# Jack Starrett
**Jack Starrett** (November 2, 1936 – March 27, 1989) was an American actor and film director, born Claude Ennis Starrett Jr. in Refugio, Texas, who specialized in low-budget drive-in exploitation films as a director and played tough, aggressive characters on screen, most visibly Gabby Johnson in [Mel Brooks](https://www.edgepedia.org/mel-brooks)'s *Blazing Saddles* (1974) and the brutal Deputy Art Galt in *First Blood* (1982).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630/bio/) • [2](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Jack_Starrett%3A_The_Essentials)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | November 2, 1936, Refugio, Texas; birth name Claude Ennis Starrett Jr.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630/bio/) |
| Died | March 27, 1989, Sherman Oaks, California, at age 51; the Los Angeles Times reported liver failure, IMDb kidney failure[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-29-mn-407-story.html) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630/bio/) |
| Directing debut | *Run, Angel, Run!* (1969), the first of several biker films with actor William Smith[4](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/) |
| Notable directed films | *The Losers* (1970), *Slaughter* (1972), *Cleopatra Jones* (1973), *Race with the Devil* (1975), *Final Chapter: Walking Tall* (1977)[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_starrett) |
| Best-known acting roles | Gabby Johnson in *Blazing Saddles* (1974), credited as Claude Ennis Starrett Jr.; Deputy Sgt. Arthur Galt in *First Blood* (1982)[2](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Jack_Starrett%3A_The_Essentials) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630) |
| Television directing | Episodes of *Hill Street Blues*, *The A-Team*, *The Dukes of Hazzard*, *Knight Rider*, *Planet of the Apes*, and *Starsky and Hutch*[6](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630) |
## Early life
Starrett was born in Refugio, Texas, a small town near [Corpus Christi](https://www.edgepedia.org/corpus-christi), and worked in the local oil fields as a boy. He became interested in film after seeing *East of Eden* and came to Hollywood, where he took odd acting jobs in a series of action pictures.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-29-mn-407-story.html) IMDb states that he attended San Marcos Academy in the 1940s and 1950s and made his acting debut as "Coach Jennings" in *Like Father, Like Son* (1961).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630/bio/) The FilmInk profile instead identifies his first screen role as [Tom Laughlin](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-laughlin)'s low-budget 1965 youth drama *The Young Sinner*, with Laughlin casting him after he arrived in Hollywood.[4](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/)
## Acting career
Starrett was a tall, imposing presence often typecast as tough-talking lawmen. He appeared in a trio of biker films playing essentially the same kind of character: *Born Losers* (1967), the film that introduced Tom Laughlin's vigilante character [Billy Jack](https://www.edgepedia.org/billy-jack); [Richard Rush](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-rush)'s *Hells Angels on Wheels* (1967), in which he costarred with [Jack Nicholson](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-nicholson) two years before *Easy Rider*; and *Angels From Hell* (1968).[2](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Jack_Starrett%3A_The_Essentials) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_starrett) • [4](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/)
His two most widely seen roles came in major studio pictures. In Mel Brooks's 1974 western comedy *Blazing Saddles* he played Gabby Johnson, a parody of Western actor Gabby Hayes, and was credited as Claude Ennis Starrett Jr.[2](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Jack_Starrett%3A_The_Essentials) In *First Blood* (1982), the first Rambo film, he played Deputy Sgt. Arthur Galt, described by FilmInk as the most brutal of the small-town officers who torment [Sylvester Stallone](https://www.edgepedia.org/sylvester-stallone)'s character.[6](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630) • [4](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/) He frequently played aggressive lawmen on screen, an extension of the world of his own early directing work.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_starrett) Later screen appearances included *Mr. Horn* (1979) as General George Crook, *Death Chase* (1988), and *Nightwish* (1989).[7](https://cinegraph.org/people/jack-starrett)
