Sonny Landham

William M. "Sonny" Landham III (February 11, 1941 – August 17, 2017) was an American actor. He portrayed Billy Bear in 48 Hrs. (1982), tracker Billy Sole in Predator (1987),<ref name="SunSentinel">Template:Cite news</ref> and 'Chink' Weber in Lock Up (1989).

Early life and education

Landham was born February 11, 1941, in Canton, Georgia,<ref name="attempted" /> and raised in Rome, Georgia.<ref name="romenewstribune">Template:Cite news</ref> He was half Cherokee descent, one-eighth Seminole descent, and speculated the rest as German, English, and Irish descent.<ref name="SunSentinel" /> He also stated he had Jewish heritage.<ref name="ipr">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Landham had at least one sibling, a sister, Dawn.<ref name="attempted" />

He attended Saint Mary's Catholic School and Darlington School before playing football for a year at the University of Georgia.<ref name="romenewstribune"/> Subsequently, he transferred to and graduated from Oglethorpe University.<ref name="TACAP">Template:Cite news</ref> After college, he did a stint in the U.S. Army, worked in an oil field, as an ordained Baptist minister, and a model.<ref name="THN">Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Acting career

Landham studied acting for two years at Pasadena Playhouse before moving to New York in 1968 to pursue a career in acting.<ref name="THN" /> At the beginning of his acting career, Landham was an actor in pornographic films for financial reasons.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He also posed for nude layout for Playgirl.<ref name="THN" /> He then became a mainstream movie actor and appeared in a number of Hollywood films, including The Warriors (1979) as a subway policeman whose leg gets broken by a baseball bat-wielding Michael Beck, 48 Hrs. (1982), Predator (1987), Action Jackson (1988), and Lock Up (1989).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Politics

In 2003, Landham ran in the Republican Party primary election for the post of Governor of Kentucky,<ref name="attempted">Template:Cite news</ref> hoping to repeat the success of his Predator castmates Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He based his candidacy on opposition to an amendment which endorsed the Kentucky Family Court, saying his bad experiences at the hands of the family court had convinced him it was for the benefit of lawyers rather than families or children. He was unsuccessful in gaining the party's nomination. He ran briefly as an independent candidate, but withdrew on June 18, 2003, and endorsed the Republican slate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2004, Landham announced his candidacy for the 27th State Senate District of Kentucky.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> That year he was the keynote speaker at the official launch party of the radio show, The Political Cesspool.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2005, Landham spoke at the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC) convention.<ref name="ipr"/>

On June 25, 2008, Landham announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Mitch McConnell, as a Libertarian.<ref name="attempted"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On July 23, 2008, Landham appeared on the political radio show The Weekly Filibuster, where he was asked, in relation to past comments of his quoted in the Louisville Courier-Journal, if he was calling for the genocide of Arab people. He replied, "I call for outright bombing them back into the sand until they surrender and if they don't surrender, then you continue the war. Because if you don't, you will never have peace in the United States. Now do you want peace in the United States or do you want to live to some utopian ideals that are impossible in a world?" He further called for Arabs to be banned from entering the United States, and referred to that ethnic group as "camel dung-shovelers", and when questioned on this, suggested using the epithets "rag-heads" and "camel jockeys".<ref name="ipr"/><ref name=politickerky>Template:Cite news</ref> On July 28, the Kentucky Libertarian Party asked Landham to withdraw his nomination, citing those comments and explaining that his politics did not agree with their platform and values.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Landham was married two times.<ref name="washingtontimes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He had 2 children, including a son named William, and a daughter named Priscilla.<ref name="attempted" />

After being convicted on federal charges of making threatening and obscene phone calls to his wife, Landham spent three years in prison.<ref name="attempted" /> However, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the conviction in May 2001.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Death

Landham died on August 17, 2017, aged 76, from congestive heart failure.<ref name="attempted" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	The Lost Man		Uncredited
1971	B.S. I Love You		Uncredited
1974	Special Order	Teamster #1	Uncredited
	Come Fly with Us	Joe
	Happy Days	French Cook
	The Love Bus	Amos Johnson
	The Switch or How to Alter Your Ego	Huntington Van Huff
	Cheese
	The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann	Political Candidate
1975	The Defiance of Good	Dr. Gabriels Patient
	The Big Con	'Tex'
	The Passions of Carol	Curt Reynolds
	Big Abner	Abner 'Big Abner'
	Abigail Leslie is Back in Town	Bo
	Illusion of Love
	Blood Bath
1976	Virgin Snow	Ben
	Slippery When Wet	Dougie Knowles
	The Honey Cup
1977	The Trouble with Young Stuff	Lane The Milkman
	Big Thumbs
	Sylvia	Junkie #1
1978	The Ganja Express	First Yellow Toga Guy	Uncredited
	MisBehavin'	Clyde
1979	The Warriors	Policeman #3
1980	Gloria	Riverside Drive Man No. 8
1981	Southern Comfort	Hunter
1982	Poltergeist	Pool Worker No. 2
	48 Hrs.	Billy Bear
1984	Fleshburn	Calvin Daggai
1986	Firewalker	'El Coyote'
1987	Predator	Special Forces Tracker Billy Sole
1988	Action Jackson	Mr. Quick
1989	Lock Up	'Chink' Weber
1992	Maximum Force	Pimp
1993	Best of the Best 2	James Lee
	Madame	Hector
1994	Taxi Dancers	Jim 'Diamond Jim'
	Savage Land	Lassiter
	Night Realm	Verrick
1995	Guns & Lipstick	Albino
	Fatal Choice	'Brick'
1996	2090	Indian
	Carnival of Wolves	Bodyguard No. 4
	Billy Lone Bear	Billy Lone Bear	Direct-to-video
2007	Disintegration	Boone Cagle
2009	Mental Scars	Chief Bear	Direct-to-video

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	B. J. and the Bear	Football Player	Episode: "Beauties and the Beasts"
1984	The A-Team	Ryker	Episode: "The Island"
1984–1985	Call to Glory	Willy Nighthawk	2 episodes
1985	The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission	Sam Sixkiller	Television film
	Hardcastle and McCormick	Sheriff Billy Blackstone	Episode: "You Don't Hear the One that Gets You"
1986	Fortune Dane		Episode: "Fortune Dane"
	The Fall Guy	Jake	Episode: "War of the Wheel"
	North Star	Becker	Television film
1987	Miami Vice	Toad	Episode: "Viking Bikers from Hell"
1992	Three Days To A Kill	Pepe	Television film
1993	Extralarge: Condor Mission	Indian	Television film

External links

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