Austin Stoker, a Trinidadian American actor best known as the star of John Carpenter’s highly influential 1976 thriller “Assault on Precinct 13,” died on October 7, his wife announced Monday. He was 92 years old.
“The love of my life,” Stoker’s wife, Robin Stoker, wrote on Facebook Monday, when she announced his death, He was being treated for kidney failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles when he died.
Stoker was born on 7 October 1930 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. He moved to the United States in his 20s and began his acting career in theatre. He began acting on film in the late 60s and became known for roles in action films, blaxploitation and science fiction films in the 1970s, often playing law enforcement officers.
His roles include Bruce McDonald in “Battle for the Planet of the Apes” (1973), Det. Potter in “Abby” (1974) and Brick Williams in “Sheba, Baby” (1975), among many others. He also appeared frequently on television, most notably Virgil Harvey in “Roots” and roles in “Lou Grant,” “Trapper John, MD” and “Falcon Crest,” to name just a few.
But he is best known for John Carpenter’s independent thriller “Assault on Precinct 13”, in which he starred as Ethan Bishop, a police officer seeking revenge against the LAPD from a vicious gang at a shut-down station. forced to defend. A minor hit at the time, it is now recognized as one of the most important action films of the 1970s and one of Carpenter’s best.