James Iglehart

Last updated
James Iglehart
Born (1949-09-12) September 12, 1949 (age 74)
McLennan County, Texas, United States
Other namesJames Iglehardt
James Iglehart
Jim Iglehart
OccupationActor
Years active19691978

James Iglehart (born September 12, 1949) is a former American actor who appeared in six films during the 1970s and was the leading actor in the 1973 blaxploitation film Savage! .

Contents

Iglehart also had a role as the violent womanizing Randy Black in the Russ Meyer directed 1970 film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls . In 1971 he had a role as Clay Rutherford in The Seven Minutes , which also featured Ron Randell, John Carradine and an up-and-coming Tom Selleck. Then he starred alongside Scott Glenn and Gary Busey in a violent biker exploitation flick, Angels Hard as They Come , a film that also featured Sharon Peckinpah, the daughter of director Sam Peckinpah.

In 1973 and 1974 he had lead roles as Cal Jefferson in Bamboo Gods And Iron Men , a Filipino Martial arts/blaxploitation film. In 1978 he appeared in Death Force, his last role alongside Carmen Argenziano and Felton Perry.

Background

Iglehart played professional baseball before beginning a career as an actor. [1] His son is film and stage actor James Monroe Iglehart who has found fame on Broadway. [2] [3]

Career

Late 1960s to early 1970s

In 1970, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was released. The Russ Meyer directed film also starred Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom and John Lazar. His character Randy Black is a boxing champion who seduces another man's girlfriend and also tries to run him over with a car. [4] [5] Also that year he appeared in a couple of television shows. He played an officer in Headmaster which aired in October and two episodes of The Bold Ones: The Senator which aired in November that year. [6]

In 1971, another Russ Meyer directed film, The Seven Minutes was released. Iglehart played the part of Clay Rutherford. [7] Angels Hard as They Come was released the same year. It was directed by Joe Viola and produced by Jonathan Demme. The executive producer was Roger Corman. Iglehart played the part of Monk. It also starred Scott Glenn, Charles Dierkop, Gary Busey and Gilder Texter. [8] The film was about a group of bikers that come across a group of drug-addicted hippies in a small town. Eventually this leads to conflict and chaos. [9]

A 1973 release he starred in was Savage. In it he plays a criminal on the run who gets involved in a revolution against a military government. [10] The setting is in a country that is controlled by a military dictatorship. His character Jim Haygood starts out working for the government to defeat rebel forces and capture a rebel leader called Moncada. Later he becomes appalled by thebrutal antics of his superiors, he subsequently sides with the rebels and becomes known under the nom de guerre "Savage". He is joined by two American friends who are performers at the local American club — knife-thrower Vicki and acrobat Amanda. [11]

Mid to late 1970s

In 1974, Iglehart starred in the film Bamboo Gods and Iron Men which was directed by Cesar Gallardo and co-starred Shirley Washington. In it he played a famous American boxer who is taking his honeymoon in Manila and The Philippines. Somehow he gets involved in smuggling. [12] [13]

Death Force also known as Fighting Mad was directed by Cirio Santiago and released in 1978. Iglehart plays American Doug Russell, a US soldier who is heading home. After being betrayed and abandoned by his comrades, he is rescued by two WWII Japanese soldiers. They still believe that they are at war. He takes revenge with a Samurai sword with what he learnt from the Japanese soldiers. [14] [15] His four-year-old son James Monroe Iglehart also appeared in the film. [16]

Filmography

Television
YearTiltleRoleDirectorEpisodeNotes #
1969 The New People Hap"The Prisoner of Bomano" Corey Allen Aired 29 December 1969
1970 Headmaster Officer"Will the Real Mother of Tony Landis Please Stand Up?" Aaron Ruben Aired 23 October 1970
1970 The Bold Ones: The Senator 1st Student"A Continual Roar of Musketry: Part 1" Robert Day Aired 22 November 1970
1970The Bold Ones: The Senator1st Student"A Continual Roar of Musketry: Part 2"Robert DayAired 29 November 1970
Film
YearTitleRoleDirectorNotes #
1970 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls Randy Black Russ Meyer
1971 The Seven Minutes Clay RutherfordRuss Meyer
1971 Angels Hard as They Come Monk Joe Viola
1973 Savage! Jim Haygood Cirio H. Santiago
1974 Bamboo Gods and Iron Men Cal JeffersonCesar Gallardo
1978 Death Force Doug RussellCirio H. SantiagoAlso associate producer
1981 Body and Soul No acting role

(creative coordinator)

George Bowers

[17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Busey</span> American actor (born 1944)

Gary Busey is an American actor. He portrayed Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor. His other starring roles include A Star is Born (1976), D.C. Cab (1983), Silver Bullet (1985), Eye of the Tiger (1986), Lethal Weapon (1987), Hider in the House (1989), Predator 2 (1990), Point Break (1991), Under Siege (1992), The Firm (1993), Drop Zone (1994), Black Sheep (1996) and Lost Highway (1997).

