Austin Stoker (October 7, 1930 – October 7, 2022) was a Trinidadian-American actor known for his role as Lt. Ethan Bishop, the

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

in charge of the besieged Precinct 9, Division 13, in

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...

Howard Hawks Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter of the Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American ...

-inspired 1976 film, '' Assault on Precinct 13''. This was one of the few heroic starring roles for a black actor in an

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

of the 1970s outside of the

blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

genre.

Life and career

Stoker was born in

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

on October 7, 1930. He started his career on stage, including the 1954 Broadway production of

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics ...

's '' House of Flowers'', where he met his future wife, Enid Mosier (acting name Vivian Bonnell). Prior to his role as Lt. Bishop, Stoker appeared in several blaxploitation films, often playing

police detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

s. Among these films were ''

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'' (1974), ''Combat Cops'' (1974), and ''

Sheba, Baby ''Sheba, Baby'' is a 1975 American blaxploitation action film directed by William Girdler and starring Pam Grier and Austin Stoker. Plot Private investigator Sheba Shayne (Grier) returns from Chicago, Illinois to her hometown of Louisville, ...

'' (1975), in which he played

Pam Grier Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and martial artist. Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star, she achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1970s action, blaxploitati ...

's love interest. Some of Stoker's other notable acting roles were in ''

Battle for the Planet of the Apes ''Battle for the Planet of the Apes'' is a 1973 American science fiction film directed by J. Lee Thompson from a screenplay by John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington, based on a story by Paul Dehn. The film is the sequel to ''C ...

'' (1973), '' Horror High'' (1974), ''

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'' (1974), '' Victory at Entebbe'' (1976), and the 1977 television

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'' ''Roots''''. Stoker is known to ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on WUCW, KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then ...

'' fans for his role as Dr. Ken Melrose in the 1982

B-movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

, '' Time Walker'', in which he appeared with Darwin Joston, his co-star from '' Assault on Precinct 13''.

Death

Stoker died of renal failure at the

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

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, on October 7, 2022, his 92nd birthday.

Filmography

*''

'' (1973) as Bruce MacDonald *'' Horror High'' (1974) as Lieutenant Bozeman *''The Get-Man'' (1974) as LT. Frank Savage * ''Return to the Planet of Apes'' (1975) as Astronaut Jeff Allen *''

'' (1974) as Air Force Sgt. *''

'' (1974) as Det. Cass Potter *''

'' (1975) as Brick Williams *'' Assault on Precinct 13'' (1976) as Lt. Ethan Bishop *'' Victory at Entebbe'' (1976, TV Movie) as Dr. Ghota *'' Time Walker'' (1982) as Dr. Ken Melrose *''A Girl to Kill For'' (1990) as Guard Number One *''Two Shades of Blue'' (1999) as Security Guard *'' Mach 2'' (2000) as Edwards *''Between the Lines'' (2006) as Charles *''Machete Joe'' (2010) as Raymond Sinclair *''Give Til It Hurts'' (2015) as Reverend Bishop *''Descention'' (2016) as Brother Malcolm (rumored) *''Surge of Power: Revenge of the Sequel'' (2016) as Himself *''Shhhh'' (2017) as Dave *''

3 from Hell 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

'' (2019) as Earl Gibson *''Double Down'' (2020) as Vincent Jamison II *''Give Till It Hurts'' (2022) as Reverend Bishop

References

External links

* 1930 births 2022 deaths American male film actors People from Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United States Trinidad and Tobago male television actors Trinidad and Tobago male film actors American male television actors 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago male actors 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American male actors 20th-century African-American male actors 20th-century American male actors 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago actors {{US-film-actor-1930s-stub