Sonny Landham

Landham studied acting for two years at Pasadena Playhouse before moving to New York in 1968 to pursue a career in acting.[6] At the beginning of his acting career, Landham was an actor in pornographic films.[7][8][9] He also posed for nude layout for Playgirl.[6] He then became a mainstream movie actor and appeared in a number of Hollywood films, including The Warriors (as a subway policeman whose leg gets broken by a baseball bat-wielding Michael Beck), Predator, 48 Hrs., Lock Up and Action Jackson.

In 2003, Landham ran in the Republican Party primary election for the post of Governor of Kentucky,[2] hoping to repeat the success of his Predator castmates Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He based his candidacy on opposition to an amendment which endorsed the Kentucky Family Court, saying his bad experiences at the hands of the family court had convinced him it was for the benefit of lawyers rather than families or children. He was unsuccessful in gaining the party's nomination. He ran briefly as an independent candidate, but withdrew on June 18, 2003, and endorsed the Republican slate.

In January 2004, Landham announced his candidacy for the 27th State Senate District of Kentucky. In 2005, Landham spoke at the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC) convention. Landham has also appeared on the CofCC-affiliated radio show, The Political Cesspool.

On June 25, 2008, Landham announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Mitch McConnell on the Libertarian line.[2][10] A month later, Landham repeatedly called for "genocide" against Arabs (to whom Landham referred as "camel-dung shovelers," "camel jockeys," and "rag-heads") on the political radio show The Weekly Filibuster.[4] On July 28, the Kentucky Libertarians voted unanimously to withdraw Landham's nomination, citing his comments were not in keeping with the party's platform and values.[11]

Landham died on August 17, 2017, aged 76, from congestive heart failure.[2][15]