48 Facts About Tom Laughlin

Tom Laughlin was married to actress Delores Taylor from 1954 until his death.

Tom Laughlin's unique promotion of The Trial of Billy Jack was a major influence on the way films are marketed.

Tom Laughlin was involved in psychology and domestic violence counseling, writing several books on Jungian psychology and developing theories on the causes of cancer.

Tom Laughlin was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Margaret and Thomas Tom Laughlin.

Tom Laughlin attended Washington High School, where he was involved in an athletics controversy that made headlines throughout the city, caused by Laughlin being forced to attend another school for a brief period, making him ineligible to play football at his former school on his return.

Tom Laughlin attended the University of Wisconsin, before transferring to Marquette University; he played football at both.

Tom Laughlin decided to become an actor after seeing a production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Tom Laughlin finally transferred to the University of South Dakota, where he majored in radio acting, directing, and producing.

Tom Laughlin met his future wife Delores Taylor in South Dakota.

Tom Laughlin wrote the original screenplay for the film Billy Jack in 1954, after witnessing the treatment of Native Americans in his wife's hometown, Winner, South Dakota.

Tom Laughlin appeared in several episodes of various television series throughout the late 1950s.

In 1958, Mr Tom Laughlin appeared in a small but memorable role in South Pacific, the movie version of the James Michener book and Rodgers and Hammerstein musical as a Navy pilot, Lt.

That same year, Tom Laughlin starred in the western series Tales of Wells Fargo, the episode titled "The Quiet Village".

Also in 1959, Tom Laughlin appeared in the film Gidget as Lover Boy.

Tom Laughlin's first starring film role was in Robert Altman's 1957 film The Delinquents, in which he played Scotty White, a teenager who gets mixed up with a gang when he is told he can no longer see his girlfriend.

Tom Laughlin made his directorial debut later that year with The Proper Time, though the film wasn't released until 1962.

Tom Laughlin shot the film on the campus in six days working with a $20,000 budget.

In 1960, Laughlin planned to make a film, Poison in Our Land, based on the true story of a Texas couple affected by atomic radiation, but the project was never realized.

In 1965, Tom Laughlin told the Milwaukee Sentinel that he planned to make a film on the life of a noted Catholic priest, Father William DuBay.

Tom Laughlin followed this up with the sequel to The Born Losers, Billy Jack, in 1971.

Tom Laughlin had been in dispute with AIP and reached a settlement in 1974, agreeing to pay them $2 million, including $500,000 from The Born Losers reissue and $250,00 for AIP's percentage share of The Trial of Billy Jack.

In 1975, Tom Laughlin released The Master Gunfighter, a Western set in the 1840s, detailing the plight of the Chumash people.

Tom Laughlin grew a full beard for the film and his character fought with both a 12-shot revolver and a samurai sword.

Tom Laughlin returned to the Billy Jack franchise in 1977.

Tom Laughlin blamed individuals within the United States government for the failure of the picture, telling CNN's Showbiz Tonight in 2005:.

Tom Laughlin created a blueprint for taking control of the home video distribution industry as a way for independent films to be seen.

Tom Laughlin garnered notoriety at this time for making a citizen's arrest of a man after an argument over Laughlin's driving.

Tom Laughlin had sought funding to finish the fifth Billy Jack film since at least 1996, when he spoke about it during a lawsuit against a man who had illegally changed his name to "Billy Jack", and at one point Tom Laughlin had plans to make a Billy Jack television series.

In 2009, Tom Laughlin released plot details of this film on a video on his website.

In 2010, Frank, Chris, and Teresa Laughlin co-founded Billy Jack Rights, LLC, which manages the rights to all of Tom Laughlin's films, including the Billy Jack franchise.

Tom Laughlin appeared on the primary ballots in New Hampshire and Louisiana.

Tom Laughlin campaigned on a platform of a tax cut for "ordinary Americans", term limits, an overhaul of public education, universal health care, and nuclear disarmament.

Tom Laughlin participated in the independent presidential candidates' debate on March 25,1992, along with former US Senator Eugene J McCarthy and others who had been excluded from the major debates.

Tom Laughlin later protested at being excluded from the primary ballot in his home state of Wisconsin at the same time that David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, was included.

Tom Laughlin ran for president again in 2004, this time as a Republican.

Tom Laughlin again was not allowed to participate in the debates.

Tom Laughlin's website presented several writings calling the Iraq conflict worse than the Vietnam War, in addition to pieces on what he called "realistic exit strategies".

Tom Laughlin devoted several pages of the Billy Jack website to reasons that he felt justified an impeachment of George W Bush and repeatedly stated the need for a viable, mainstream third political party.

Tom Laughlin released several videos and writings during the 2008 election.

Tom Laughlin lectured on Jungian psychology at universities and colleges throughout the United States since the 1970s, including Yale University and Stanford University.

Tom Laughlin wrote several books on psychology, including The Psychology of Cancer; Jungian Psychology vol.

Tom Laughlin became involved in this after witnessing a neighbor, a police officer, beating his wife.

Tom Laughlin blamed the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson on domestic abuse, saying:.

Tom Laughlin lived at 300 Rockingham Drive, I lived at 100 Rockingham.

In 2001, it was announced that Tom Laughlin was suffering from a cancer of the tongue that was inoperable.

In January 2007, a tearful Tom Laughlin gave the eulogy for the man who taught him hapkido for the movie Billy Jack, the late hapkido grandmaster Han Bong-soo, whom Laughlin remembered as "a holy man".

Tom Laughlin suffered from celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder, and suffered a series of strokes.

Tom Laughlin died of complications from pneumonia on December 12,2013, at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California.