Don Stroud
Encyclopedia
Donald Lee Stroud is an American actor and surfer who appeared in many films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and has starred in over 100 films and 175 television shows to date.
, where he grew up, the son of comedian and vaudevillien
Clarence Stroud (of the Stroud Twins), and singer Ann Livermore (née
McCormack), who toured the world with Frank Sinatra
. Stroud's mother and stepfather owned and operated the popular "Embers Steak House" and nightclub where Ann performed nightly. Don thrived on the beach in Waikiki
under the watchful eyes of such mentors as Blackout, Mud, Buckshot, Rabbit and Steamboat. Stroud learned much from these famous beach boys and in 1960, at the age of 17, he placed fourth in the "Duke Kahanamoku World Surfing Championship" at Makaha, Hawaii.
who was filming ABC
's Hawaiian Eye
and needed a stunt double for his surfing scenes. Don, at 18, 6'2" and 175 pounds, stepped up and was hired on the spot. He loved the gig so much, he decided to go to Hollywood
to give acting a try. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, he landed a variety of jobs, including parking cars, bouncer and then manager of the world famous "Whiskey A Go-Go" nightclub on the Sunset Strip
, where such greats as Janis Joplin
, Jimi Hendrix
and Jim Morrison
of the Doors appeared. It was at the "Whiskey" that actor Sidney Poitier
turned Don on to his acting career. Stroud went on to become one of Hollywood's great heavies and character actors.
Stroud co-starred with Clint Eastwood
in two films, Coogan's Bluff
in 1968 and Joe Kidd
in 1972. He also appeared in several episodes of CBS
's Hawaii Five-O
and in the Barry Sullivan
NBC
western
series The Road West
.
Stroud co-starred in Roger Corman
’s film Von Richthofen and Brown
(1971). Stroud played Roy Brown opposite John Phillip Law
’s Baron von Richthofen
. Corman used Lynn Garrison
's Irish aviation facility, complete with replica World War One aircraft. Garrison taught Stroud the rudiments of flying so that he could manage to take off and land the aircraft, making some of the footage more realistic. On September 16, 1970, Don Stroud came closer to realism than he expected. During a low-level sequence flying a two seat SV4C Stampe biplane across Lake Weston, a large bird flew through the propeller’s arc, striking Garrison in the face, knocking him unconscious. The aircraft flew into five powerlines, snap rolled and plunged into the lake inverted. Garrison and Stroud were rescued some time later. Don Stroud was wet but undamaged. Garrison required 60 stitches to close a head wound. He was flying the next day.
Don Stroud starred as real-life jewel thief Jack Murphy, in the movie Murph the Surf (1975). He also starred in the horror/thriller Death Weekend
(1976) and had a supporting role in the cult horror film The Amityville Horror
(1979). Stroud co-starred in The Buddy Holly Story
(1978) as the late musician's drummer (in which he actually played the drums), and played a James Bond
villain in the film Licence to Kill
(1989). He played Captain Pat Chambers in the television series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
, with Stacy Keach, with whom he co-starred in the film The Killer Inside Me
(1975) and starred in four television series, notably The New Gidget
(1986) where he was a natural to play the "Kahuna", Nash Bridges
(1996–2001) , and Pensacola: Wings of Gold
(1996–2000).
In 1973, he was paid $10,000 to appear as a nude centerfold in Playgirl
Magazine's November issue.
Don's brother Duke Stroud
is also an actor, memorable as the furious air-traffic controller in 1986's Top Gun
. Duke also stages plays and teaches acting at Pasadena City College
(Nick Nolte
's alma mater).
According to the Internet Movie Database, Stroud's work includes an associate producer credit on the 2006 TV series Good Morning Hawaii and a role in the 2009 film Sutures.
Don Stroud made a brief appearance in the new Hawaii Five-O on October 10, 2011. In the second season's fourth episode, entitled "Mea Makamae", which means 'Treasure' in Hawaiian, Stroud played a bartender.
