friend. Strode characterized theirs as a father-son relationship. Clearly, it can be argued that
John Ford used Woody Strode, perhaps as a symbol of Ford’s liberal views. In a 1972
interview with Frank Manchel, which incidentally, took place in John Ford’s home (where both
Ford and Strode’s first wife, Princess Luana were present), Strode mentions how Ford told
him, “Woody, we’d like to show what the black man did in American history . . . We would like
to show that they helped build the American West also” (Manchel 363).
In his autobiography, Gold Dust, Strode talks about coming back from Italy in 1973 just
in time to make it to Ford’s side prior to his death. Strode speaks of how he “sat there on the
side of his bed for six hours, holding his hand, until he went into a coma” (Goal Dust, 249). In
the memoir, Strode continues, “He died. His sister and I took an American flag and draped him
in it. We got some brandy, toasted him, and broke the glasses into the fireplace. I walked out
of that house, and I never looked back. First Kenny [Washington] and then John Ford: my best
friends were dead” (249). In his work, John Ford: The Man and His Films, Tag Gallagher writes
the following, “The funeral [for John Ford] was held September 5, at Hollywood’s Church of the
Blessed Sacrament. Richard Koszarski reports that, before the service, the church was empty
except for the coffin and a single mourner, Woody Strode— a scene out of Liberty Valence”
(455).
The nature of the relationship between Woody Strode and John Ford was one of depth
and complexity. Indeed, as much as Ford cast Woody Strode in roles in which the black actor
was in the protective custody of a white co-star (usually a leading man), it can also be argued
that Strode’s very career was in in the “protective custody" of John Ford, at least for a period
time. Strode, in discussing his relationship with the famed Italian director, Sergio Leone, says
the following: “Once Upon a Time in the West was the only picture I did for Sergio Leone . . .
Unfortunately, Sergio is dead today, but if you checked with his office, you’d find he has an
autographed picture from John Ford. On the picture, Ford wrote, 'If there’s anything I can do to
help make Woody a star, I’ll do it for free” (237). The cross-racial relationship between Ford
and Strode is one which demands more examination than this space affords, but suffice it to
say, that perhaps, in the final estimation, John Ford and Woody Strode were in the protective
custody of one another, marking a strange yet touching relationship. Clearly, there was love
and respect and loyalty, and it is those qualities which are evident in Strode’s performances in
Sergeant Rutledge and Liberty Valance. The theme song for Sergeant Rutledge, “Captain
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