The Hammer: an American Hero

By Harold D. Edmunds

Mr. Williamson is a talented man. He excelled on the football fi eld and then became one of the fi rst Black, action heroes on fi lm. The Hammer: An American Hero details his rise from obscurity to one of the most talented football players in History. Williamson grew up on the tough streets of Chicago. He excelled in school and graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in architectural engineering. He went on to become a successful football player creating the controversial bump and run technique. He then went on to become a very successful writer, director and star of many exciting, action films. He also starred on several hit television shows. He played a major part in the explosion of Black, action films in the seventies and he continues to make fi lms today. Williamson has successfully brought powerful,
intelligent images of African American men to the silver screen for years. He wanted to present positive, strong heroic images of Black men to the world. He is an American icon, a hero to many of his fans. What motivated Williamson to excel? How did he get bullies to leave him alone in high school? How did he get the name The Hammer? Why did he study martial arts? Why did he write, produce and direct his own films? Why does he prefer to make independent films? Why did he create hisown film production company? Why does he make fi lms overseas? What three rules did he give to fi lm producers who wanted to hire him? Read The Hammer: An American Hero to fi nd the answers to these questions. If you are a fan of Mr. Williamson or Black cinema youll enjoy reading The Hammer: An American Hero.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524515034

Harold D. Edmunds

Harold D. Edmunds is a fan of classic, urban, and action films. He watches several movies each week and loves to write film reviews in his spare time. Edmunds loves to study Black history and read biographies. Fred Williamson: An American Hero is the first biography that he has authored. This is his first collaboration with the talented illustrator Ansel Pitcairn. He also enjoys watching Fred Williamson’s exciting action films. He is happily married and lives in New York City with his beautiful wife and son. Edmunds enjoys educating others through the printed word and is currently working on his next book. He has an associate’s degree from TCI College and a bachelor’s degree in professional studies from St. Francis College.

Book preview

The Hammer:

An American Hero

Harold D. Edmunds

Copyright © 2016 by Harold D. Edmunds.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/17/2016

