Midwest, that bubble burst. They collided 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:09.759 head on with the harsh, systemic Jim Crow laws 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:13.160 of 1930s and 40s America. Okay, let's unpack 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:15.680 this collision because looking at these dates 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:18.620 fundamentally reshapes how we view the timeline 00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:21.100 of civil rights and sports. Oh, absolutely. When 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:23.720 we talk about sports integration, the story always 00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:27.399 seems to begin and end with Jackie Robinson breaking 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:30.620 baseball's color line in 1947. I mean, that is 00:05:30.620 --> 00:05:32.899 the textbook narrative. It is. But wait a minute. 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:36.560 The modern NFL had a strict white only unwritten 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:39.839 rule that had been in place since 1933. And who 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:42.540 broke it? Woody Strode and Kenny Washington when 00:05:42.540 --> 00:05:44.959 they signed with the Los Angeles Rams in 1946. 00:05:45.379 --> 00:05:47.860 That is a full year before Robinson stepped onto 00:05:47.860 --> 00:05:50.100 Ebbets field for the Dodgers. It's a massive 00:05:50.100 --> 00:05:52.079 hit. historical blind spot. And it's fascinating 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:54.600 because Robinson Strode and Washington had all 00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:56.860 played together, not just at UCLA, but also for 00:05:56.860 --> 00:05:59.079 a semi -pro team called the Hollywood Bears during 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:01.600 the war years. But you're right, Strode and Washington 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:04.459 integrating the NFL almost always gets eclipsed 00:06:04.459 --> 00:06:07.139 by the baseball narrative. To me, it feels like 00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:10.540 history needed a very specific kind of tool to 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:12.620 break down those massive institutional doors. 00:06:13.339 --> 00:06:16.300 If you look at Strode's sheer physical presence, 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:19.459 he wasn't just an athlete. History used him like 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:22.160 a battering ram against this wall of segregation. 00:06:22.220 --> 00:06:24.360 That's a highly accurate way to look at it. But, 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:26.259 you know, acting as that human battering ram 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:28.959 means you absorb all the impact. And the physical 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:31.300 toll of being a pioneer is exactly what forced 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:33.800 him off the field and into his next life pivot. 00:06:34.300 --> 00:06:37.040 Exactly. Because breaking a color barrier isn't 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:40.639 just a symbolic act, you know. It involves real 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:44.160 flesh and blood consequences. By 1948, he's playing 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:46.459 in Canada for the Calgary Stampeders. Right. 00:06:46.939 --> 00:06:49.500 And while he achieves greatness there, he actually 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:51.459 wins a great cup, which is essentially the Canadian 00:06:51.459 --> 00:06:54.120 equivalent of the Super Bowl. His body completely 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:57.079 gives out. The sources list the injuries, and 00:06:57.079 --> 00:06:59.899 they are just brutal. We're talking two broken 00:06:59.899 --> 00:07:02.079 ribs and a shattered shoulder. But we have to 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:04.240 look at the mechanics of why he sustained those 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:06.199 injuries. This wasn't just standard football 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:09.240 wear and tear, was it? No, it wasn't. You have 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:10.839 to remember what football looked like in the 00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:13.680 1940s, especially for one of the only black players 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:16.519 on the field. The violence was often highly targeted. 