Austin Stoker Dies: ‘Assault On Precinct 13’ & ‘Roots’ Actor Was 92

Armando Tinoco
·2 min read
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Austin Stoker, the Trinidadian-American actor from Assault on Precinct 13 and Roots, has died. His wife Robin Stoker confirmed the actor’s death happened on Friday, October 7, his 92nd birthday.

Stoker reportedly died peacefully and surrounded by his loved ones due to renal failure. The actor is survived by his wife of over 40 years, his daughter Tiffany, his son Origen and his two grandsons Marcus and little Austin.

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Born and raised in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Stoker began acting at the age of 11. When he was 16, he joined The Whitehall Players and four years later he would travel to NYC when he joined the dance troupe Holder Dance Company.

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Stoker would later be drafted by the U.S. Army and following his service was honorably discharged. He would continue preparing himself as an actor and one of his first television credits was in the series Mod Squad in 1969. He would go on to have television roles in series like Love, American Style (1970), Men at Law (1971), Monty Nash (1971), Love Thy Neighbor (1973), McCloud (1974) and Kojak (1974). Stoker would also land film roles in Battle of the Planet of the Apes (1973) and Horror High (1973).

In 1975 he starred opposite Pam Grier in the film Sheba, Baby. The same year he would lend his voice to the Return of the Planet of the Apes animated series. The following year, he would star in one of his most memorable performances in John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 where he played Lt. Ethan Bishop, a cop who was put in charge of a decommissioned L.A. police station.

Other television shows Stoker participated in included The Six Million Dollar Man (1975), the 1977 ABC mini-series Roots where he played Virgil Harvey, The Incredible Hulk (1979), Lou Grant (1977), Falcon Crest (1989), among others.

In the early 90s, he joined the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful where he portrayed the character of Mitchell Owens. His last acting credit is in the 2022 film Give Till It Hurts where he played Reverend Bishop.

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