page_title: John Saxon
section_title: Enter the Dragon
hierarchical_section_title: John Saxon / Career / Enter the Dragon
caption_attribution_description: English: John Saxon in 1975
context_page_description: John Saxon was an American actor who worked on more than 200 projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing police officers and detectives.
  Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Saxon studied acting with Stella Adler before beginning his career as a contract actor for Universal Pictures, appearing in such films as Rock, Pretty Baby and Portrait in Black, which earned him a reputation as a teen idol and won him a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor. During the 1970s and 1980s, he established himself as a character actor, frequently portraying law enforcement officials in horror films such as Black Christmas, Dario Argento's Tenebrae, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
  In addition to his roles in horror films, Saxon co-starred with Bruce Lee in the martial arts film Enter the Dragon, and he had supporting roles in the westerns The Appaloosa, Death of a Gunfighter and Joe Kidd, as well as the made-for-television thriller Raid on Entebbe. In the 1990s, Saxon occasionally appeared in films, with small roles in Wes Craven's New Nightmare and From Dusk till Dawn.
context_section_description: He appeared the martial artist Roper in 1973's Enter the Dragon, Bruce Lee's first major role in a Hollywood feature. He was in action films: Mitchell (1974), The Swiss Conspiracy (1975), Strange Shadows in an Empty Room (1976), Napoli violenta (1976), Mark Strikes Again (1976), A Special Cop in Action (1976), Cross Shot (1976), The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist (1977).
  In 1974 he appeared as police Lieutenant Fuller in the slasher horror film Black Christmas. From 1974–76, he appeared in The Six Million Dollar Man, first as Major Frederick Sloan and then as Nedlick. This role also extended into The Bionic Woman. The actor's likeness was later used for the Kenner action-figure doll called 'Maskatron' which was based on the series.
  Saxon starred as Dylan Hunt in the 1974 Gene Roddenberry television pilot Planet Earth, replacing Alex Cord from Genesis II. A 20th Century scientist unfrozen in the post-nuclear world of 2133, he leads a team of explorers and encounters a matriarchal society. Although ABC declined the series, Saxon played a nearly identical character in the 1975 television film Strange New World.
  In 1976, Saxon portrayed a homicidal vampire-like strangler in the Season Two Starsky & Hutch episode 'Vampire'. He played Captain Radl in the two-part Wonder Woman episode "The Feminine Mystique" (1976). Raid on Entebbe (1977) was a prestige television movie for him. Moonshine County Express was a big success for Roger Corman's New World Pictures; Saxon made another for that company, The Bees (1978). He appeared in a Bollywood movie, Shalimar (1978) then it was back to exploitation: Fast Company (1979), The Glove (1979).
  Saxon played Hunt Sears, chief of a breakfast cereal conglomerate, opposite Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in the 1979, Oscar-nominated film The Electric Horseman.
caption: Saxon in Petrocelli, 1975,
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