Rod Lauren(1939-2007)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Rod Lauren was born Roger Lawrence Strunk in Fresno, California, on
March 26, 1939. He moved with his parents to Tracy, California, when he
was three. Father Larry Strunk was a schoolteacher who subsequently
found work as a switchman for the Southern Pacific Railroad; his mother
was also a teacher and a church organist. While attending Tracy High
School, Roger appeared in school plays and played the trombone in the
high school band. Graduating in 1957, he began singing in local clubs
in Tracy.
A recording executive was taken by his easy vocal style that differed
significantly from the popular rock 'n' roll genre. The exec gambled
with it, offered the teen an audition and Roger ended up winning an RCA
recording contract. He took on the professional name of Rod Lauren. The
fledgling singer appeared on both
Ed Sullivan and
Dick Clark's variety showcases
between 1959 and 1960 and earned a mild hit along the way (#31 on the
Billboard chart) with "If I Had a Girl" in 1960. However, with the
British invasion, his singing career fell away. Fortunately, Rod had a
dark, sulky, greaser-type appeal that recalled the rebel in
Fabian and, with that look, he started to
find acting jobs on TV. He also earned singing work in Vegas and
Southern California lounge clubs on the sly.
In 1963 alone Rod made six films, all of them low-budget in nature but
a couple that found cult infamy. In the cheapjack shocker
Terrified (1962) he is one of a group
of college students trapped in a ghost town with a masked psychopathic
killer. In Black Zoo (1963) it is
veteran actor Michael Gough who
imperils Lauren's life as a demented animal owner who triggers his
caged pets to attack. The third horror flick is his best known,
The Crawling Hand (1963), in
which the hand of a deceased astronaut comes to life and wreaks havoc.
Other genres mixed in were party flicks such as
The Young Swingers (1963) and
the mediocre oaters
The Gun Hawk (1963) and
Law of the Lawless (1964).
Following isolated appearances on
Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964) and
Combat! (1962), Lauren's film career
pretty much dissolved. His last film appearance was in director
John Derek's
Childish Things (1969) (aka "The
Confessions of Tom Harris"), which starred Derek's then-wife
Linda Evans. The film was made in
1966 but not released until three years later.
In 1964 Lauren went to the Philippines for the filming of
Once Before I Die (1966), and
while there met Nida Blanca, a then-rising
Filipino film star. He shuttled back and forth between the Philippines
and Southern California for over a decade before finally marrying Ms.
Blanca in 1979. He then took permanent residence in Manila. Ms. Blanca
was a star in the Philippines comparable to
Doris Day or
Debbie Reynolds. Rod functioned
as his wife's escort as his own career dissipated.
His last years were like a bad horror story. On November 6, 2001, wife
Nida was viciously stabbed to death in a parking garage. In November of
2003 Rod (who had long returned to his real name of Roger Strunk) was
to be charged with her murder after authorities claimed he hired an
assassin to kill his wife who had threatened to divorce and disinherit
him. In an example of the dysfunctional Manila justice system,
authorities allowed Rod to return to the U.S. before charges could be
filed against him. Claiming his mother, who lived back in Tracy,
California, was dying of cancer and he needed to be with her, he
managed to resist extradition and resettled in Tracy.
The former actor found employment as a camera operator for the city of
Tracy's public-access station, Channel 26. The pressures of the ongoing
investigation, however, finally took its toll and he ended it all on
July 11, 2007, by jumping to his death from a second-floor motel
balcony in Tracy. He was 68.
March 26, 1939. He moved with his parents to Tracy, California, when he
was three. Father Larry Strunk was a schoolteacher who subsequently
found work as a switchman for the Southern Pacific Railroad; his mother
was also a teacher and a church organist. While attending Tracy High
School, Roger appeared in school plays and played the trombone in the
high school band. Graduating in 1957, he began singing in local clubs
in Tracy.
A recording executive was taken by his easy vocal style that differed
significantly from the popular rock 'n' roll genre. The exec gambled
with it, offered the teen an audition and Roger ended up winning an RCA
recording contract. He took on the professional name of Rod Lauren. The
fledgling singer appeared on both
Ed Sullivan and
Dick Clark's variety showcases
between 1959 and 1960 and earned a mild hit along the way (#31 on the
Billboard chart) with "If I Had a Girl" in 1960. However, with the
British invasion, his singing career fell away. Fortunately, Rod had a
dark, sulky, greaser-type appeal that recalled the rebel in
Fabian and, with that look, he started to
find acting jobs on TV. He also earned singing work in Vegas and
Southern California lounge clubs on the sly.
In 1963 alone Rod made six films, all of them low-budget in nature but
a couple that found cult infamy. In the cheapjack shocker
Terrified (1962) he is one of a group
of college students trapped in a ghost town with a masked psychopathic
killer. In Black Zoo (1963) it is
veteran actor Michael Gough who
imperils Lauren's life as a demented animal owner who triggers his
caged pets to attack. The third horror flick is his best known,
The Crawling Hand (1963), in
which the hand of a deceased astronaut comes to life and wreaks havoc.
Other genres mixed in were party flicks such as
The Young Swingers (1963) and
the mediocre oaters
The Gun Hawk (1963) and
Law of the Lawless (1964).
Following isolated appearances on
Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964) and
Combat! (1962), Lauren's film career
pretty much dissolved. His last film appearance was in director
John Derek's
Childish Things (1969) (aka "The
Confessions of Tom Harris"), which starred Derek's then-wife
Linda Evans. The film was made in
1966 but not released until three years later.
In 1964 Lauren went to the Philippines for the filming of
Once Before I Die (1966), and
while there met Nida Blanca, a then-rising
Filipino film star. He shuttled back and forth between the Philippines
and Southern California for over a decade before finally marrying Ms.
Blanca in 1979. He then took permanent residence in Manila. Ms. Blanca
was a star in the Philippines comparable to
Doris Day or
Debbie Reynolds. Rod functioned
as his wife's escort as his own career dissipated.
His last years were like a bad horror story. On November 6, 2001, wife
Nida was viciously stabbed to death in a parking garage. In November of
2003 Rod (who had long returned to his real name of Roger Strunk) was
to be charged with her murder after authorities claimed he hired an
assassin to kill his wife who had threatened to divorce and disinherit
him. In an example of the dysfunctional Manila justice system,
authorities allowed Rod to return to the U.S. before charges could be
filed against him. Claiming his mother, who lived back in Tracy,
California, was dying of cancer and he needed to be with her, he
managed to resist extradition and resettled in Tracy.
The former actor found employment as a camera operator for the city of
Tracy's public-access station, Channel 26. The pressures of the ongoing
investigation, however, finally took its toll and he ended it all on
July 11, 2007, by jumping to his death from a second-floor motel
balcony in Tracy. He was 68.