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:19.579 Wow. Yeah. Being at the bottom of a dog pile 00:07:19.579 --> 00:07:22.819 meant facing deliberate punishing late hits. 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:26.300 Strode later described the aftermath of his football 00:07:26.300 --> 00:07:29.339 career by saying, it was like I had fought Joe 00:07:29.339 --> 00:07:33.860 Louis. Jeez. So this systemic physical punishment 00:07:33.860 --> 00:07:38.019 eventually shattered his shoulder. By 1949, his 00:07:38.019 --> 00:07:40.360 football career is over. He's a young man with 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:43.819 a broken body, he has family to feed, and he 00:07:43.819 --> 00:07:46.040 needs a paycheck. So he turns to professional 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:47.879 wrestling. Which seems like a totally bizarre 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:49.939 pivot for a guy with a shattered shoulder. You'd 00:07:49.939 --> 00:07:52.199 think so, right. But in wrestling, the hits are 00:07:52.199 --> 00:07:54.560 choreographed. It allows him to use his massive 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:57.180 physical presence without taking the unscripted 00:07:57.180 --> 00:07:59.579 malicious hits he took on the gridiron. Exactly. 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:01.759 So he's wrestling part -time, getting into the 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:04.360 ring with iconic, highly theatrical characters 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:06.920 like Gorgeous George. And that theatricality 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:10.860 is the key mechanism here. Wrestling taught Strode 00:08:10.860 --> 00:08:14.420 how to project presence, emotion, and story, 00:08:14.920 --> 00:08:17.879 using only his physical form to an audience in 00:08:17.879 --> 00:08:20.509 the very back row of an arena. It was kind of 00:08:20.509 --> 00:08:22.790 an accidental acting school. And it puts him 00:08:22.790 --> 00:08:24.750 in the exact right place at the exact right time. 00:08:25.329 --> 00:08:28.449 A film producer named Walter Mirish spots him 00:08:28.449 --> 00:08:30.189 in the wrestling ring and realizes that this 00:08:30.189 --> 00:08:33.570 guy just commands the room. So Mirish decides 00:08:33.570 --> 00:08:37.450 to cast him as an African warrior in a 1951 movie 00:08:37.450 --> 00:08:40.250 called The Lion Hunters. But there's a catch 00:08:40.250 --> 00:08:42.409 regarding his appearance. Right. A physical transformation 00:08:42.409 --> 00:08:44.129 was required. The studio wanted him to shave 00:08:44.129 --> 00:08:46.389 his head. Naturally. And Strode was reluctant, 00:08:46.490 --> 00:08:49.070 as anyone might be, to drastically change his 00:08:49.070 --> 00:08:51.610 appearance for a single role, until they offered 00:08:51.610 --> 00:08:55.129 him $500 a week. I mean, in 1951, $500 a week 00:08:55.129 --> 00:08:57.450 is astronomical money. It was an absolute fortune. 00:08:57.769 --> 00:08:59.490 So Strode says, all right, where are the pluckers? 00:08:59.730 --> 00:09:02.690 Good for him. Yeah, he shaves his head. But the 00:09:02.690 --> 00:09:05.409 sources note a profound realization he had afterward 00:09:05.409 --> 00:09:08.320 when he looked in the mirror. He said. I was 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.279 out in the world market with a bald head, trapped 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.320 for life, finally became a way of life. Wow. 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:17.519 That shaved head combined with his statuesque 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:20.580 physique became his iconic trademark look for 00:09:20.580 --> 00:09:22.399 the rest of his career. But knowing the history 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:24.879 of 1950s Hollywood, the roles he was getting 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:27.580 with that specific look couldn't have been particularly 00:09:27.580 --> 00:09:30.460 deep. What's fascinating here is how incredibly 00:09:30.460 --> 00:09:33.419 reductive they were. The studios looked at this 00:09:33.419 --> 00:09:36.460 man, a college -educated history major, a world 00:09:36.460 --> 00:09:39.220 -class athlete who literally integrated the NFL, 00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:42.659 and they only saw an exoticized physical prop. 00:09:42.740 --> 00:09:45.840 That is so frustrating. In 1952, he literally 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:47.919 played a lion in a movie called Androcles and 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:50.659 the Lion. Not a character named Lion, an actual 00:09:50.659 --> 00:09:52.639 non -speaking animal. Are you kidding me? No. 