## Directing
Starrett was offered a director's job on *Run, Angel, Run!* in 1969, the first of several collaborations with the B-movie tough guy [William Smith](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-smith), and he followed it with the little-known 1969 thriller *House of Zodiac* and *The Losers* (1970).[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-29-mn-407-story.html) • [4](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/) Low-budget exploitation films were his forte, and he worked across genres: the western *Cry Blood, Apache* (1970), the psychological thriller *The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie* (1972), the blaxploitation (1970s Black-cast action films made for urban audiences) pictures *Slaughter* (1972) with [Jim Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-brown) and *Cleopatra Jones* (1973) with Tamara Dobson, the devil-cult thriller *Race with the Devil* (1975), and *A Small Town in Texas* (1976).[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_starrett) • [4](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/) *Cleopatra Jones* is probably the most famous work in his directing output.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_starrett)
**The Losers and its afterlife.** *The Losers* (1970), also released as *Nam's Angels*, followed a group of bikers on a rescue mission into Cambodia during the [Vietnam War](https://www.edgepedia.org/vietnam-war). Its "bring the boys back home" prisoners-of-war premise was reused in 1980s action features including *Uncommon Valor* (1983), *Missing in Action* (1984), and *Rambo: First Blood Part II* (1985).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630/bio/)
He also directed made-for-television films, including *Thaddeus Rose and Eddie* (1977), written by William D. Wittliff and starring [Johnny Cash](https://www.edgepedia.org/johnny-cash) and [Bo Hopkins](https://www.edgepedia.org/bo-hopkins), and *Mr. Horn* (1979), with [David Carradine](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-carradine) as the western gunman Tom Horn.[4](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/) His final feature as director was the 1982 action comedy *Kiss My Grits*, with Bruce Davison, Bruno Kirby, and Susan George.[4](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/)
## Television work
Alongside his film work, Starrett directed episodes of *Planet of the Apes* (1974), *Starsky and Hutch* (1975), *The Dukes of Hazzard* (1979), *Hill Street Blues* (1981), *Knight Rider* (1982), and *The A-Team* (1983), among other series.[6](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630) On screen he appeared in series including *Hunter* and *The A-Team*.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-29-mn-407-story.html)
## Influence and reputation
Starrett worked in a hands-on, low-budget mode that left an impression on other filmmakers. Director Larry Cohen, in a 2019 interview with Film International, described visiting a Starrett production in an old Hollywood house and realizing that a crew of eight or ten people could make a picture; he recruited several of Starrett's crew members to shoot his own first film, *Bone*, on 16mm.[4](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/) FilmInk counts [Quentin Tarantino](https://www.edgepedia.org/quentin-tarantino) and [David Gordon Green](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-gordon-green) among the supporters of his unconventional black comedy *The Gravy Train* (1974), which had a cast including Stacy Keach, Frederic Forrest, and Margot Kidder and a script co-written by Terrence Malick.[4](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_starrett) The Grindhouse Cinema Database places him among the era's overlooked makers of B-movie classics.[2](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Jack_Starrett%3A_The_Essentials)
## Personal life and death
Starrett was married to soap opera actress Valerie Starrett; their daughter, Jennifer Starrett, also became an actress.[6](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630) He had problems with alcoholism, and his sister Dorothy Barry told the Los Angeles Times he had been ill for some time before his death on March 27, 1989, at a Sherman Oaks hospital at age 51. The newspaper's obituary attributed the death to liver failure, while IMDb lists kidney failure.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-29-mn-407-story.html) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630/bio/) A funeral service was held at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-29-mn-407-story.html)
## References
1. [Jack Starrett – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630/bio/)
2. [Jack Starrett: The Essentials, The Grindhouse Cinema Database](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Jack_Starrett%3A_The_Essentials)
3. [Jack Starrett, 52; Adventure Film Actor, Director, Los Angeles Times (March 29, 1989)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-29-mn-407-story.html)
4. [Unsung Auteurs: Jack Starrett, FilmInk](https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-jack-starrett/)
5. [Jack Starrett Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jack_starrett)
6. [Jack Starrett, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823630)
7. [Jack Starrett, Cinegraph](https://cinegraph.org/people/jack-starrett)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Character actors, B-movie and genre-circuit performers › American performers, mid era › Surnames K to Z*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license