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Contents

Introduction

1. The Hammer: An American Hero

2. The Early Years

3. Professional Football

4. Martial Arts

5. The Birth of The Hammer

6. Retirement from Professional Football

7. Hollywood

8. Tough Guys on film

9. Black Exploitation

10. Soundtracks

11. PO’ Boy Productions

12. Playgirl and Monday Night Football

13. The Power of Foreign Marketing

14. King Cobra and Jelly Beans

15. Fred Williamson the Director

16. Co-stars

17. Fred Williamsons Film Legacy

18. Homage

19. Hammers Tall Tales

20. Hammers Life Lessons

21. Celebrity Spokesman

22. Hollywood Today

23. Bibliography

About the Author

Introduction

Fred Williamson is The Hammer. He has provided the world with a strong, African American hero. His movies are exciting, action films. He defeats the bad guys and occasionally gets the girl. I enjoy watching his films. What I love about Mr. Williamson is that he didn’t wait for someone to write a good role for him. He wrote his own scripts and directed many of his films. Everyone needs a hero. You need someone to look up to. Someone strong who can stand up for himself and others. He has created a career of making action films. His characters are powerful men who often stand up to injustice and hatred. It’s hard to find a film today that has a strong, African American action hero in a serious role. Today many Black actors star in comedies or nonthreatening roles. I wrote this book to thank Mr. Williamson for providing African Americans with another strong hero. He really shines when he acts alongside other strong, Black, action heroes such as Jim Kelly, Jim Brown, Ron O’ Neal, Richard Roundtree and Pam Grier. I was able to learn much about Mr. Williamson by watching his YouTube videos. He tells his story over and over in dozens of videos on YouTube. I simply put his words on paper. The information in this book is based on interviews provided by Mr. Williamson. I suggest that you watch these videos for yourself so that you can hear his story in his own words. I was surprised when I noticed that Mr. Williamson didn’t have an autobiography thus far. Jim Brown and Pam Grier have autobiographies but Mr. Williamson has yet to write one. I have attempted to stay as close to Mr. Williamson’s own rendering of his life experiences as possible. He is a very important actor because when he started acting in the seventies African Americans needed strong heroes. Woody Strode and Brock Peters were making movies and representing Black power on film. Sidney Poitier and Jim Brown were also very popular in the seventies. These actors’ helped pave the way for the next generation of Black, action heroes. However, Fred Williamson wanted to provide his own version of an action hero. When he started making movies he refused to let Hollywood cast him in weak, subservient roles. He starred in action films and paved the way for other action stars and martial artists who would attempt to follow in his footsteps. He helped define Black strength and machismo. Fred set the pattern that other Black movie stars would attempt to imitate. Williamson is notable because few Black actors have consistently starred as tough guys since he started making movies in the seventies. He has an unapologetic strength in his films. He defeats all villains white, Black or purple. Mr. Williamson is a skilled martial artist. He came from the ghetto of Chicago and went on to become a track star. He graduated from college with a degree in architectural engineering. He became the head architect at Bechtel steel for several years. Williamson was a very good football player who changed the way the game was played with his famous bump and run move. He was the game’s first self-promoter. He earned his moniker The Hammer on the field for hammering his opponents. He became an actor and in his prime he was one of the top box-office draws in the seventies. Williamson is very talented. He is one of the first entertainers to write, produce, direct and star in his own films. He has been acting for over four decades and he is still going strong. He is still making action films his way. There is an important lesson to learn from Mr. Williamson’s life. No matter where you are from you can be a high achiever. You can be successful in life if you work hard. If you want achieve your goals in life create a plan. If you fail to plan you plan to fail. Everyone needs a hero. I encourage everyone reading this book to be heroic in your own life. Don’t just watch heroes on the big screen. Live a heroic life.

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Fred Williamson is The Hammer.

1

The Hammer: An American Hero

Frederick Robert Fred Williamson, was born in Gary, Indiana on March 5, 1938. Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana. He is a Pisces. He grew up on the Southside of Chicago. Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States. Williamson had humble beginnings but he worked hard and is now a successful multimillionaire. A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or accumulated wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. He was a very athletic person and he excelled at sports. He is a former track star, architect and professional football player. Williamson is six feet, three inches tall. He was nicknamed The Hammer because he used to knock down his opponents with his right forearm on the football field. It was a karate- like blow struck perpendicular to the earth’s latitude that would often knock his opponents to the ground.¹ He dropped the Hammer on so many of his opponents that he made a name for himself. Today Williamson is still known as The Hammer. He ran track and then played football in college at Northwestern University located in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois. Composed of twelve schools and colleges, Northwestern offers over a hundred undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Williamson was an All American while he was in college. When he graduated from college he played for the San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburg Steelers, Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs and finally the Montreal Alouettes. He is a skilled martial artist. Martial arts are organized systems and traditions relating to combat. They can be used for many reasons including self-defense, competition, physical fitness and mental and physical fitness. Williamson has black belts in Kenpo, Shotokan karate and Tae-Kwon-Do. He studied martial arts in order to stay in shape. Williamson also worked as an architect while he played professional football. An architect is a person trained and experienced in the design of buildings and the coordination and supervision of all of the various aspects of the construction of buildings. Their qualifications are recognized by a college degree and they have a legal license to erect buildings. He would play ball for six months and then work for six months during the off season. He eventually opened his own architectural firms in Montreal and San Francisco. After retiring from professional football Williamson began to work full time as an architect. He worked for nine months as a full time architect and decided to change careers because working nine to five began to bore him. He went on to become a successful actor, writer, producer and director. He is known for portraying strong, tough guys on screen. Black Caesar, Three the Hard Way, Bucktown and Original Gangsters are a few of his most popular films. Several of the characters that he portrays are skilled martial artists. He set the example for other Black, action heroes who would follow in his footsteps. Williamson continues to write, produce, direct and star in his own films. He also guest stars on television series as well as many independent film projects. He continues to portray powerful, manly roles. He wanted to provide a tough, action hero for Black audiences.² Therefore, he has created many memorable, macho characters that portray African American men in a positive light. Most of his recent work has been direct to video. Direct to video (DTV) releases refer to the release of a film to the public immediately on home video formats rather than a theatrical release or television broadcast. Many independent filmmakers and small companies create financially successful DTV films. Williamson also devotes his time to various charities in order to help others. He is married to his third wife Linda. Fred has several children. Fred Jr. and Frank from his first marriage and Jeff from his second wife. Williamson loves his family. He is one of the few actors who has managed to maintain a healthy marriage and a successful career. He was an All American football player with Northwestern University in 1957, 1958 and 1959. All Americans are players who achieve excellence in their field. He received an Emmy Award nomination in 1976 for his guest appearance in the hit series Police Story. An Emmy award recognizes excellence in the television industry. Police Story was an anthology television crime drama that aired on NBC from 1973 to 1978. Williamson was inducted into the African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame.³ He was also inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame on June 3, 1996. Williamson was the first actor to win the Pioneer award from the Toronto Black Film Festival on February 13, 2015.⁴ He enjoys playing golf in his spare time. He is a two handicapper. He is good friends with Jim Brown. Today he continues to make films his way and on his own terms.

