BILLY JACK creator/actor/director TOM LAUGHLIN has thrown his last roundhouse kick at injustice at age 82.
Laughlin's daughter Teresa revealed he died Thursday at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif. from complications from pneumonia.
Action fans of the counterculture "Billy Jack" recall the ground breaking indie was released in 1971 after a long struggle by Laughlin to gain control of the low-budget, self-financed movie he wrote. produced, directed and starred in.
Laughlin was born in 1931, growing up in Milwaukee. He played football for the University of South Dakota and Marquette University, but decided he wanted to become an actor after seeing a production of "A Streetcar Named Desire."
Early film credits included "South Pacific," "Gidget" and Robert Altman's "The Delinquents." In 1960 he directed, written and starred in "The Young Sinner."