R.I.P. Billy Jack

Actor/director Tom Laughlin died December 12 from complications after contracting pneumonia. He was 82.

Laughlin gained a huge cult following in the early 1970s after directing and starring in Billy Jack, a film about a half-breed Vietnam veteran who protected hippies and Indians by using martial arts to battle racist rednecks in a small American town.

Laughlin is credited with changing the way movies were marketed in Hollywood. He was the first to buy airtime on network television during the news hour promoting the release of his films. Billy Jack and its two sequels were also instrumental in introducing Asian martial arts to a wide audience in North America, even before Bruce Lee.

Billy Jack was a flop when it was first released in 1971. Laughlin bought back the rights to his film from the studios and re-released it two years later, promoting in on the major networks on opening weekend.

The film was inspired by witnessing mistreatment of Native Americans in his wife’s hometown of Winner, South Dakota.

Laughlin as Billy Jack was heavily featured in Rezolution Films’ award-winning documentary Reel Injun.

Laughlin is survived by his three children and wife Delores Taylor, who appeared in all of the Billy Jack films.

The family has asked that instead of flowers, donations be sent to Friends of Pine Ridge. Pine Ridge is the Lakota (Sioux) reservation in South Dakota.