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:55.360 Strode later called it the toughest job I ever 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:57.639 had purely because of the physical discomfort 00:09:57.639 --> 00:09:59.899 and the sheer indignity of it. They were entirely 00:09:59.899 --> 00:10:02.580 ignoring his intellect and his capacity for actual 00:10:02.580 --> 00:10:05.539 dramatic performance. But a physical presence 00:10:05.539 --> 00:10:08.779 that magnetic can only stay silent in the background 00:10:08.779 --> 00:10:12.000 for so long. Eventually someone, a director with 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:14.840 real vision, was going to notice the powerhouse 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:17.059 actor underneath the muscles. And that shift 00:10:17.059 --> 00:10:21.169 finally happens in 1959. Strode was cast in a 00:10:21.169 --> 00:10:23.370 Korean war film called Pork Chop Hill, where 00:10:23.370 --> 00:10:26.470 he played Private Franklin. Okay. It was a conflicted, 00:10:26.509 --> 00:10:29.350 deeply human speaking role, and it brought him 00:10:29.350 --> 00:10:32.029 serious critical acclaim. Strode himself called 00:10:32.029 --> 00:10:34.330 it the first truly dramatic thing he'd ever done 00:10:34.330 --> 00:10:37.350 on film. Which perfectly sets the stage for the 00:10:37.350 --> 00:10:40.570 third piece of our opening puzzle, Spartacus. 00:10:40.669 --> 00:10:44.450 Yes. In 1960, Stanley Kubrick casts him as Draba, 00:10:44.690 --> 00:10:46.779 the Ethiopian gladiator. And if you've seen the 00:10:46.779 --> 00:10:48.279 movie, you know the sequence. That's like high. 00:10:48.379 --> 00:10:50.899 He is forced into the arena to fight Spartacus, 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:53.320 played by Kirk Douglas, to the death for the 00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:56.039 amusement of Roman elites. Strode wins the fight. 00:10:56.259 --> 00:10:58.700 He's standing over a defeated Douglas. The crowd 00:10:58.700 --> 00:11:01.580 wants blood. Right. But instead of killing Spartacus, 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:05.000 Drava turns, throws his weapon at the Roman spectators, 00:11:05.259 --> 00:11:07.879 and sacrafixes himself to the guards. It is the 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:10.440 emotional catalyst that sparks the entire legendary 00:11:10.440 --> 00:11:12.580 Gladiator rebellion. What's incredible about 00:11:12.580 --> 00:11:15.480 the performance is that his screen time in Spartacus 00:11:15.370 --> 00:11:18.389 is actually quite brief, and he has almost no 00:11:18.389 --> 00:11:20.950 dialogue. Really any. But he conveys so much 00:11:20.950 --> 00:11:24.610 dignity, rage, and profound moral power purely 00:11:24.610 --> 00:11:27.789 through his stoicism. The industry noticed too. 00:11:28.110 --> 00:11:30.389 It earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best 00:11:30.389 --> 00:11:33.350 Supporting Actor. That stoic power caught the 00:11:33.350 --> 00:11:36.750 eye of legendary director John Ford, and this 00:11:36.750 --> 00:11:39.169 leads to one of the most significant artistic 00:11:39.169 --> 00:11:41.830 bonds in Hollywood history. Yes, it really does. 00:11:42.370 --> 00:11:45.730 Ford cast Strode in the title role of his 1960 00:11:45.730 --> 00:11:48.789 Western Sergeant Rutledge. This was a monumental 00:11:48.789 --> 00:11:50.970 deal for the era. Huge. Strode plays a member 00:11:50.970 --> 00:11:53.149 of the 9th Cavalry. For context, these are the 00:11:53.149 --> 00:11:55.990 Buffalo Soldiers, the historic all -black regiments 00:11:55.990 --> 00:11:57.950 formed by the U .S. Army right after the Civil 00:11:57.950 --> 00:12:00.899 War. Strode's character is falsely accused of 00:12:00.899 --> 00:12:03.799 a horrific crime. Now, the big studio executives 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:06.100 fought Ford really hard on this casting. I'm 00:12:06.100 --> 00:12:08.559 sure they did. They wanted a much more established, 00:12:08.860 --> 00:12:11.419 bankable star for a leading role, someone like 00:12:11.419 --> 00:12:14.320 Sidney Poitier or Harry Belafonte. I mean, the 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:16.259 studio's pushing for Sidney Poitier makes total 00:12:16.259 --> 00:12:18.480 financial sense at the time. He was already a 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:22.100 massive Oscar nominated star. But Ford pushes 00:12:22.100 --> 00:12:25.500 back. Was Poitier just too polished for the gritty 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:28.399 reality Ford was trying to build on screen? Exactly. 