Strother Martin
Known for
Strother Martin, born in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1919, was an American character actor whose weathered voice and slippery smile made him a fixture of 1960s and 1970s westerns. He delivered the iconic line about failure to communicate as the prison captain in Cool Hand Luke (1967) and appeared for Sam Peckinpah in The Wild Bunch (1969). The same year he turned up in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and True Grit (1969), one of the most productive stretches of his career. He later found fresh comic territory in Slap Shot (1977), continuing to elevate every ensemble he joined until his death in 1980.
Strother Martin
63 Movies
44 Series
Strother Martin, born in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1919, was an American character actor whose weathered voice and slippery smile made him a fixture of 1960s and 1970s westerns. He delivered the iconic line about failure to communicate as the prison captain in Cool Hand Luke (1967) and appeared for Sam Peckinpah in The Wild Bunch (1969). The same year he turned up in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and True Grit (1969), one of the most productive stretches of his career. He later found fresh comic territory in Slap Shot (1977), continuing to elevate every ensemble he joined until his death in 1980.
Movies
Plays Captain
Cool Hand Luke
1967
Plays Dr. Carl Stoner
Sssssss
1973
Plays Colonel G. Stonehill
True Grit
1969
Plays Percy Garris
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969
Plays Floyd
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962
Plays Coffer
The Wild Bunch
1969
Plays Poe
Hard Times
1975
Plays Ned Ross
The Sons of Katie Elder
1965
Plays Agard
McLintock!
1963
Plays Claude
Harper
1966
Plays Mr. Stoner
Up in Smoke
1978
Plays Joe McGrath
Slap Shot
1977
Plays Parody Jones
The Villain
1979
Plays Rufus Clemens
Hannie Caulder
1971
Plays Riley
The Champ
1979
Plays Shanghai McCoy
Rooster Cogburn
1975
Plays Harvey Wallace
Kiss Me Deadly
1955
Plays Bowen
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
1970
Plays Virgil
The Horse Soldiers
1959
Plays Thurm
The Shaggy Dog
1959
Plays Train Engineer
Shenandoah
1965
Plays Bill Garrett
Pocket Money
1972
Plays Trailhand Bitten by Rattlesnake
Cowboy
1958
Plays Scotty
Drum Beat
1954
Plays Stillman
The Big Knife
1955
Plays Fiddler
Invitation to a Gunfighter
1964
Plays Ingersol
Attack
1956
Plays Dr. Waldo Kling
The End
1978
Plays Lee Cottrill
Fools' Parade
1971
Plays Louis Monk
Love and Bullets
1979
Plays Airman
Strategic Air Command
1955
Plays Parson
The Deadly Companions
1961
Plays Billy
The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday
1976
Plays Co-Pilot
The Magnetic Monster
1953
Plays George Westinghouse
The Secret of Nikola Tesla
1980
Plays Petey
Black Patch
1957
Plays Selwyn
Nightwing
1979
Plays Ben Stocker
The Wild and the Innocent
1959
Plays Doc Duncan
The Brotherhood of Satan
1971
Plays Trumbull
An Eye for an Eye
1966
Plays Pokey
Copper Sky
1957
Plays Mr. Clyde
Brainstorm
1965
Plays Dog Boy
Sanctuary
1961
Plays Lovick
The Flim-Flam Man
1967
Plays Charlie Reeder
Showdown
1963
Plays Pvt. Dan O'Hirons
Target Zero
1955
Plays John Cloyd
Red Sky at Morning
1971
Plays Co-pilot
Storm Over Tibet
1952
TV Shows
Plays R.J. Hawkins
Hawkins
1973
Plays Ben Snow
Gunsmoke
1955
Plays Benny Kohler
The New Breed
1961
Plays Thomas Tyler 'T.T.' Flowers
The Rockford Files
1974
Plays Buckshot
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954
Plays Tyrone Lovey
The Doris Day Show
1968
Plays Terry Riggs
Marcus Welby, M.D.
1969
Plays Man in Coffee Shop
I Love Lucy
1951
Plays Nerim
Lost in Space
1965
Plays Pete Gibson
Perry Mason
1957
Plays Gunnery Officer Daly
General Electric Theater
1953
Plays Old Hollander
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
Plays Holly Amberton
Run for Your Life
1965
Plays Deputy Shirky Saulter
The Fugitive
1963
Plays Solomon Tarbot
Daniel Boone
1964
Plays Pete Hill
The Millionaire
1955
Plays Finley
The Virginian
1962
Plays Dan'l Hawks
The Big Valley
1965
Plays Pit Thatcher
Black Saddle
1959
Plays Jess
The Rebel
1959
Plays Wilkins
Cavalcade of America
1952
Plays Joby
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956
Plays Meeker
The Legend of Jesse James
1965
Plays The Rev. Mr. Anderson
He & She
1967
Plays Zachariah
Nichols
1971
Plays Lonnie Stern
Bonanza
1959
Plays Carew
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
Plays Taxi Driver
The Lieutenant
1963
Plays Tom Blair
Four Star Playhouse
1952
Plays Nanyface
The Name of the Game
1968
Latest Trailers
Watch Trailer
Hotwire
Full Filmography
Hotwire
The Weasel
1980
Film
The Secret of Nikola Tesla
George Westinghouse
1980
Film
The Villain
Parody Jones
1979
Film
The Champ
Riley
1979
Film
Nightwing
Selwyn
1979
Film
Love and Bullets
Louis Monk
1979
Film
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Old Hollander · 1 episode
1978
TV
Stubby Pringle's Christmas
Old Hollander
1978
Film
Up in Smoke
Mr. Stoner
1978
Film
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Strother Martin still alive?
Strother Martin passed away on August 1, 1980 at age 61.
What are the most famous roles of Strother Martin?
Strother Martin is best known for roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, The Wild Bunch.
How many movies has Strother Martin been in?
Over a 30-year career (since 1950), Strother Martin has appeared in 63 movies and 43 TV shows.
What was Strother Martin's first movie?
The career of Strother Martin began with The Asphalt Jungle (1950).
What is Strother Martin's most recent movie or series?
Strother Martin's most recent release is Hotwire, which premiered on September 1, 1980.
What TV shows has Strother Martin appeared in?
On television, Strother Martin has appeared in The Twilight Zone, Saturday Night Live, Bonanza, Gilligan's Island.
Strother Martin
1919-03-26 · Kokomo, Indiana, USA
Strother Martin (March 26, 1919 – August 1, 1980) was an American actor in numerous films and television programs. Martin is perhaps best known as the prison "captain" in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, where he uttered the line, "What we've got here is...failure to communicate."