John Quade
Encyclopedia
John William Saunders better known by the stage name John Quade, was an American character actor
who starred in film and in television. He was best known for his role as Cholla, the leader of the motorcycle gang "The Black Widows" in the Clint Eastwood
films Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its sequel Any Which Way You Can
(1980).
, Quade attended Perry Rural High School in Perry, Kansas
before transferring to Highland Park High School in Topeka on September 7, 1954. While at Highland Park, he was a football
tackle and also participated in basketball
and track. He was a member of the Stamp
, Radio
, and Chess
/Checkers
clubs. He graduated from Highland Park in May 1956.
Quade attended Washburn University
in the fall semester of 1956. He worked for the Santa Fe Railway repair shop in Topeka and as an aerospace engineer
before his movie debut in 1972. In the mid-1960s he formed a partnership with rock and roller Zane Ashton (aka Bill Aken) in the production company "Progressive Sounds Of America." Most of their productions were done at Richie Podolor's American Recording including those with The Roosters, Fenwyck, Big Joe Long, and United Artist's country songstress Kathy Dee. Ashton was the adopted son of classical guitarist Francisco Mayorga and his actress wife Lupe, who initially helped open music business doors for the two partners. After a rapid rise from a one-room office in Maywood, California to a high rise suite of offices in Hollywood, they sold the company to the Pat Quinlan Agency in 1968, but the two remained friends for decades.
and The Outlaw Josey Wales
with Clint Eastwood
. He appeared in Papillon
with Steve McQueen
and Dustin Hoffman
. He appeared in many television movies and mini-series including Roots
and Dream West. Quade starred in two short-lived television series: Flatbush (1979) and Lucky Luke
(1991).
He made many guest appearances on television shows ranging from Bonanza
, Gunsmoke
, Knight Rider (in the pilot episode "Knight of the Phoenix"), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
(in the two-part episode "The Plot to Kill a City" as a telekinetic supervillain),Roots (TV miniseries)
,The A-Team
to On the Air
.
With his drawling accent, stocky build and squinty eyes, he was often called on to play Southern or rural law enforcement officers in addition to the usual antagonist
character roles.
, Social Security number
s, and driver's licenses. He was often referred to as an "actor, aerospace engineer, and Christian activist". He was a supporter of the Allodial Title belief in common law.
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
who starred in film and in television. He was best known for his role as Cholla, the leader of the motorcycle gang "The Black Widows" in the Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
films Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its sequel Any Which Way You Can
Any Which Way You Can
* Beers To You** Written by Steve Dorff , John Durrill , Sandy Pinkard and Snuff Garrett ** Sung by Ray Charles and Clint Eastwood* Any Which Way You Can...
(1980).
Early life
Born in Kansas City, KansasKansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...
, Quade attended Perry Rural High School in Perry, Kansas
Perry, Kansas
Perry is a city in Jefferson County, Kansas, United States. The population was 901 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Topeka, Kansas Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
before transferring to Highland Park High School in Topeka on September 7, 1954. While at Highland Park, he was a football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
tackle and also participated in basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
and track. He was a member of the Stamp
Stamp collecting
Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is one of the world's most popular hobbies, with the number of collectors in the United States alone estimated to be over 20 million.- Collecting :...
, Radio
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
, and Chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
/Checkers
Draughts
Draughts is a group of abstract strategy board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemy's pieces. Draughts developed from alquerque...
clubs. He graduated from Highland Park in May 1956.
Quade attended Washburn University
Washburn University
Washburn University is a co-educational, public institution of higher learning in Topeka, Kansas, USA. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,400 undergraduate students and...
in the fall semester of 1956. He worked for the Santa Fe Railway repair shop in Topeka and as an aerospace engineer
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
before his movie debut in 1972. In the mid-1960s he formed a partnership with rock and roller Zane Ashton (aka Bill Aken) in the production company "Progressive Sounds Of America." Most of their productions were done at Richie Podolor's American Recording including those with The Roosters, Fenwyck, Big Joe Long, and United Artist's country songstress Kathy Dee. Ashton was the adopted son of classical guitarist Francisco Mayorga and his actress wife Lupe, who initially helped open music business doors for the two partners. After a rapid rise from a one-room office in Maywood, California to a high rise suite of offices in Hollywood, they sold the company to the Pat Quinlan Agency in 1968, but the two remained friends for decades.
Career
Quade starred in High Plains DrifterHigh Plains Drifter
High Plains Drifter is a 1973 American Western film, with a hint of the supernatural, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood and produced by Robert Daley for The Malpaso Company and Universal Pictures. Eastwood plays a mysterious gunfighter hired by the residents of a corrupt frontier mining town...
and The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western film set during and after the end of the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood , with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams.The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman...
with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
. He appeared in Papillon
Papillon (autobiography)
Papillon is a memoir by convicted felon and fugitive Henri Charrière, first published in France in 1969. It became an instant bestseller. It was translated into English from the original French by June P. Wilson and Walter B. Michaels for a 1970 edition, and by author Patrick O'Brian...
with Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
and Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
. He appeared in many television movies and mini-series including Roots
Roots (TV miniseries)
Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's fictional novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still...
and Dream West. Quade starred in two short-lived television series: Flatbush (1979) and Lucky Luke
Lucky Luke
Lucky Luke is a Belgian comics series created by Belgian cartoonist, Maurice De Bevere better known as Morris, the original artist, and was for one period written by René Goscinny...
