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Actor

1943-09-01 · Honolulu, Hawaii, USA · Male

45 series in the catalog

Donald Lee Stroud (born September 1, 1943) is an American actor, musician, and surfer. Stroud has appeared in over 100 films and 200 television shows.

Early years

Stroud is the son of vaudeville actor Clarence Stroud (of "The Stroud Twins" team) and singer Ann McCormack. He was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, by his mother and stepfather, Paul Livermore.

At the age of 16, Stroud earned a black belt in the Hawaiian martial art of Kajukenbo.

Stroud began surfing at the age of 3 and taught the sport while he was still in high school. In 1960 at the age of 17, Stroud won the Mākaha Junior Championship and placed fourth overall in the Duke Kahanamoku International competition.

While Stroud was working at the Kahala Hilton beach as a lifeguard, producers hired him to double for Troy Donahue during that actor's surfing sequences at Waikiki Beach for an episode of Hawaiian Eye. Afterwards, Donahue asked Stroud to move to Los Angeles to become an actor while also serving as Donahue's fight double and bodyguard. After holding jobs parking cars and managing the club at the Whisky A Go-Go in Hollywood, he received advice on getting a start as an actor from Sidney Poitier, who frequented the club. Poitier set Stroud up with Dick Clayton, who was also an agent for such actors as James Dean, Michael Douglas, Al Pacino, and Burt Reynolds, among others.

Career

At 6'2", and around 200 pounds, Stroud often portrayed villains and tough guys.

Stroud's Hollywood film debut was a role in Games (1967) as Norman. That same year, he appeared in The Ballad of Josie (1967) as Bratsch.

In 1968, he signed with Universal Pictures on a five-film contract, and he took a role in Madigan that same year. Stroud also appeared with Clint Eastwood in two films, Coogan's Bluff (1968) and Joe Kidd (1972).

Stroud co-starred in two Roger Corman films, Bloody Mama (1970) and Von Richthofen and Brown (1971). In the latter, he played Roy Brown opposite John Phillip Law's Baron von Richthofen. Corman used Lynn Garrison's Irish aviation facility. 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.

Stroud and Robert Conrad performed in the speedboat chase through Fort Lauderdale in the film Murph the Surf (1975). In the film, he starred in the role of real-life jewel thief Jack Murphy. Conrad and Stroud also had a martial arts fight in Sudden Death (1977). Stroud would have another fight with Park Jong-soo in Search and Destroy (1979).

He starred in the horror/thriller Death Weekend (1976) (aka The House By the Lake), and had a supporting role in the cult horror film The Amityville Horror (1979) as Father Bolen. Other films in the genre include The Killer Inside Me (1976), and Sweet Sixteen (1983).

In The Buddy Holly Story (1978), Stroud co-starred as the late musician's drummer, while actually playing the drums live in front of two or three thousand kids brought in by buses, recording the soundtrack directly using 24-track recording trucks at the venue.

In James Bond he played a villain in the film Licence to Kill (1989).

On television, Stroud's debut came in 1967 in the Barry Sullivan NBC western series The Road West as Nino. Under contract at Universal, Stroud appeared in Barnaby Jones, Cannon, Charlie's Angels, Ironside, Hawaii Five-O, Marcus Welby, M.D., Starsky & Hutch, and The Streets of San Francisco, among others. Stroud had many other guest appearances, including The Fall Guy, Gunsmoke, Hotel, and The Virginian. He had a reoccurring role as Mike Varrick in the miniseries Mrs. Columbo (1979-1980) which starred Kate Mulgrew.

Stroud played Captain Pat Chambers in Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer and The New Mike Hammer with Stacy Keach. In the television pilot movie Gidget's Summer Reunion (1985) he played The Great Kahuna, and also revised the role in series The New Gidget (1986). He also has roles in Nash Bridges (1996–2001) and Pensacola: Wings of Gold (1996–2000).

In 2011, Stroud made a brief appearance in the new Hawaii Five-0. Stroud played a bartender in the second season's fourth episode, "Mea Makamae" (meaning "Treasure" in Hawaiian).

Personal life

On September 16, 1970, during a low-level sequence flying a two-seat SV.4C Stampe biplane across Lake Weston, a duck flew through the propeller's arc, striking the pilot Garrison in the face, knocking him unconscious. The aircraft flew into five power lines, snap rolled and plunged inverted into Ireland's large Liffey River. Stroud rescued the unconscious Garrison, treading water until rescue crews found them almost an hour later. Stroud was unhurt, but Garrison required 60 stitches to close a head wound.

In 1989 or 1990, on the street in Greenwich Village, New York City, Stroud tried to help a man who was being mugged. During the confrontation, Stroud was stabbed several times, suffering partial paralysis in the face and permanent blindness in one eye. The mugging victim fled.

Filmography

A partial filmography follows.