Veteran actor John Quade has died at the age of 71. The actor was best known for his role as Cholla, the leader of the bandit motorcycle gang the Black Widows in the 1978 hit movie Every Which Way But Loose, starring Clint Eastwood. He has also appeared alongside Eastwood in classics of the western genre such as High Plains Drifter and The Outlaw Josey Wales.
John Quade - Aerospace Engineer to Actor
Quade was born in Kansas City and started his working life as a railway repair man before moving into the aeronautical industry where he built equipment that was used by NASA in the moon landings. However, a chance meeting in an LA eatery was to change to course of his career after a stranger suggested he ought to be an actor.
Quade Appeared in Popular TV Shows
He began his acting career on stage but soon progressed to television, where he appeared in popular TV series such as Bonanza, Gunsmoke and The A Team. His big screen debut came in 1972 in the film Deadhead Miles and was shortly followed by his first Western called Bad Company, which starred Jeff Bridges.
Actor John Quade Was Typecast as The Heavy
The movie credits continued to roll in throughout the 70s with the actor soon becoming somewhat typecast in the role of the “heavy” due to his stern appearance, an appearance that belied the gentle man beneath, according to his wife, Gwen Saunders.
“He was one of the nicest men you'd ever want to know,” she told the LA Times shortly after his death this week. Adding: “He looked like he could do murder and mayhen at any moment, but he was a big teddy bear."
Quade’s Screen Career
Throughout the 70s and 80s Quade was a regular fixture of both the big and small screens, notching up film appearance alongside such stars as Charlton Heston, Paul Newman and Robert Redford and roles in popular series including CHiPS, Hill Street Blues and Baywatch.
In later years Quade, an outspoken Christian, had become something of an activist, giving lectures on his political beliefs and his disappointment with the direction of the American leadership.
John Quade Family Man
The actor, who is said to have died peacefully in his sleep, was laid to rest in his adopted hometown of Lancaster yesterday. He leaves behind his wife, six children and ten grandchildren. He is also survived by his mother, two brothers and two sisters.
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