00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:31.320 Ford explicitly told Strode that those other 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:34.139 actors weren't tough enough to be Sergeant Rullidge. 00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:36.740 Ford wasn't looking for a polished Broadway delivery. 00:12:36.889 --> 00:12:40.009 He needed Strode's specific blend of weathered 00:12:40.009 --> 00:12:43.509 history, quiet resilience, and raw physical power 00:12:43.509 --> 00:12:46.570 to make the character believable as a battle 00:12:46.570 --> 00:12:48.830 -hardened cavalryman. And Strode knew exactly 00:12:48.830 --> 00:12:51.570 what the gravity of that role meant. His quote 00:12:51.570 --> 00:12:53.570 in the source material about playing Rutledge 00:12:53.570 --> 00:12:56.830 is practically poetry. He said, I had the greatest 00:12:56.830 --> 00:12:59.149 glory hallelujah ride across the Pecos River 00:12:59.149 --> 00:13:01.769 that any black man ever had on the screen. And 00:13:01.769 --> 00:13:03.809 I did it myself. I carried the whole black race 00:13:03.809 --> 00:13:06.690 across that river. He finally had agents. He 00:13:06.690 --> 00:13:09.889 wasn't a sidekick. He was the titular hero. And 00:13:09.889 --> 00:13:11.690 the friendship that developed between Strode 00:13:11.690 --> 00:13:15.330 and Ford off -camera was just as deep. Strode 00:13:15.330 --> 00:13:17.769 said Ford treated him like a son. He noted that 00:13:17.769 --> 00:13:20.149 Ford liked a certain crudeness in him that felt 00:13:20.149 --> 00:13:22.629 like it belonged to a century past. Their bond 00:13:22.629 --> 00:13:25.529 was so strong that years later, during Ford's 00:13:25.529 --> 00:13:29.230 declining health, Strode spent four months literally 00:13:29.230 --> 00:13:31.769 sleeping on the floor of Ford's home to act as 00:13:31.769 --> 00:13:34.919 his caregiver. That's real loyalty. It is. He 00:13:34.919 --> 00:13:37.100 was there when the director passed away. I want 00:13:37.100 --> 00:13:38.879 to look closely at the art they made together, 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:41.179 because there is one specific scene they shot 00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:43.340 that I really need to push back on. OK, let's 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:47.679 hear it. So what does this all mean for the 1962 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:51.320 film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance? Strode 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:54.159 plays a character named Pompeii. There's a scene 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:56.580 in a classroom where Pompeii is asked to recite 00:13:56.580 --> 00:13:59.379 the Declaration of Independence. He gets through 00:13:59.379 --> 00:14:02.179 most of it, but then he pauses, looks down, and 00:14:02.179 --> 00:14:04.879 apologizes for forgetting the phrase, all men 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:07.159 are created equal. Right. It's a very famous 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:09.539 scene. When I first read about that, my immediate 00:14:09.539 --> 00:14:11.720 reaction was, is this Hollywood holding him back 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:14.340 again? Like, having a Black character apologize 00:14:14.340 --> 00:14:16.720 for forgetting the most important fundamental 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:19.879 tenet of American equality? On the surface, it 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:22.340 feels like a subtle degradation of his character's 00:14:22.340 --> 00:14:24.840 intelligence. It's a completely understandable 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:27.019 reaction if you look at it through a modern lens. 00:14:27.389 --> 00:14:29.830 But if we analyze the mechanics of the time, 00:14:30.250 --> 00:14:32.529 it's actually the exact opposite. Really? Yes, 00:14:32.649 --> 00:14:34.190 it wasn't a mistake and it wasn't an insult. 00:14:34.549 --> 00:14:36.149 You have to remember the exact year this movie 00:14:36.149 --> 00:14:40.509 was released. 1962. Ah, OK. The American Civil 00:14:40.509 --> 00:14:43.370 Rights Movement is at its absolute boiling point. 