<i>The Wild Bunch</i> 1969 film by Sam Peckinpah

The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American epic revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang on the Mexico–United States border trying to adapt to the changing modern world of 1913. The film was controversial because of its graphic violence and its portrayal of crude men attempting to survive by any available means.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russ Meyer</span> American film director and photographer (1922–2004)

Russell Albion Meyer was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that featured campy humor, sly satire and large-breasted women, such as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. Meyer often named Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) as his definitive work.

<i>Beyond the Valley of the Dolls</i> 1970 film

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a 1970 American satirical musical melodrama film starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, Phyllis Davis, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett, and David Gurian. The film was directed by Russ Meyer and screenwritten by Roger Ebert from a story by Ebert and Meyer.

<i>Supervixens</i> 1975 film by Russ Meyer

Supervixens is a 1975 American film directed by American filmmaker Russ Meyer. The cast features Meyer regulars Charles Napier, Uschi Digard, and Haji. The film also features Shari Eubank in one of her only two film roles and Christy Hartburg in her only film role.

<i>Black Mama White Mama</i> 1972 film by Eddie Romero

Black Mama White Mama, also known as Women in Chains, Hot, Hard and Mean and Chained Women, is a 1973 women in prison film directed by Eddie Romero and starring Pam Grier and Margaret Markov. The film has elements of blaxploitation.

<i>Riot in Cell Block 11</i> 1954 film by Don Siegel

Riot in Cell Block 11 is a 1954 American film noir crime film directed by Don Siegel and starring Neville Brand, Emile Meyer, Frank Faylen, Leo Gordon and Robert Osterloh. Director Quentin Tarantino called it "the best prison film ever made."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. G. Armstrong</span> American actor (1917–2012)

Robert Golden Armstrong Jr. was an American character actor and playwright. A veteran performer who appeared in dozens of Westerns during his 40-year career, he may be best remembered for his work with director Sam Peckinpah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B movies (exploitation boom)</span> 1960s–1970s era of genre filmmaking

The 1960s and 1970s marked the rise of exploitation-style independent B movies; films which were mostly made without the support of Hollywood's major film studios. As censorship pressures lifted in the early 1960s, the low-budget end of the American motion picture industry increasingly incorporated the sort of sexual and violent elements long associated with so-called ‘exploitation’ films. The demise of the Motion Picture Production Code in 1968, coupled with the success of the exploitation film Easy Rider the following year, fueled the trend throughout the subsequent decade. The success of the B-studio exploitation movement had a significant effect on the strategies of the major studios during the 1970s.

The outlaw biker film is a film genre that portrays its characters as motorcycle riding rebels. The characters are usually members of an outlaw motorcycle club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Chamberlin</span> American actor

Kevin Chamberlin is an American actor. He is known for his theatre roles such as Horton in Seussical and Uncle Fester in The Addams Family. For his theatre work, he was nominated for three Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards. He also starred as Bertram Winkle in the Disney Channel Original Series sitcom Jessie from 2011 to 2015. From 2018 to 2019, he starred as The Wizard of Oz in Wicked on Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoe Kazan</span> American screen writer (born 1983)

Zoe Swicord Kazan is an American actress and screenwriter. She made her acting debut in the film Swordswallowers and Thin Men (2003) and later appeared in films such as The Savages (2007), Revolutionary Road (2008), and It's Complicated (2009). She starred in Happythankyoumoreplease (2010), Meek's Cutoff (2010), Ruby Sparks (2012), and What If (2013). In 2014, she appeared in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge, for which she received an Emmy nomination. She portrayed Emily Gordon in the film The Big Sick (2017), and in 2018 appeared in the Coen Brothers film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs in the episode "The Gal Who Got Rattled".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blaxploitation</span> Film genre

Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypes often involved in crime. The genre does rank among the first after the race films in the 1940s and 1960s in which black characters and communities are the protagonists and subjects of film and television, rather than sidekicks supportive characters, antagonists or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with the rethinking of race relations in the 1970s.

