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Known for:	Once Upon a Time in the West, Spartacus, The Professionals
Birth name:	Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode
Birthday:	28 July 1914, Los Angeles, California, USA
Height:	6' 4" (1.93 m)

Strode was one of the first four blacks who integrated major league pro football in 1946. The others were Bill Willis, Marion Motley of the Browns and fellow Ram Kenny Washington. The Rams gave Kenny Washington a tryout when they moved to L.A., and hired lineman Strode to be his roommate. Prior to 1946 Strode played semipro ball. Strode played several seasons for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League before moving back to the United States and beginning his film career. Former pro football player Strode posed for one of two paintings commissioned by Adolf Hitler for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Reportedly, his favorite film from his career is Sergeant Rutledge. Was a close friend of John Ford from the early 1960s until Ford's death, with Ford having preferred Strode's company over most other actors when the director became ill from cancer. Somewhat controversially, Ford usually waved off claims his films were racist by saying things like, "But my best friend Woody Strode is black."

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