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Post by petrolino on Aug 3, 2018 20:14:57 GMT
John Saxon (born August 5, 1935, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.)
"Anything that comes along that strikes my fancy I will do. Anything."
- John Saxon, Horror News
01. John Saxon is an Italian American, born to Anna Orrico and dock worker Antonio Orrico. He studied under acting coach Stella Adler before signing with Universal Studios in 1954.
02. Saxon was discovered by Hollywood talent agent Henry Willson, one of the masterminds behind the beefcake craze of the 1950s. Willson is credited as having helped Rock Hudson, Rory Calhoun, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue, Doug McClure, Ty Hardin, Dack Rambo, Robert Wagner and Clint Walker forge entertainment identities and make names for themselves. He was also instrumental in the development of Lana Turner's introductory Hollywood persona.
03. Saxon's star sign is leo.
04. Saxon became a teen idol playing Jimmy Daley in the motion pictures 'Rock Pretty Baby' (1956) and 'Summer Love' (1957). Edward Platt and Fay Wray portrayed the Daleys. Barely a decade later, in an interview conducted in 1966, the ambitious young performer stated for the record, "I never felt comfortable being a teenage dreamboat... I regard myself as a craftsman."
05. Saxon is a dedicated judo exponent, an agile brown belt in Shotokan karate with a cinema black belt. Kung fu masters have praised Saxon's technique, singling out his lethal roundhouse kick.
06. His varied assignments have taken him around the globe.
07. Saxon enjoyed a recurring role in the television series 'The Bold Ones : The New Doctors' in the early 1970s. One episode was directed by comedian Jerry Lewis and Jane Wyman was among the guest stars. The show was co-created by Steven Bochco who'd go on to engineer the groundbreaking medical drama 'St. Elsewhere'.
08. Saxon went on to play Captain Radl opposite Lynda Carter in the influential two-part 'Wonder Woman' episode, 'The Feminine Mystique' in 1976.
09. Saxon's been a major ingredient in concocting the scary legend of 'A Nightmare On Elm Street', appearing in all three installments involving creator Wes Craven.
"This isn’t too fresh, but we all had some money in our pockets by the time we did that one [New Nightmare] in ’94, and it was a reunion too with Heather [Langenkamp], John [Saxon], Wes [Craven] and myself. And on top of that, I had a lot of lunches during the filming of that with John Saxon. Now John is one of the great Hollywood actors, but he crosses a real interesting line between old Hollywood and new Hollywood. He starred with Marlon Brando in The Appaloosa, he starred with Robert Redford in The Electric Horseman, he starred in an episode of CSI directed by Quentin Tarantino, and he starred with Bruce Lee. He was a leading man who hung out with James Dean and Elvis in the '50s and dated Natalie Wood and Sandra Dee. And he starred with Audrey Hepburn, and for John Huston, and he knew Burt Lancaster … He’s just this remarkable, remarkable actor. So you get a glass of wine in, get John at lunch and you get one of these stories."
- Robert Englund speaking with Adam A. Donaldson (to celebrate 30 years of Freddy Krueger)
10. Saxon appears alongside Tony Curtis, Frank Gorshin, Lois Chiles and Andrew Prine in an episode ('Grave Danger') of 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' directed by Quentin Tarantino.
11. John Saxon is a powerful swimmer.
12. Saxon developed a second career in European cinema and worked within a wide range of genres. Directors he worked with included Italian genre specialists Mauro Bolognini, Mario Bava, Marino Girolami, Antonio Margheriti, Alberto De Martino, Sergio Martino and Dario Argento. He also made three films with his good friend Umberto Lenzi.
Kung Fu Classics : John Saxon rescues Angel Tompkins in 'The Bees' (1978)
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Post by timshelboy on Aug 3, 2018 20:31:27 GMT
I always liked him - and he was a stronger actor than most of the 50s beefcake boys - was he the sex pest who menaced esther Williams ?- he definitely comforted Sandra Dee in PORTRAIT IN BLACK. BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS was a memorable later one. Didn't know he was a mate of Lenzi. Cheers
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Post by mattgarth on Aug 3, 2018 20:34:34 GMT
Saxon has a sympathetic role as the Jewish lad courting Catholic Carol Lynley in pre-WWI Boston in Otto Preminger's THE CARDINAL.
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Post by teleadm on Aug 3, 2018 20:39:09 GMT
 The Reluctant Debutante 1958 |
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Post by petrolino on Aug 3, 2018 20:54:59 GMT
I always liked him - and he was a stronger actor than most of the 50s beefcake boys - was he the sex pest who menaced esther Williams ?- he definitely comforted Sandra Dee in PORTRAIT IN BLACK. BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS was a memorable later one. Didn't know he was a mate of Lenzi. Cheers I read a nice interview with John Saxon about 'Battle Beyond The Stars'. I think he enjoyed making that one. |
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Aug 3, 2018 21:11:09 GMT
"Saxon is a dedicated judo exponent, an agile brown belt in Shotokan karate with a cinema black belt. Kung fu masters have praised Saxon's technique, singling out his lethal roundhouse kick."
**so Roper was the real deal?
I didnt know that.
