John Saxon, was born Carmine Orrico in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian Immigrants Antonio Orrico, a dock worker, and Anna Protettore. He started acting in films during the mid-1950s, playing teenage roles. Agent Henry Willson saw Saxon’s picture on the cover of a detective magazine and immediately contacted the boy’s family in Brooklyn. With his parents’ permission, the 17-year-old Orrico contracted with Willson, and he was given the stage name John Saxon. Saxon was proficient in Judo and Shotokan Karate.
Saxon spent 18 months at Universal before the studio first used him in a film. His first significant role was a juvenile delinquent in Running Wild (1955), co-starring Mamie Van Doren. In 1956, Saxon had the lead in a low budget teen film, Rock, Pretty Baby, which became an unexpected success and established Saxon as a teen idol. Saxon quickly reprised his Rock, Pretty Baby role in a sequel, Summer Love (1958). By now he was getting about 3,000 fan letters a week. He then made Teach Me How to Cry with Sandra Dee, which was retitled The Restless Years (1958).
He would go on to appear in more than 200 projects during a span of 60 years. During the 1970s and 1980s, he established himself as a character actor, frequently portraying law enforcement officials in horror films such as Black Christmas (1974), Dario Argento’s Tenebrae (1982), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
In addition to his roles in horror films, Saxon co-starred with Bruce Lee in the martial arts film Enter the Dragon (1973), and he had supporting roles in the westerns The Appaloosa (1966; for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture), Death of a Gunfighter (1969) and Joe Kidd (1972), as well as the made-for-television thriller Raid on Entebbe (1977).
Saxon died of pneumonia in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on July 25, 2020, shortly before his 84th birthday.