00:14:44.099 --> 00:14:46.139 Audiences are going to the movie theater right 00:14:46.139 --> 00:14:48.460 after watching the evening news, where they're 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:51.120 seeing protests, fire hoses, and police dogs. 00:14:51.539 --> 00:14:53.740 Right. The country is tearing itself apart over 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:56.799 this exact issue. So when John Ford has a black 00:14:56.799 --> 00:14:59.879 man, played by Woody Strode, the actual man who 00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:02.779 integrated the NFL standup in a film that is 00:15:02.779 --> 00:15:04.919 fundamentally about the myth -making of American 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:07.259 history, and deliberately choke on the words, 00:15:07.740 --> 00:15:11.440 all men are created equal, It is a masterstroke 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.659 of intentional poignant commentary. Oh, wow. 00:15:15.059 --> 00:15:16.539 Pompey isn't forgetting the words because he 00:15:16.539 --> 00:15:19.679 lacks intellect. He's pausing because in his 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.019 lived experience in America, those words simply 00:15:22.019 --> 00:15:24.259 aren't true. He cannot bring himself to say them. 00:15:24.409 --> 00:15:27.590 Man, that gives me absolute chills. So Ford and 00:15:27.590 --> 00:15:29.730 Strode are essentially weaponizing the script. 00:15:29.889 --> 00:15:32.950 They are using a Western trope to force a 1962 00:15:32.950 --> 00:15:36.269 audience to confront their own hypocrisy. Exactly. 00:15:36.529 --> 00:15:39.409 But despite these massive artistic triumphs with 00:15:39.409 --> 00:15:42.070 directors like Ford, the reality was that the 00:15:42.070 --> 00:15:45.710 American studio system in the late 1960s still 00:15:45.710 --> 00:15:48.370 could not figure out what to do with a black 00:15:48.370 --> 00:15:51.710 leading man. There just weren't enough complex, 00:15:51.970 --> 00:15:55.240 dignified roles being written. which forces Strode 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:58.250 to make yet another massive life pivot. From 00:15:58.250 --> 00:16:02.549 1968 to 1971, he packs his bags, leaves the Hollywood 00:16:02.549 --> 00:16:05.029 system entirely, and relocates to Earth. Talk 00:16:05.029 --> 00:16:07.129 about a difficult reset. I mean, he's in his 00:16:07.129 --> 00:16:09.289 mid -50s at this point. And it was an incredibly 00:16:09.289 --> 00:16:11.289 difficult transition, personally. He talked about 00:16:11.289 --> 00:16:13.610 being deeply lonely over there. He arrived with 00:16:13.610 --> 00:16:16.049 five pairs of blue jeans. He didn't speak a single 00:16:16.049 --> 00:16:18.750 word of Italian or Spanish. And he was completely 00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:21.029 culturally isolated. That sounds brutal. But 00:16:21.029 --> 00:16:22.669 when he brought up the language barrier to the 00:16:22.669 --> 00:16:24.590 European producers, they just shrugged and told 00:16:24.590 --> 00:16:28.100 him, not necessary. You ride horses. Here's where 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:30.039 it gets really interesting, because I need to 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:33.149 understand the mechanics of this shift. The contrast 00:16:33.149 --> 00:16:35.610 in how he is treated commercially is staggering. 00:16:36.350 --> 00:16:40.129 Look at America in 1966. He starred in a major 00:16:40.129 --> 00:16:43.090 Hollywood western called The Professionals. He's 00:16:43.090 --> 00:16:45.350 one of the four title characters alongside Burt 00:16:45.350 --> 00:16:48.009 Lancaster and Lee Marvin, but his name was completely 00:16:48.009 --> 00:16:50.509 left off the movie poster, erased from the marketing 00:16:50.509 --> 00:16:53.129 entirely. Completely scrubbed. But then he goes 00:16:53.129 --> 00:16:55.710 to Europe to make spaghetti westerns like Sergio 00:16:55.710 --> 00:16:58.210 Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, and suddenly 00:16:58.210 --> 00:17:02.710 his salary absolutely skyrockets. By 1972, he's 00:17:02.710 --> 00:17:05.769 making $150 ,000 to star in a movie called The 00:17:05.769 --> 00:17:08.650 Italian Connection. Why is a guy who gets scrubbed 00:17:08.650 --> 00:17:10.609 from a poster in Los Angeles suddenly getting 00:17:10.609 --> 00:17:13.430 his face plastered all over Rome as a top -billed 00:17:13.430 --> 00:17:15.710 global icon? If we connect this to the bigger 00:17:15.710 --> 00:17:18.230 picture, it's because European audiences in the 00:17:18.230 --> 00:17:21.210 post -war era were ravenous for American pop 00:17:21.210 --> 00:17:24.029 culture, particularly the archetype of the rugged 00:17:24.029 --> 00:17:27.539 Western cowboy. But crucially, They didn't have 00:17:27.539 --> 00:17:30.700 the specific racial baggage and Jim Crow neuroses 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:32.740 of the American public. Ah, that makes sense. 