Star-Strother Martin TB

I maintain records on my trackables. They have the goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by at least 25 cachers. That is a target rate of five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The average drop rate of my trackables in the US is 115 days, in Europe it is 69 days. As of 4-Jun-22 this one has survived for 6.7 years but it had been moved by only 19 cachers, for an average drop every 128 days. Please keep it moving!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the U.S., please drop it in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event where there is no security. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

This “Star” series of travel bugs is to bring attention to my favorite movie actors.  Some have awards, some do not.  There is no criterion to be included as a favorite beyond I will watch anything that has her/him in it.

Martin was a character actor who achieved considerable fame in the last decade of his life.  A native of Kokomo, Indiana, Strother Martin Jr. was the youngest of three children of Strother Douglas Martin, a machinist, and Ethel Dunlap Martin. His family moved soon after his birth to San Antonio, Texas, but quickly returned to Indiana. Strother Jr. grew up in Indianapolis and in Cloverdale, Indiana. He excelled at swimming and diving, and at 17 won the National Junior Springboard Diving Championship. He attended the University of Michigan as diving team member. He served in the U.S. Navy as a swimming instructor in World War II. Nicknamed "T-Bone" Martin for his diving style, his 3rd place finish in the adult National Springboard Diving Championships cost him a place on the 1948 Olympic team. He moved to California to become an actor, but worked in odd jobs and as a swimming instructor to Marion Davies and the children of Charles Chaplin. He found work as a swimming extra in several films and as a leprechaun on a local children's TV show, "Mabel's Fables."

Bit parts came his way, leading to television work with Sam Peckinpah, which led to a lifelong relationship. He also found memorable roles for John Ford and by the 1960s was a familiar face in American movies. With Cool Hand Luke in 1967 came new acclaim and a place among the busiest character actors in Hollywood.  He worked steadily and in substantial roles throughout the 1970s; in the nicest possible way he was a scene-stealer.  He often played grimy, unlikeable villains.  Martin was at the peak of his career when he died suddenly of a heart attack in 1980.