Sonny Landham, Early Adult Star, Passes

LEXINGTON, Ky.—William "Sonny" Landham, who performed in 21 XXX movies between 1974 and 1981, and was perhaps best known in adult for the title role in Big Abner, but went on to have a highly successful mainstream career, died on August 17 from congestive heart failure. "A life well lived!" commented top star and eco-activist Annie Sprinkle, who worked with Landham in the Video-X-Pix 1976 release Slippery When Wet, described as a "potboiler about college chums reuniting to discover the latent and unrealized passion that was always there." "What I remember most is that he was so magnificently tall, dark and handsome. To me, he didn’t have a 'sunny' personality, but was deep, thoughtful and serious. Sonny was a very sweet lover. When he came out blazing in Predator with Schwartzenegger, the whole NYC porn industry was beaming with pride. We knew he could do it. He was one of the first to show the world that some porn stars could actually act—as well as get it up and off on cue. He made quite a mark!" Landham, large (6'4") and muscular, whose heritage was part Cherokee and part Seminole Indian, was frequently cast to reflect his ethnic background, playing a scout tracking an elusive alien menace in Predator, a police officer whose leg is broken by street thug Michael Beck in The Warriors, and an outlaw on the run from Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in the buddy/cop comedy 48 Hrs, those last two directed by Walter Hill, who was a fan of Landham's acting ability. Trouble was, there weren't a lot of Native American roles to be had, and Landham suffered from Hollywood's penchant to typecast actors, complaining to the UPI in 1987, "I'm an actor who happens to be an Indian, not an Indian trying to be an actor." Landham also appeared in several other "action" movies, including Firewalker, Action Jackson and Lock Up. His final on-screen role was in Mental Scars (2009). Besides Big Abner, some of Landham's more famous XXX appearances were in Joe Sarno's Honey Cup (1975) and Trouble With Young Stuff (1976), Henry Paris'/Radley Metzger's Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann (1975), Chuck Vincent's Misbehavin' (1976) and Cecil Howard's Illusions of Love (1981), which was also his final adult appearance. But having a XXX background didn't stop Landham from attempting to get into politics—not unlike fellow Hollywood behemoths Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura. Landham ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Kentucky on the Republican Party ticket in 2003, and in 2008, this time as a Libertarian, he unsuccessfully challenged Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell—unsucessful because the party dropped him after he went on right-wing radio show The Weekly Filibuster and called for Arabs to be killed for their role in the September 11, 2001 attacks, referring to them as, among other epithets, "camel dung shovelers." Landham was also involved in a four-car accident in 2006, and it's unclear if that was the cause, but he later had to have both of his legs amputated below the knee, and was confined to a wheelchair during his final days. No memorial has yet been announced for the actor. Pictured: Sonny Landham as the scout Billy in Predator, and running for Governor of Kentucky in 2003.