Woodrow Strode Jr.May 28th, 2009 - 20:05:16

My father, Woody Strode, played the part of Pompey in John Ford's 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.' This film was where my father met and became close friends with Lee Marvin, working together a few years later in 'The Professionals.' I never appreciated 'Liberty Valance' very much when it first came out in 1962, but now that I'm older and have seen the film again, I realize now what a classic this movie is. A real classic. Shot in black-and-white, on stage, it has the Film Noir quality of 'The Oxbow Incident.' The stars are all first rate, and Papa Ford wanted to show with images and emotions how all stories have counter-stories beneath them, all men have labels - some true, some false. The opening scene with Pompey sitting quietly alone guarding Tom's casket was a theme Papa Ford used in 'The Sunshines Bright' and was a prophetic image to the day, ten years in the future, when Woody Strode would sit alone at John Ford's casket. Many people do not know that my father, a nurse, and Papa Ford's sister, were the only ones present at the moment of Papa Ford's death. The rest of the family were in the kitchen at the time. My father and the sister poured a glass of brandy, toasted Papa Ford's passing, and threw their cups into the fireplace so nobody could ever make a toast from them again. For more on Woody Strode, go to youtube.

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