<i>Savage!</i> (1973 theatrical film) 1973 film by Cirio H. Santiago

Savage! is a 1973 American-Philippines action film with elements of blaxploitation. The funding and distribution came from Roger Corman's New World Pictures which also provided the leading players from among a number of American actors who regularly appeared in such features. It was produced and directed by Cirio H. Santiago who, between 1973 and his death in 2008, partnered with Corman on over 40 Philippines-based action-adventure exploitation films which took advantage of much lower local production costs.

<i>Angels Hard as They Come</i> 1971 American film

Angels Hard as They Come is a 1971 biker film directed by Joe Viola and starring Scott Glenn, Charles Dierkop, Gilda Texter, James Iglehart, and Gary Busey. It was co-written and produced by Jonathan Demme.

Edward Joseph Lakso was an American screenwriter, producer, and composer, known for his work on series such as Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Charlie's Angels and Combat!. He is sometimes miscredited as Edward J. Lasko.

<i>Aladdin</i> (2011 musical) Broadway musical

Aladdin is a stage musical based on Disney's 1992 animated feature film of the same name with a book by Chad Beguelin, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Beguelin. It resurrects three songs written by Menken and Ashman for the film but not used, and adds four songs written by Menken and Beguelin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Monroe Iglehart</span> American actor (born 1974)

James Monroe Iglehart is an American stage, film, television and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for his Tony Award-winning performance as the Genie in the original Broadway production of Aladdin. Iglehart assumed the role of Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the Broadway company of Hamilton in April 2017. He originated the role of King Arthur in the 2023 Broadway revival of Spamalot. He can be heard as super producer Steve Jones in As The Curtain Rises, Broadway's first original podcast soap opera.

<i>Hercules</i> (musical) 2019 musical by Kristoffer Diaz

Hercules is a musical based on the Walt Disney Animation Studios 1997 film of the same name. The music and lyrics were written by Alan Menken and David Zippel, with a book by Kristoffer Diaz and Robert Horn. The production is also loosely based on the legendary hero of the same name, the son of Zeus, in Greek mythology.

<i>Death Force</i> 1978 martial arts exploitation film by Cirio H. Santiago

Death Force is a 1978 martial arts exploitation film directed by Cirio H. Santiago and written by Howard R. Cohen. The film is an international co-production of the Philippines and the United States, and stars blaxploitation actor James Iglehart alongside Carmen Argenziano, Leon Isaac Kennedy, and Jayne Kennedy. Iglehart plays Doug Russell, a veteran of the Vietnam War turned gold smuggler who is left for dead by his partners and, after being trained to wield a samurai sword by a Japanese soldier, seeks revenge on those who betrayed him. Iglehart's real son, James Monroe Iglehart appears briefly as Jimmy Russell, Doug's infant son.

References

  1. Geek.com, 06.11.2019 - MOVIES, 11 Forgotten Blaxploitation Classics That Deserve Your Time,← Savage! By K. Thor Jensen Archived 2019-09-01 at the Wayback Machine
  2. The Los Angeles Times , May 31, 2014 - Entertainment & Arts, James Monroe Iglehart releases the genie inside By David Ng
  3. Showtickets.com, June 2, 2016 - 10 Things You May Not Know: James Monroe Iglehart of ‘Aladdin’ Category Broadway |by Karu Daniels
  4. Letterboxd - Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
  5. Blacks in American Films: Today and Yesterday, Edward Mapp - Page 232
  6. TV.com - James Iglehart, CREDITS
  7. TV Guide - The Seven Minutes, CAST & CREW
  8. Jonathan Demme: Interviews by Jonathan Demme - xl Filmography, As Producer, Directed by Others, 1971, ANGELS HARD AS THEY COME
  9. Letterboxd - Angels Hard as They Come 1971 Directed by Joe Viola
  10. Geek.com, 06.11.2019 - MOVIES, 11 Forgotten Blaxploitation Classics That Deserve Your Time,← Savage! By K. Thor Jensen Archived 2019-09-01 at the Wayback Machine
  11. The Spinning Image - Savage! - Reviewer: Andrew Pragasam
  12. New York , Volume 7 (1974) - Page 173
  13. Feature Films:
    A Directory of Feature Films on 16mm and Videotape Available for Rental, Sale, and Lease
    , 1985 - Page 32
  14. Under The Radar , Jul 09, 2019 - Soul Team Six, Fighting Mad By Matthew Rowe
  15. Black action films:
    plots, critiques, casts and credits for 235 theatrical and made-for-television releases
    , James Robert Parish, George H. Hill - Page 232
  16. Showtickets.com, June 2, 2016 - 10 Things You May Not Know: James Monroe Iglehart of ‘Aladdin’ Category Broadway |by Karu Daniels
  17. IMDb - James Iglehart, Filmography