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 American character actor who achieved considerable fame in the last decade of his life. A native of Kokomo, Indiana, Strother Martin Jr. was the youngest of three children of Strother Douglas Martin, a machinist, and Ethel Dunlap Martin. His family moved soon after his birth to San Antonio, Texas, but quickly returned to Indiana. Strother Jr. grew up in Indianapolis and in Cloverdale, Indiana. He excelled at swimming and diving, and at 17 won the National Junior Springboard Diving Championship. He attended the University of Michigan as diving team member. He served in the U.S. Navy as a swimming instructor in World War II. Nicknamed "T-Bone" Martin for his diving style, his 3rd place finish in the adult National Springboard Diving Championships cost him a place on the 1948 Olympic team. He moved to California to become an actor, but worked in odd jobs and as a swimming instructor to Marion Davies and the children of Charles Chaplin. He found work as a swimming extra in several films and as a leprechaun on a local children's TV show, "Mabel's Fables." Bit parts came his way, leading to television work with Sam Peckinpah, which led to a lifelong relationship. He also found memorable roles for John Ford and by the 1960s was a familiar face in American movies. With Cool Hand Luke (1967) in 1967 came new acclaim and a place among the busiest character actors in Hollywood. He worked steadily and in substantial roles throughout the 1970s and seemed at the peak of his career when he died suddenly of a heart attack in 1980.
Bio:
American character actor who achieved considerable fame in the last decade of his life. A native of Kokomo, Indiana, Strother Martin Jr. was the youngest of three children of Strother Douglas Martin, a machinist, and Ethel Dunlap Martin. His family moved soon after his birth to San Antonio, Texas, but quickly returned to Indiana. Strother Jr. grew up in Indianapolis and in Cloverdale, Indiana. He excelled at swimming and diving, and at 17 won the National Junior Springboard Diving Championship. He attended the University of Michigan as diving team member. He served in the U.S. Navy as a swimming instructor in World War II. Nicknamed "T-Bone" Martin for his diving style, his 3rd place finish in the adult National Springboard Diving Championships cost him a place on the 1948 Olympic team. He moved to California to become an actor, but worked in odd jobs and as a swimming instructor to Marion Davies and the children of Charles Chaplin. He found work as a swimming extra in several films and as a leprechaun on a local children's TV show, "Mabel's Fables." Bit parts came his way, leading to television work with Sam Peckinpah, which led to a lifelong relationship. He also found memorable roles for John Ford and by the 1960s was a familiar face in American movies. With Cool Hand Luke (1967) in 1967 came new acclaim and a place among the busiest character actors in Hollywood. He worked steadily and in substantial roles throughout the 1970s and seemed at the peak of his career when he died suddenly of a heart attack in 1980.
Tivia:
Frequently co-starred with L.Q. Jones, who in real life was one of his closest friends.Did an episode of the The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) called "Baby Fat" in which he portrayed a playwright based on Tennessee Williams in 1965. Fifteen years later while hosting Saturday Night Live (1975), he admitted during the monologue that because of that part, many times he was actually mistaken for the famous playwright.In 1936 he won the National Junior Springboard Division Championship at age 17. He never won the adult championship, finishing second in 1944 and third in 1946. Although he barely missed making the 1948 Olympic Team, he did gain access to Hollywood by giving swimming lessons to Marion Davies at San Simeon and the children of Charles Chaplin. He was hired as a swimming extra in films between 1948-50, including The Damned Don't Cry (1950).Cast alongside Paul Newman in The Silver Chalice (1954), Harper (1966), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Pocket Money (1972) and Slap Shot (1977).Although he often played scruffy, low-life, violent, somewhat crazed villains, in real life he was an avid gardener and an aficionado of classical music.Bitten by a snake during filming of Sssssss (1973)Once described the characters he played in westerns as "prairie scum".Appeared in six movies with John Wayne: The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), McLintock! (1963), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), True Grit (1969) and Rooster Cogburn (1975).During the 1950s and 1960s he was active in Arthur Kennedy's Stage Society, along with Gary Cooper, Akim Tamiroff, Jeff Corey, Tony Curtis, Mildred Dunnock, Anthony Quinn and Patricia Neal.The name Strother is old Teutonic for "river".He has appeared in seven films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Asphalt Jungle (1950), A Star Is Born (1954), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Wild Bunch (1969) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).He collaborated with friend and filmmaker J.D. Feigelson on dialog in the screenplay for the cult film Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981). Feigelson was writing the film to star Strother, but before it could be set for production he passed away. Charles Durning replaced Martin in the lead role of Otis P. Hazelrigg. One of the memorable lines in the film was Martin's contribution: "He's thirty-three years old, Mrs. Ritter, he's physically mature".In 1970 the First Annual Strother Martin Film Festival was held at Chico State College in Chico, CA.Interred at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, CA, in the Court of Remembrance, #G62420.Played a character named Stoner in two unrelated movies: Sssssss (1973) and Up in Smoke (1978).The press dubbed him "The Andy Devine for the Age of Anxiety" and "A Gabby Hayes without Honor.".Appeared in the three most-acclaimed westerns of 1969: The Wild Bunch (1969), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and True Grit (1969).His manner of speaking, tone, etc., was imitated by Ken Curtis on Gunsmoke (1955). Curtis' style of acting before that role was very low-key. Martin had appeared in a handful of "Gunsmoke" episodes before Curtis got the role replacing Dennis Weaver.Interviewed in "Bad at the Bijou" by William R. Horner (McFarland, 1982).No relation to Dewey Martin although erroneously claimed as such in some sources.Served in the US Navy from 1942-46, according to the site Navy.weservedtogether. He was stationed in San Diego, CA, at the HQ of the Recruit Training Command (RTC) as cadre/facility staff. His rating was SP(A), an athletic instructor (someone has to teach sailors how to swim). His highest rank was Petty Officer Third Class. He was awarded the American Campaign and WWII Victory medals.He was a swimming instructor before becoming an actor and became well-known in Hollywood by teaching the children of film stars, executives, etc., how to swim. From that, he became an uncredited technical adviser on various film featuring the swimming star Esther Williams, and small acting roles followed. |