Early life
Stroud was born in Honolulu, HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, where he grew up, the son of comedian and vaudevillien
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
Clarence Stroud (of the Stroud Twins), and singer Ann Livermore (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
McCormack), who toured the world with Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
. Stroud's mother and stepfather owned and operated the popular "Embers Steak House" and nightclub where Ann performed nightly. Don thrived on the beach in Waikiki
Waikiki
Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī....
under the watchful eyes of such mentors as Blackout, Mud, Buckshot, Rabbit and Steamboat. Stroud learned much from these famous beach boys and in 1960, at the age of 17, he placed fourth in the "Duke Kahanamoku World Surfing Championship" at Makaha, Hawaii.
Career
Stroud was surfing at Waikiki when he was discovered by actor Troy DonahueTroy Donahue
Troy Donahue was an American actor, who was active between the late 1950s and late 1990s.-Life and career:...
who was filming ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
and needed a stunt double for his surfing scenes. Don, at 18, 6'2" and 175 pounds, stepped up and was hired on the spot. He loved the gig so much, he decided to go to Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
to give acting a try. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, he landed a variety of jobs, including parking cars, bouncer and then manager of the world famous "Whiskey A Go-Go" nightclub on the Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood at Harper Avenue, to its western border with Beverly Hills at Sierra Drive...
, where such greats as Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
and Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
of the Doors appeared. It was at the "Whiskey" that actor Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
turned Don on to his acting career. Stroud went on to become one of Hollywood's great heavies and character actors.
Stroud co-starred with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
in two films, Coogan's Bluff
Coogan's Bluff (film)
Coogan's Bluff is a 1968 American Universal film directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, Don Stroud, and Susan Clark...
in 1968 and Joe Kidd
Joe Kidd
Joe Kidd is a 1972 American western film starring Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall, written by Elmore Leonard and directed by John Sturges....
in 1972. He also appeared in several episodes of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
and in the Barry Sullivan
Barry Sullivan (actor)
Barry Sullivan was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s.Born in New York City, Sullivan fell into acting when in college playing semi-pro football...
NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
series The Road West
The Road West
The Road West is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from September 12, 1966 to May 1, 1967 for twenty-nine episodes with rebroadcasts continuing until August 28. The hour-long series, sponsored by Kraft Foods, aired in the 9 p.m...
.
Stroud co-starred in Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
’s film Von Richthofen and Brown
Von Richthofen and Brown
Von Richthofen and Brown also known as The Red Baron, is a film directed by Roger Corman, and starring John Phillip Law and Don Stroud as the titular characters....
(1971). Stroud played Roy Brown opposite John Phillip Law
John Phillip Law
John Phillip Law was an American film actor with over one hundred movie roles to his credit. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Phyllis Sallee and the brother of actor Thomas Augustus Law .He was best known for his roles as the blind angel Pygar in the science fiction cult...
’s Baron von Richthofen
Baron von Richthofen
There have been several men to bear the title Baron von Richthofen:Baron von Richthofen*Ferdinand von Richthofen , German traveller, geographer and scientist*Oswald von Richthofen , German diplomat and politician...
. Corman used Lynn Garrison
Lynn Garrison
Lynn Garrison is a Canadian pilot and political adviser. He was an RCAF fighter pilot from the 403 City of Calgary Squadron, commercial pilot, film producer, director and mercenary...
's Irish aviation facility, complete with replica World War One aircraft. Garrison taught Stroud the rudiments of flying so that he could manage to take off and land the aircraft, making some of the footage more realistic. On September 16, 1970, Don Stroud came closer to realism than he expected. During a low-level sequence flying a two seat SV4C Stampe biplane across Lake Weston, a large bird flew through the propeller’s arc, striking Garrison in the face, knocking him unconscious. The aircraft flew into five powerlines, snap rolled and plunged into the lake inverted. Garrison and Stroud were rescued some time later. Don Stroud was wet but undamaged. Garrison required 60 stitches to close a head wound. He was flying the next day.