When Williamson married his first wife Ginette Lavonda in 1960 interracial marriage was illegal in 23 states. However, that didn’t stop the Hammer. He followed his heart and got married anyway. Hammer found lasting marital bliss the third time around with his current wife. Fred Williamson and his lovely wife Linda live in California. They purchased a house in Palm Springs California in 1997. He enjoys living in Palm Springs and has mentioned that it’s hard to find a place to live that’s as nice as Palm Springs California. Palm Springs is a desert, resort city in Riverside County, California. He also has property in Rome and spends time there every year.

2

The Early Years

Fred Williamson was born in Gary, Indiana but he grew up in the ghetto on the Southside of Chicago.⁵ He’s the only child of Frank and Lydia Williamson. When he was in grade school his parents separated. Years later his mother remarried. She wed Lipsky Wesley a steel mill worker. Fred respected his parents. He was especially fond of his mother. She was a very loving and strict parent. After he became successful he made sure that she had the best of everything for the rest of her life. Mr. Williamson grew up in a tough Chicago neighborhood. When he was young he used to sing doo-wop with his friends on the corner of Broadway and 17th in Gary. It was something that he used to do with his friends for fun. He had humble beginnings in Chicago and he wanted something better for himself. He developed a motto where he did what he wanted to do and never allowed negativity to stop him from being successful. He ignored the overly cautious attitudes of his parents and became very assertive. Williamson developed the ability to motivate himself. His motivation was the man in the mirror. He made goals for himself and focused on achieving them. He feels that a person should never give up on their goals.⁶ Williamson was a pretty boy in high school and many people chose to pick on him. He often had to fight in order to defend himself. He had to prove that a teen could be good looking yet still know how to fight. Bullies had a habit of taking his lunch money on a regular basis until he had a growth spurt.⁷ Eventually, Williamson developed a plan. He developed a thug mentality in order to survive. He had to develop a tough exterior in order to avoid being bullied. He learned how to avoid fighting by simply maintaining a tough persona. He walked and talked with confidence and this helped him to stay out of trouble. When troublemakers saw that he wasn’t a weak and timid person they left him alone. Williamson developed a reputation as someone not to be messed with. He achieved this status by maintaining a tough demeanor. His plan worked and he was able to avoid many conflicts with his peers.⁸ Eventually he began to enjoy having the image of a tough guy. His strong, tough guy attitude commanded respect. His assertive, thug mentality carried over into professional football and his film career.⁹ Years later Williamson would study martial arts to compliment his tough image. Williamson modeled his tough guy persona after a guy named Jesse Crowder that he met in high school. Jesse Crowder was a cool, tough guy that Williamson went to school with. As a freshman in school Williamson observed how cool Crowder was. He had a lot of respect and no one messed with him. He didn’t have to have to fight anyone. No one harassed him because of his tough, no nonsense demeanor. In tribute to his old schoolmate he named one of his characters Jesse Crowder. Eventually he was sued by Crowder. When he went to court Williamsons lawyer placed several phonebooks on the table and asked Crowder which Jesse Crowder are you? He also asked Crowder, Were you ever a private detective? Did you ever kill anybody? Do you know martial arts? Crowder was embarrassed. He knew the lawsuit had no validity. After going to court Williamson wanted to wipe the floor with Crowder. However, Williamson decided to leave him alone.¹⁰ After the case Williamson stopped