(1991).
He made many guest appearances on television shows ranging from Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, Knight Rider (in the pilot episode "Knight of the Phoenix"), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series)
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. The series ran for two seasons between 1979–1981, and the feature-length pilot episode for the series was released as a theatrical film several months before the series aired....
(in the two-part episode "The Plot to Kill a City" as a telekinetic supervillain),Roots (TV miniseries)
Roots (TV miniseries)
Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's fictional novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still...
,The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
to On the Air
On the Air
On the Air is an American sitcom created by David Lynch and Mark Frost and broadcast by ABC. In the United States, only three episodes were aired although seven were filmed...
.
With his drawling accent, stocky build and squinty eyes, he was often called on to play Southern or rural law enforcement officers in addition to the usual antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
character roles.
Activist
Quade was an outspoken opponent of the U.S. government and believed it had become drastically different from the founding fathers' intent. He gave numerous lectures on the New World Order of the current government. In short, he was opposed to Section 2 of the 14th Amendment to the ConstitutionFourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
, Social Security number
Social Security number
In the United States, a Social Security number is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents under section 205 of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent...
s, and driver's licenses. He was often referred to as an "actor, aerospace engineer, and Christian activist". He was a supporter of the Allodial Title belief in common law.
Partial filmography
- To Teach Them War (2009)
- Return to Lonesome DoveReturn to Lonesome DoveReturn to Lonesome Dove, written by John Wilder, is a TV Miniseries involving characters created in the Pulitzer Prize-winning western novel Lonesome Dove. The story focuses on a retired Texas Ranger and his adventures driving mustangs from Texas to Montana...
(1993) (mini) - And You Thought Your Parents Were WeirdAnd You Thought Your Parents Were WeirdAnd You Thought Your Parents Were Weird is a 1991 science-fiction family film written and directed by Tony Cookson; foreign language releases were titled RoboDad.-Plot:...
(1991) - The TrackerThe TrackerThe Tracker is an Australian drama film produced in 2002. It was directed and written by Rolf de Heer. It is a set in 1922 in outback Australia where a racist white colonial policeman used the tracking ability of an Indigenous Australian tracker to find the murderer of a white woman...
(1989) (TV) - The HighwaymanThe Highwayman (TV series)The Highwayman is an action-adventure themed television series starring Sam J. Jones, set in "the near future." It was created by Glen A. Larson and Douglas Heyes. The pilot aired in September 1987, and was followed by a short-lived series of nine episodes, with significant changes to the cast and...
(1987) (TV) - La BambaLa Bamba (film)La Bamba is a 1987 American biographical film written and directed by Luis Valdez. The picture features Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna DeSoto, Elizabeth Peña, Danielle von Zerneck, and Joe Pantoliano...
(1987) - TigersharkTigershark (film)Tigershark is a 1987 action film about a martial arts instructor who sets out to rescue his girlfriend who is being held for ransom by a South American warlord. The film was directed by Emmett Alston, and stars Mike Stone, John Quade, and Pamela Bryant....
(1987) - Dream West (1986)
- Fury to Freedom (1985)
- Any Which Way You CanAny Which Way You Can* Beers To You** Written by Steve Dorff , John Durrill , Sandy Pinkard and Snuff Garrett ** Sung by Ray Charles and Clint Eastwood* Any Which Way You Can...
(1980) - Every Which Way but Loose (1978)
- Night Terror (1977) (TV)
- The Outlaw Josey WalesThe Outlaw Josey WalesThe Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western film set during and after the end of the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood , with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams.The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman...
(1976) - Mr Ricco (1975)
- Planet EarthPlanet Earth (TV pilot)Planet Earth was a science fiction television movie that was created by Gene Roddenberry, written by Roddenberry and Juanita Bartlett . It first aired on April 23, 1974 on the ABC network, and starred John Saxon as Dylan Hunt. It was presented as a pilot for what was hoped to be a new weekly...
(1974) - The StingThe StingThe Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936 that involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters to con a mob boss . The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who previously directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.Created by...
(1973) - PapillonPapillon (film)Papillon is a 1973 film based on the best-selling novel by the French convict Henri Charrière.This motion picture was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, starring Steve McQueen as Henri Charrière , and Dustin Hoffman as Louis Dega...
(1973) - High Plains DrifterHigh Plains DrifterHigh Plains Drifter is a 1973 American Western film, with a hint of the supernatural, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood and produced by Robert Daley for The Malpaso Company and Universal Pictures. Eastwood plays a mysterious gunfighter hired by the residents of a corrupt frontier mining town...
(1973) - Bad CompanyBad Company (1972 film)Bad Company is a 1972 American Western film directed by Robert Benton, who also co-wrote the film with David Newman. It stars Barry Brown and Jeff Bridges as two of a group of young men that flee the draft during the American Civil War to seek their fortune and freedom on the unforgiving American...
(1972) - HammerHammer (film)Hammer is a 1972 blaxploitation film directed by Bruce Clark. The film was released following the successes of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and Shaft, notable 1971 films that popularized black cinema....
(1972)
External links
- Celebrity Deaths - John Quade Includes videos, cause of death, & biography.