Don Stroud starred as real-life jewel thief Jack Murphy, in the movie Murph the Surf (1975). He also starred in the horror/thriller Death Weekend
Death Weekend
Death Weekend is a 1976 Canadian horror/thriller film. It stars Brenda Vaccaro and Don Stroud and was one of the first films from Canadian director William Fruet...
(1976) and had a supporting role in the cult horror film The Amityville Horror
The Amityville Horror (1979 film)
The Amityville Horror is a 1979 American horror film based on the bestselling 1977 novel of the same name by Jay Anson. It is the first movie in the Amityville Horror franchise....
(1979). Stroud co-starred in The Buddy Holly Story
The Buddy Holly Story
The film was adapted by Robert Gittler from Buddy Holly: His Life and Music, the biography of Holly by John Goldrosen. It was directed by Steve Rash.-Plot:...
(1978) as the late musician's drummer (in which he actually played the drums), and played a James Bond
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
villain in the film Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond...
(1989). He played Captain Pat Chambers in the television series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is the title used for two syndicated television series that followed the adventures of fictional private detective Mike Hammer...
, with Stacy Keach, with whom he co-starred in the film The Killer Inside Me
The Killer Inside Me
The Killer Inside Me is a 1952 novel by American writer Jim Thompson published by Fawcett Publications. In the introduction to the anthology Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s, it is described as "one of the most blistering and uncompromising crime novels ever written."- Plot summary :The...
(1975) and starred in four television series, notably The New Gidget
The New Gidget
The New Gidget is an American television sitcom that aired in syndication from 1986 to 1988. The series was produced by original Gidget series producer Harry Ackerman and was launched after the television movie Gidget's Summer Reunion starring Caryn Richman as Gidget aired in 1985...
(1986) where he was a natural to play the "Kahuna", Nash Bridges
Nash Bridges
Nash Bridges is an American television police drama created by Carlton Cuse. The show starred Don Johnson and Cheech Marin as two Inspectors with the San Francisco Police Department's Special Investigations Unit. The show ran for six seasons on CBS from March 29, 1996 to May 4, 2001 with a total of...
(1996–2001) , and Pensacola: Wings of Gold
Pensacola: Wings of Gold
Pensacola: Wings of Gold is a syndicated American action/adventure drama series based at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida. Episodes aired in several countries outside the US including Portugal, France, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Italy, Hungary and Australia...
(1996–2000).
In 1973, he was paid $10,000 to appear as a nude centerfold in Playgirl
Playgirl
Playgirl is a print quarterly adult magazine published in the United States that is marketed mainly to heterosexual women, but has also gained a considerable gay following...
Magazine's November issue.
Don's brother Duke Stroud
Duke Stroud
Duke Stroud is an American actor who has appeared on screen since the 1970s.His first credited role came in 1973 when he appeared in as Jameson in an episode of Mission: Impossible. He has also appeared in TV serials including The Dukes of Hazzard, Voyagers!, The Outlaws, Hill Street Blues, Law &...
is also an actor, memorable as the furious air-traffic controller in 1986's Top Gun
Top Gun
Top Gun may refer to:* Top Gun is a 1986 film starring Tom Cruise.**Top Gun , soundtrack to the movie**Top Gun , a number of games based on the movie...
. Duke also stages plays and teaches acting at Pasadena City College
Pasadena City College
Pasadena City College is a community college in Pasadena, California, USA, located on Colorado Boulevard. PCC is the third largest community college campus in the United States. PCC was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. In 1954, Pasadena Junior College merged with another junior...
(Nick Nolte
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
's alma mater).
According to the Internet Movie Database, Stroud's work includes an associate producer credit on the 2006 TV series Good Morning Hawaii and a role in the 2009 film Sutures.
Don Stroud made a brief appearance in the new Hawaii Five-O on October 10, 2011. In the second season's fourth episode, entitled "Mea Makamae", which means 'Treasure' in Hawaiian, Stroud played a bartender.