Tom Laughlin Biography

Fast Facts

• Left Hollywood in 1959 to create a Montessori preschool in Santa Monica with wife Delores Taylor
• Studied at the University of Wisconsin, Marquette University and the University of South Dakota
• Married actress and "Billy Jack" co-star Delores Taylor in 1954
• Passed away at 82-years-old after struggling with a bout of pneumonia
• Decided to pursue a career as an actor after seeing a live production of "A Streetcar Named Desire․"
• Best known portraying the title characters in the "Billy Jack" series of films
• Wrote the "Billy Jack" screenplay after witnessing the treatment of Native Americans in South Dakota
• During the 1970s, lectured on Jungian philosophy at universities throughout the United States