I heard he made his fortune from real estate.
He was in the first giallo The Girl Who Knew Too Much.
His role in Battle Beyond the Stars is great--love the rebellious arm scene.
He made a great partner for Stuart Whitman in A Special Magnum for Tony Saitta.
Another good role is I Kiss The Hand where he is a ruthless mafia boss.
My grade 3 teacher looked a lot like Saxon.
I dont think he ever had an official action figure but I believe the old Six Million Dollar Man figure "Maskatron" included a mask of him.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Aug 3, 2018 23:26:55 GMT
Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation found some humor in casting hunky young Saxon as James Stewart's college professor son-in-law Byron, who takes a calmly intellectual approach to everything, and is interested in voluptuous Valerie Varda only to discuss Tolstoy (in spite of the suspicions of his unconvinced spouse).  Varda's interests beyond literature are more overtly expressed. Asked by Byron what she's reading, she replies as he removes his beach robe, "Peace and War, by what's his - WOW! - name."
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Post by petrolino on Aug 4, 2018 0:09:04 GMT
"Saxon is a dedicated judo exponent, an agile brown belt in Shotokan karate with a cinema black belt. Kung fu masters have praised Saxon's technique, singling out his lethal roundhouse kick." **so Roper was the real deal? I didnt know that. I heard he made his fortune from real estate.
I'd often read that he officially holds down a black belt, like Cynthia Rothrock, the undisputed karate queen of Delaware, but some online sources now say only Saxon's brown belt can be verified. Either way, he's been praised for his advanced athleticism, fitness levels and physical form.
Cynthia Rothrock & Michelle Yoeh in 'Yes Madam' (1985)
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Post by OldAussie on Aug 4, 2018 1:02:50 GMT
THE APPALOOSA is on Aussie tv later this afternoon (Saturday). It was called Southwest to Sonora when I saw it on the big screen 50 years ago.
From a Brando biography - I forget which....
Saxon - "You know, I could steal this movie."
Brando - "Be my guest."
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Aug 5, 2018 2:45:42 GMT
Highly underrated actor. I love his countless guest appearances on classic TV shows. Some other movies he was in are Joe Kidd, and Queen of Blood.
That's an excellent fight scene posted in the OP. To me classic stuff like that is more realistic than the over choreagraphed stuff you see sometimes these days.
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Post by petrolino on Aug 5, 2018 2:52:32 GMT
Highly underrated actor. I love his countless guest appearances on classic TV shows. Some other movies he was in are Joe Kidd, and Queen of Blood. That's an excellent fight scene posted in the OP. To me classic stuff like that is more realistic than the over choreagraphed stuff you see sometimes these days. 'Queen Of Blood' (1966) was one of the key genre influences on Ridley Scott's 'Alien' (1979) along with 'It! The Terror From Beyond Space' (1958) and 'Planet Of The Vampires' (1965). |
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Aug 5, 2018 3:12:46 GMT
SAXON was great in APPALOOSA.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 5, 2018 3:43:30 GMT
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Post by petrolino on Aug 5, 2018 3:52:02 GMT
Another Brooklyn Boy made good !  Happy Birthday, Mr. Saxon. You da Supaman. 
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Post by RiP, IMDb on Aug 5, 2018 5:46:00 GMT
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Post by dirtypillows on Aug 5, 2018 6:00:00 GMT
I like John Saxon bunches. (And what a hunk he was back in the 70s!)
I've met Mr. Saxon twice at Horror/b-movie conventions and he was very nice. I wanted to ask him something out of the ordinary and so I asked him about his appearance on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and, gosh, I can't even remember what it was that he said. Except that the male characters on the show suspected his character to be gay because he was friends with Cloris Leachman, aka "Phyllis"! That was pretty funny.
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Post by plasma on Aug 6, 2018 8:30:21 GMT
John Saxon was so awesome. Aside from Nightmare on Elm Street, and Enter The Dragon, I enjoyed him a lot in Bava's The Evil Eye, which is one of those films that is so effective because it's shot in black and white. Really makes it stand out.
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Post by neurosturgeon on Aug 6, 2018 20:28:11 GMT
Saxon has a sympathetic role as the Jewish lad courting Catholic Carol Lynley in pre-WWI Boston in Otto Preminger's THE CARDINAL. I second the opinion of John in THE CARDINAL. It is one of the Great films few people seem to have seen. I owned it on VHS and DVD. It is a thinking person's film. |
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Post by mattgarth on Aug 6, 2018 20:30:43 GMT
Saxon has a sympathetic role as the Jewish lad courting Catholic Carol Lynley in pre-WWI Boston in Otto Preminger's THE CARDINAL. I second the opinion of John in THE CARDINAL. It is one of the Great films few people seem to have seen. I owned it on VHS and DVD. It is a thinking person's film. 
Love this film -- one of Preminger's best. I watch it at least once a year.
The scene of young curate Tom Tryon and pastor Cecil Kellaway was shot just down the road at St. John's Church in Stamford, Connecticut. |
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Aug 6, 2018 21:48:07 GMT
And it has Carole Lynley, who like Saxon, was in a ton of things in the US and Europe.
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