00:17:32.990 --> 00:17:36.190 Right. To an Italian audience, Woody Strode wasn't 00:17:36.190 --> 00:17:38.750 a black actor playing a cowboy. He was simply 00:17:38.750 --> 00:17:41.630 the ultimate towering embodiment of American 00:17:41.630 --> 00:17:44.690 masculinity and cool. Yeah. Strode's European 00:17:44.690 --> 00:17:47.029 era proves that the limitations placed on him 00:17:47.029 --> 00:17:50.410 for decades were entirely a product of American 00:17:50.410 --> 00:17:53.170 systemic racism. It had absolutely nothing to 00:17:53.170 --> 00:17:55.849 do with his bankability, his talent or his raw 00:17:55.849 --> 00:17:58.289 appeal to audiences. Strode actually summed up 00:17:58.289 --> 00:18:00.920 this realization beautifully. He said. Race is 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:02.799 not a factor in the world market. I'd play a 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:05.539 Viking with blue contact lenses and a blonde 00:18:05.539 --> 00:18:08.240 wig if I could. I love that quote. He just wanted 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:10.440 to act and be paid his worth, you know, without 00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:12.759 the exhausting weight of American racial politics 00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:15.500 hanging over every single frame of film. And 00:18:15.500 --> 00:18:17.680 this fierce refusal to accept the limitations 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:20.380 placed upon him wasn't just a strategy for managing 00:18:20.380 --> 00:18:22.740 his career. It was the ethos of how he lived 00:18:22.740 --> 00:18:25.599 his personal life right until the very end. Absolutely. 00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:28.380 His off -screen life was just as defiant of the 00:18:28.380 --> 00:18:31.000 era's norms. Take his marriage. His first wife 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:33.940 was Princess Lukialuanakalailoa, who was a distant 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:36.279 relative of Liliuokalani, the very last queen 00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:38.799 of Hawaii. They had a deeply committed relationship. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:41.460 raising two children together, and remained married 00:18:41.460 --> 00:18:44.559 until she passed away in 1980. But the initial 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:46.400 reaction to their marriage from the American 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:49.380 establishment was incredibly toxic. Yeah, Strode 00:18:49.380 --> 00:18:51.920 faced severe racist backlash from the Hollywood 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:54.099 elite for marrying a woman of Hawaiian royal 00:18:54.099 --> 00:18:56.980 descent. He later noted the sheer hypocrisy of 00:18:56.980 --> 00:18:59.099 it, saying, You'd have thought I was marrying 00:18:59.099 --> 00:19:01.480 Lana Turner the way the whites in Hollywood acted. 00:19:01.720 --> 00:19:04.660 The systemic friction just never stopped. Never. 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:08.059 But he kept pushing forward. He remained fiercely 00:19:08.059 --> 00:19:10.220 dedicated to his physical discipline, spending 00:19:10.220 --> 00:19:12.400 years studying traditional martial arts under 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:15.160 the Seishindo Kenpo system, which kept him moving 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:18.200 gracefully well into his old age. He kept working 00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:20.720 constantly through the 70s, 80s, and into the 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:24.160 90s. He married again in 1982 to Tina Thompson. 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:27.000 And he stayed active in cinema right up until 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:28.799 he passed away from lung cancer on New Year's 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:31.640 Eve in 1994 at the age of 80. Which brings us 00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:34.279 to his final film, The Quick and the Dead, released 00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:38.039 in 1995. It was a major Western starring Sharon 00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:40.940 Stone, Gene Hackman, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Russell 00:19:40.940 --> 00:19:44.240 Crowe. When the screen fakes to black, the closing 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:46.420 credits of that massive Hollywood blockbuster 00:19:46.420 --> 00:19:49.380 are dedicated entirely to Woody Strode. It's 00:19:49.380 --> 00:19:51.559 a highly fitting tribute from a new generation 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:54.480 of filmmakers who recognized the difficult path 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:56.380 he had cleared for them in the Western genre. 