- On the highly macho set of The Professionals (1966), Burt Lancaster, widely known to be a very physically strong man, frequently challenged Strode to contests of strength and was allegedly despondent to be repeatedly bested by him.
- Was one of the first four blacks who integrated professional football in 1946. The others were Bill Willis and Marion Motley of the Cleveland Browns (All America Football Conference [AAFC]), and fellow NFL Los Angeles Ram Kenny Washington.
- Posed for one of two paintings commissioned by Adolf Hitler for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.
- Reportedly, his favorite film from his career was Sergeant Rutledge (1960).
- The character Woody from the "Toy Story" films is named after Strode, who had appeared in a number of classic Western films.
- Was a close friend of John Ford from the early 1960s until Ford's death, with Ford having preferred Strode's company over most other actors when the director became ill from cancer. Somewhat controversially, Ford usually waved off claims his films were racist by saying things like, "But my best friend Woody Strode is black."
- Played college football for the UCLA Bruins, the most integrated collegiate team in the nation in 1939, which included future NFL running back Kenny Washington and future Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Jackie Robinson.
- According to Disneyland Vice President Tony Baxter, "In 1954, Harper Goff, the designer of the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, hired Woody to make a mold of his great muscularity for the African natives in that ride. [Goff] also used the same mold for the bodies of Frontierland's Native Americans, too.".
- He has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Ten Commandments (1956), Spartacus (1960), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).
- In the 1940s, at the beginning of the "Golden Age" of professional wrestling on television, Strode entered the game, campaigning as a "Baby Face" (hero) as opposed to the "Heel" (villain). He was both successful and a popular draw, but he gave up wrestling due to his popularity in motion pictures.
- Prior to 1946, he played semi-pro football.
- Inducted into the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum and Hall of Fame in 2012-13.
- According to John Capouya's biography of Gorgeous George, Strode paid him a visit late in 1963, and was shocked and saddened to see the extent of his old friend's decline.
- The Rams gave Kenny Washington a tryout when they moved to Los Angeles, and hired lineman Strode to be his roommate.
- Inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.
- Had a longtime affair with troubled actress Barbara Payton in the early 1950s, at a time when interracial relationships--especially between a black man and a white woman--were not only unheard-of in Hollywood but were actually illegal in many parts of the US. They kept it a secret, but eventually word leaked out and that, combined with her mental problems and heavy drug and alcohol use, wrecked her career and her life.
- Played for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League from 1948-49 before moving back to the US and beginning his film career.
- The 5/6/70 issue of "Variety", in the Italian Films Shooting column, lists the movie "Violence" filming in Morocco, director Damiano Damiani, actors Susan Strasberg, Farley Granger, Strode, Adolfo Celi, Terence Hill. production companies Nyima Films and Western Intl. of Los Angeles. distributor Paris-Etoile. However, there is no evidence the film was completed or distributed.
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