John Saxon, 'Enter the Dragon,' 'Nightmare on Elm Street' Actor, Dies at 83

The Hollywood Reporter ^ | 7/25/2020 | Mike Barnes

[Galactic Overlord-In-Chief]

John Saxon, the rugged actor who kicked around with Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon and appeared in three Nightmare on Elm Street movies for director Wes Craven, died Saturday. He was 83.

Saxon died of pneumonia in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, his wife, Gloria, told The Hollywood Reporter.

An Italian-American from Brooklyn, Saxon played characters of various ethnicities during his long career.

His portrayal of a brutal Mexican bandit opposite Marlon Brando in The Appaloosa (1966) earned him a Golden Globe, and he had a recurring role on ABC's Dynasty as Rashid Ahmed, a powerful Middle East tycoon who romanced Alexis Colby (Joan Collins). And on another 1980s primetime soap, CBS' Falcon Crest, he played the father of Lorenzo Lamas' character.

Years earlier, Saxon starred from 1969-72 as the surgeon Theodore Stuart on "The New Doctors" rotating segment of the NBC drama series The Bold Ones.

Discovered by the same agent who launched the careers of Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter, Saxon first gained notice for his performance as a disturbed high school football star who taunts Esther Williams in The Unguarded Moment (1956). In the film's credits, he's billed as "the exciting new personality John Saxon."

[justme4now]

Yes, he was in karate.

Met him back in the 60’s in one of my martial arts classes.

Not sure of his rank.

Both he and Van Damme were in the same style of karate as me.

Shotokan.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

I just saw him on “Gunsmoke” last night, playing a bad guy.

RIP

[Migraine]

Yep, Louis Chama. I liked him in that role. He came around.

[Carriage Hill]

RIP, John. Thanks for all the memories.

[vigilence]

Luis Chamma (sp),

[escapefromboston]

Always liked this guy. Sad to hear he died.

[dp0622]

Play Battle beyond the stars rings a bell. I’m going to have to look it up. That’s not the one where a kid is in a spacecraft firing off guns too, is it?

[LottieDah]

His parents lived on my block in Brooklyn, N.Y. May he rest in peace.

[LeoTDB69]

Man what a long filmography, over 200 appearances and 60 years in show biz. He was a busy man and talented person.

What I learned new today was that he was born Carmine Orrico in Brooklyn.

RIP Mr Saxon and thanks for the memories

[Viking2002]

Couple little deja vu factiods from those shows. The original - Genesis: II - revolved around Dylan Hunt, but it was considered too cerebral, and was rejected as a series. (Shades of 'The Cage?') The studio wanted something more action oriented. So, Reddenberry rewrote the script and recast Hunt with Saxon, who wasn't the first choice (that was Alex Cord in the original - shades of Jeffrey Hunter?) The only holdover from the first movie was Ted Cassidy as Isiah (shades of Leonard Nimoy as Spock?) That didn't get green-lit after it aired, so the studio took a last stab at it with Strange New World. (Roddenberry didn't have any direct involvement with this one, which is why they took some liberties with the plot and characters). They brought Saxon back again as the lead, under a different character name, and this time the plot was partially based on a space station. The common theads among the three were always PAX (a Starfleet-like organization of various incarnations and motives), and cryogenically frozen survivors of an apocalypse. After Strange New World went the way of the first two, I think that's when Roddenberry started to get slowly involved with bringing Trek back to the screen.

- I'm Robert Osborne for Turner Classic Movies. Good night.

[xp38]

The first Klingon is not Saxon but John Colicos who was also Baltar on the original Battlestar Galactica.

[stylecouncilor]

Ping

[lapsus calami]

 

 

I remember that show - interesting concept. Had a who's who of character actors in the cast. Lot of familiar faces.

 

 

[Viking2002]

The Kreeg were brutal, thuggish mutants who had ridged foreheads, I wasn’t referring to Saxon. The last pic shows the transition from Colicos to John Quade (as the Kreeg commandant) to Mark Lenard in ST: TMP as the full timeline of what Roddenberry was trying to do with the cranial ridges physically. They got almost comical in ST: III (they looked like they got a reverse bowl haircut while being hazed by a Boy Scout troop at summer camp), but once Next Gen hit the screen, they had the system down, the budget to do it, and took it all over the place. The Klingons in the J.J. Trek movies and Star Trek Discovery look like the designers were dropping acid when they started playing with the accepted look.

[be-baw]

Just yesterday, I saw him in an episode of Gunsmaoke.

[Flavious_Maximus]

If you like Italian Giallo films, he was great in the 1963 The Evil Eye. I always thought he had a distinctive name.

Wonder how he ended up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee? Maybe a Blue Raiders fan?

[taterjay]

I remember him taking on the 6 million dollar man.

[luvie]

I had a crush on him when I was young. May he RIP.
Also #2 Regis Philben and #3 Peter Green from Fleetwood Max.

Dropping like flies lately.

[Galactic Overlord-In-Chief]

Play Battle beyond the stars rings a bell. I’m going to have to look it up. That’s not the one where a kid is in a spacecraft firing off guns too, is it?

You're thinking of Space Raiders, which is connected to Battle Beyond the Stars in a weird way.

B-movie king Roger Corman produced Battle Beyond the Stars, which stars Saxon as the space warlord Sador who seeks to conquer and colonize a peaceful planet called Akir. The young hero Shad (played by Richard Thomas) goes off to find mercenaries to fight Sador. Basically, it's the Magnificent Seven in outer space.

The special effects were so good (for a Corman picture at least) that a few years later Corman commissioned another sci-fi movie called Space Raiders and reused a lot of the effects footage in that movie, which does have a kid firing laser guns on a spaceship. (several different times, actually) The movie was about a bunch of space pirates accidently kidnapping a young boy (he sneaks onto their ship) who befriend him and decide to protect him long enough to get him home.

[PghBaldy]

This might be what I remember him most from (Ted Cassidy, Lurch, from “The Addams Family” has a memorable part in it too):

“Planet Earth” clip 1974 2min 36sec https://youtu.be/0a_a_8RWxuk