00:19:56.660 --> 00:19:59.259 But the ultimate pop culture tribute... And this 00:19:59.259 --> 00:20:01.220 brings us to the final piece of our opening puzzle, 00:20:01.660 --> 00:20:05.359 happened that exact same year in 1995. Think 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:07.339 about how many times you have sat down to watch 00:20:07.339 --> 00:20:09.960 the Pixar movie Toy Story. Countless times for 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:12.440 a lot of people. Exactly. Think about the beloved 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:15.500 loyal cowboy at the center of that massive global 00:20:15.500 --> 00:20:18.480 franchise, Sheriff Woody. That character is named 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.819 directly after Woody Strode. It's incredible 00:20:20.819 --> 00:20:22.680 to think about the mechanics of that legacy. 00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:25.359 Millions of children around the world know the 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:28.480 name Woody, entirely unaware that the toy cowboy 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.599 they love is a direct tribute to a Black, Native 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:34.900 American, world -class decathlete, NFL pioneering 00:20:34.900 --> 00:20:37.660 gladiator who fought the Hollywood studio system. 00:20:38.019 --> 00:20:41.359 It's the perfect hidden legacy. So as we wrap 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:43.640 up this deep dive, it's clear that Woody Strode 00:20:43.640 --> 00:20:45.460 wasn't just a character actor who happened to 00:20:45.460 --> 00:20:49.099 get lucky. He was a pioneer who used every tool 00:20:49.099 --> 00:20:51.859 at his disposal to dismantle the barriers in 00:20:51.859 --> 00:20:53.900 front of him. And that raises an important question, 00:20:53.980 --> 00:20:55.220 something I want to leave you, the listener, 00:20:55.339 --> 00:20:58.019 to mull over. Early in our source material, there's 00:20:58.019 --> 00:21:01.460 a fascinating detail. Strode majored in history 00:21:01.460 --> 00:21:05.799 and education at UCLA. Oh, right. In a 1971 interview, 00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:09.200 he reflected on that college degree saying, never 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:11.200 used it, but I could walk into the White House 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:13.799 with it now. But if we look at the totality of 00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:16.799 his life, did he really never use it? That is 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:18.680 a fascinating angle. You're saying he applied 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:21.200 it practically rather than academically. Consider 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:24.599 the deeply intentional choices he made by fundamentally 00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:27.259 understanding the historical forces of racism, 00:21:27.779 --> 00:21:30.460 war and media in the 20th century. Did Woody 00:21:30.460 --> 00:21:33.279 Strode intentionally craft his own mythos? Did 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:35.799 he use his understanding of history to outsmart 00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:38.240 a system that was explicitly designed to keep 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:41.019 him down? In doing so, he essentially became 00:21:41.019 --> 00:21:43.359 a walking, breathing historical event himself. 00:21:43.549 --> 00:21:45.650 He didn't just study history in a classroom, 00:21:46.150 --> 00:21:48.369 he actively manipulated the levers of culture 00:21:48.369 --> 00:21:50.750 to ensure he would be remembered in it. He knew 00:21:50.750 --> 00:21:52.890 exactly what he was doing every single step of 00:21:52.890 --> 00:21:54.990 the way. And so the next time you talk about 00:21:54.990 --> 00:21:57.730 Hollywood pioneers, remember that before someone 00:21:57.730 --> 00:22:00.069 can walk gracefully through a newly opened door, 00:22:00.450 --> 00:22:02.430 someone else had to act as the battering ram 00:22:02.430 --> 00:22:05.390 to break the hinges off. Remember the gladiator 00:22:05.390 --> 00:22:07.589 who dropped his weapon, the football player who 00:22:07.589 --> 00:22:09.890 refused the sideline, and the cowboy whose name 00:22:09.890 --> 00:22:11.650 was on. Remember Woody Strode.