Celebrity Biographies
Austin Stoker
He gave life to the policeman who is the protagonist of “Assault on the 13th District police station”. Actor Austin Stoker died of kidney failure in 2022, on his birthday, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, Robin, said . “Her transition from him was beautiful,” she said.
Alphonso Marshall –his real name– was born on October 7, 1930 in Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), he came to New York with his compatriot Geoffrey Holder —they were in a local dance group— to pursue a career in show business. .
In 1954, Austin Stoker made his Broadway debut as a musician in Truman Capote and Harold Arlen’s play “House of Flowers.” After serving in the US Army, where he was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, he studied acting with Lee Grant and Uta Hagen at the HB Studio in New York and later moved to California. He made his television debut in 1969 in an episode of The Mod Squad . After Battle for the Planet of the Apes , he voiced himself to astronaut Jeff Allen in the animated series Return to the Planet of the Apes .
Additionally, Austin Stoker appeared in several blaxploitation films , often playing police officers. Among these films are Abby (1974), Combat Cops (1974) and above all the successful Sheba Shayne ( Sheba, Baby) (1975), in which he played the love interest of Pam Grier , queen of the subgenre. He is known above all for giving life to Lieutenant Ethan Bishop, determined to defend his police station, with two criminals and a secretary, in Assault on the 13th District Police Station , which John Carpenter shot in 20 days, inspired by Río Bravo , from his admired Howard Hawks .
He married actress and singer Vivian Bonnell, with whom he had two children. On the other hand, Austin Stoker had notable roles in Horror High (1974),Airport 75 (1974), Victory at Entebbe (1976) and the legendary 1977 TV miniseries Roots .