| Name: |
Strother Martin |
Type: |
Actor,Soundtrack (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
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Business scope: |
Actor,Soundtrack |
| Products for sale: |
Actor,Soundtrack |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 05:27:34 |
| Height: |
5' 5' (1.65 m) |
| Biography: |
American character actor who achieved considerable fame in the last decade of his life. A native of Kokomo, Indiana, Strother Martin Jr. was the youngest of three children of Strother Douglas Martin, a machinist, and Ethel Dunlap Martin. His family m |
| Trivia: |
Frequently co-starred with L.Q. Jones, who in real life was one of his closest friends.Did an episode of the The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) called "Baby Fat" in which he portrayed a playwright based on Tennessee Williams in 1965. Fifteen years later while hosting Saturday Night Live (1975), he admitted during the monologue that because of that part, many times he was actually mistaken for the famous playwright.In 1936 he won the National Junior Springboard Division Championship at age 17. He never won the adult championship, finishing second in 1944 and third in 1946. Although he barely missed making the 1948 Olympic Team, he did gain access to Hollywood by giving swimming lessons to Marion Davies at San Simeon and the children of Charles Chaplin. He was hired as a swimming extra in films between 1948-50, including The Damned Don't Cry (1950).Cast alongside Paul Newman in The Silver Chalice (1954), Harper (1966), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Pocket Money (1972) and Slap Shot (1977).Although he often played scruffy, low-life, violent, somewhat crazed villains, in real life he was an avid gardener and an aficionado of classical music.Bitten by a snake during filming of Sssssss (1973)Once described the characters he played in westerns as "prairie scum".Appeared in six movies with John Wayne: The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), McLintock! (1963), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), True Grit (1969) and Rooster Cogburn (1975).During the 1950s and 1960s he was active in Arthur Kennedy's Stage Society, along with Gary Cooper, Akim Tamiroff, Jeff Corey, Tony Curtis, Mildred Dunnock, Anthony Quinn and Patricia Neal.The name Strother is old Teutonic for "river".He has appeared in seven films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Asphalt Jungle (1950), A Star Is Born (1954), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Wild Bunch (1969) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).He collaborated with friend and filmmaker J.D. Feigelson on dialog in the screenplay for the cult film Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981). Feigelson was writing the film to star Strother, but before it could be set for production he passed away. Charles Durning replaced Martin in the lead role of Otis P. Hazelrigg. One of the memorable lines in the film was Martin's contribution: "He's thirty-three years old, Mrs. Ritter, he's physically mature".In 1970 the First Annual Strother Martin Film Festival was held at Chico State College in Chico, CA.Interred at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, CA, in the Court of Remembrance, #G62420.Played a character named Stoner in two unrelated movies: Sssssss (1973) and Up in Smoke (1978).The press dubbed him "The Andy Devine for the Age of Anxiety" and "A Gabby Hayes without Honor.".Appeared in the three most-acclaimed westerns of 1969: The Wild Bunch (1969), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and True Grit (1969).His manner of speaking, tone, etc., was imitated by Ken Curtis on Gunsmoke (1955). Curtis' style of acting before that role was very low-key. Martin had appeared in a handful of "Gunsmoke" episodes before Curtis got the role replacing Dennis Weaver.Interviewed in "Bad at the Bijou" by William R. Horner (McFarland, 1982).No relation to Dewey Martin although erroneously claimed as such in some sources.Served in the US Navy from 1942-46, according to the site Navy.weservedtogether. He was stationed in San Diego, CA, at the HQ of the Recruit Training Command (RTC) as cadre/facility staff. His rating was SP(A), an athletic instructor (someone has to teach sailors how to swim). His highest rank was Petty Officer Third Class. He was awarded the American Campaign and WWII Victory medals.He was a swimming instructor before becoming an actor and became well-known in Hollywood by teaching the children of film stars, executives, etc., how to swim. From that, he became an uncredited technical adviser on various film featuring the swimming star Esther Williams, and small acting roles followed. |
| Trademarks: |
Often played grimy, unlikeable villains |
| Quotes: |
Age is as much an asset for character players as it is for good wine. Human experiences, both good and bad, leave their marks on one's face and bearing. A few lines on the face and a few gray hairs coupled with the idiosyncrasies an actor adopts throughout life help out round out the actor's personality. So far as I'm concerned, the older a character actor gets, the firmer his position is.
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[interviewed in March, 1980] The character actor's struggle for survival is a bitch today. There was a time when people like me would have been approached, at least, to be under contract to the studio and farmed out picture by picture. It's true that a man like myself does not know after this movie--this may be the last movie I ever do in my life. I have no assurance.
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<hr>
[Three days before his death] No man can achieve immortality. We don't live for what comes after we are dead, but for what we can achieve in this life - the only chance we have.
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[on his career] Maybe there has been some diamond dust and gold glitter in my life . . . but among so much shit, it didn't have much luster. |
| Job title: |
Actor,Soundtrack |
| Others works: |
(1936) Won National Junior Springboard Championship.
(1971) Stage play as Kit Carson in a revival of William Saroyan's "The Time of Your Life" starring Henry Fonda. |
| Spouse: |
Helen Beatrice Meisels (December 18, 1966 - August 1, 1980) (his death) |
| Parents: |
Strother Douglas Martin
Ethel Dunlap |
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