Austin Stoker, a Trinidadian American actor best known as the star of John Carpenter’s highly influential 1976 thriller “Assault on Precinct 13,” died Oct. 7, his wife announced on Monday. He was 92.
“The love of my life,” Robin Stoker, the late actor’s wife, wrote on Facebook when she announced his death. He was being treated for renal failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles when he died.
Stoker was born Oct. 7, 1930, in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Tobago. He moved to the United States in his 20s and began his acting career in theater. He began acting on film in the late 1960s and in the ’70s became known for roles in action, Blaxsploitation and science fiction movies, often playing law enforcement officers.
His roles include Bruce MacDonald 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 frequently appeared on television, most notably Virgil Harvey in “Roots,” and roles on “Lou Grant,” “Trapper John, M.D.” and “Falcon Crest,” to name just a few.
But he’s best known for John Carpenter’s independent thriller “Assault on Precinct 13,” in which he starred as Ethan Bishop, a police officer forced to defend a shut-down station from a vicious gang seeking revenge against LAPD. A minor hit at the time, it’s now recognized as one of the most important action films of the 1970s and among Carpenter’s best.
