Tom Laughlin
Tom Laughlin ( born August 10, 1931 in Minneapolis, Minnesota as Thomas Robert Laughlin, † December 12, 2013 in Thousand Oaks, California ) was an American film actor and filmmaker who in the 1960s and 1970s, large with independent films successes could celebrate.
Biography
Tom Laughlin grew up in Milwaukee and attended the University of Minnesota and Indiana University. Since the mid- 1950s he played juvenile roles in television and movies. In 1957 he had a starring role in Robert Altman's The Delinquents. After a few years he withdrew first from the film business and ran a Montessori school in Santa Monica. Since the mid- 1960s he joined as a performer, writer, producer, cinematographer and director of cheaply made films in appearance, in which he used many pseudonyms for his activities behind the camera.
Created in 1967 and played in the Laughlin biker film Hell's Angels ( The Born Losers ) for the first time the figure of the half- blood "Billy Jack", a taciturn loner who cares with stoic naivety and Far Eastern martial arts for justice. In the action-packed movie Billy Jack prevails against a gang of motorcycle rockers. The relative success of the film led to a sequel. In Billy Jack (1971 ), the hero protects an entertaining of freethinkers school before the local establishment. The strips cost $ 800,000, and played a lot of millions; Laughlin was one of the most profitable films of all time have succeeded. Another sequel, The Trial of Billy Jack (1974 ), brought it within 30 days of $ 22 million at the box office. In 1975, the production company Laughlin Billy Jack Enterprises, moved into a prestigious office complex in the middle of Hollywood, produced 3.5 million for the film The Avengers of California staged, the strip under the pseudonym " Frank Laughlin ", played the leading role and made so promptly bankruptcy. However, the young Barbara Carrera earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role in the film. In 1977 was also the fourth film to cult figure Laughlin, Billy Jack Goes to Washington, a " clumsy remake " of the classic Mr. Smith ( Leonard Maltin ) Goes to Washington Frank Capra, hardly any attention.
Tom Laughlin played after only a few minor roles in a few films. In 1985, he announced a fifth Billy Jack film, but out of nowhere was. Beginning of the 1990s he entered politics in appearance and applied unsuccessfully in 1992 for the nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate. In 2004 he tried again and with as little success as a Republican candidate. Last expressed Tom Laughlin interest in running for governor of California.
2001 Laughlin reported on his website about his disease in tongue cancer. He published counselor, in which he talks about his training supported by Psycho healing and engaged against the Iraq war.
Tom Laughlin was married to his colleague Delores Taylor since 1956 and had a daughter with her.