From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William M. "Sonny" Landham (born February 11, 1941 in Canton, Georgia) is an American movie actor and political candidate. He is a descendant of the Cherokee and Seminole nations.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Films 1.2 Television 2 External links 3 References

Landham appeared in a number of Hollywood movies, including Southern Comfort, Predator, 48 Hours, Action Jackson and made a cameo appearance as a cop in the 1979 classic The Warriors.

Landham suffered a number of legal setbacks after his acting career ended. He was involved in a protracted and bitter child custody dispute with his ex-wife, and was convicted in 1998 of three counts of making threatening telephone calls to her. After 31 months in federal prison, Landham's conviction was quashed on appeal. He later sued the Federal government alleging false imprisonment. Landham also pursued a (finally unsuccessful) lawsuit against toymaker Galoob for royalties on the Predator related action figure that depicted his character.

Militated by his experiences of the legal system, in 2003 Landham ran in the Republican Party primary election for the post of Governor of Kentucky, hoping to repeat the success of his Predator castmates Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He based his candidacy on opposition to an amendment which endorsed the Kentucky Family Court, saying his bad experiences at the hands of the family court had convinced him that it was run for the benefit of lawyers rather than families or children. Landham's run was hampered by media revelations that he had appeared in a number of pornographic adult movies during the 1970s (Hot Shots for one), and he was unsuccessful in gaining the party's nomination. He ran briefly as an independent candidate, but withdrew on June 18 and endorsed the Republican slate.

In January 2004, Landham announced his candidacy for the 27th State Senate District.

In the Spring of 2006, Landham also accepted a bid as an honorary member of Alpha Sigma Phi, Beta Chi Chapter at American University.

On September 19, 2006, Landham was injured when he was not wearing a seatbelt during a four-car chain reaction accident in Ashland, Kentucky.[1]

Year	Film	Role
1975	Abigail Leslie is Back in Town	Bo
1982	48 Hrs.	Billy Bear
1982	Poltergeist	Pool Worker #2
1984	Fleshburn	Calvin Daggai
1986	Firewalker	El Coyote
1987	Predator	Billy
1988	Action Jackson	Mr.Quick
1989	Lock Up	Chink Weber
1992	Maximum Force	Pimp
1993	Best of the Best 2	James
1994	Savage Land	Lassiter
1995	Fatal Choice	Brick
1995	Guns & Lipstick	Albino
1996	Carnival of Wolves	Body guard #4
1996	Billy Lone Star

Year	Television	Episode	Role
1984	The A-Team	The Island	Ryker
1985	The Dirty Dozen:The Next Mission		Sam Sixkiller
1985	Hardcastle and McCormick	You Don't Hear the One that Gets You	Sheriff Billy Blackstone
1986	The Fall Guy	War of the Wheel	Jake
1986	North Star		Becker
1987	Miami Vice	Viking Bikers from Hell
1991	3 Days to Kill		Pepe

• Sonny Landham's website
• Sonny Landham at the Internet Movie Database
• The US court of appeal's finding overturning Landham's convictions
• Landham's lawsuit against Galoob
• Alpha Sigma Phi, Beta Chi Chapter
• Tribute page

• Kentucky Post report about gubernatorial race