Yahoo News Predator star Sonny Landham dies at 76
Sonny Landham, the actor and stuntman most famous for Predator, has died at age 76.
The Georgia-born actor sadly passed away from congestive heart failure at a Kentucky hospital on Thursday (August 17), his sister Dawn Boehler has confirmed to The AP.
Landham is perhaps best known for starring opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers in director John McTiernan's classic 1987 science fiction blockbuster Predator, in which he played the alien tracker Billy Sole.
Years earlier, Landham began his career with a series of roles in adult entertainment films and later worked as a stuntman on Hollywood movies.
His first mainstream role was as the the subway policeman who confronted the gang leader Swan (Michael Beck) in 1979 cult classic The Warriors.
Throughout his film career, he played the loose cannon thug Billy Bear in the action comedy 48 Hrs and one of the inmates in Sylvester Stallone's 1989 prison thriller Lock Up.
Landham's other major credits include the iconic horror movie Poltergeist, the Chuck Norris action flick Firewalker, thriller Southern Comfort and the martial arts film Best of the Best II.
Following the success of his Predator co-star Jesse 'The Body' Ventura's gubernatorial campaign in Minnesota, Landham tried unsuccessfully to run for governor in Kentucky and challenged now-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his seat in 2008. The latter bid was sidelined when he made inflammatory comments about Arabs.
Sonny Landham is survived by a son named William and daughter named Priscilla.
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