Article: Have You Ever Just Found Out A "Celebrity" That You Knew Had Passed Away? Actor Rino Thunder

(Originally Published At The Discussion Forum MyLot~under the username of pyewacket~January 23, 2008)

MyLot Discussion

I had been involved with a discussion by worldwise about the passing of a rather well-known Native American actor, Floyd Red Crow Westerman. I gave her a link to a website that is a listing of all Native American actors....so curious I started puttering around the site myself, and came up with a familiar name, Rino (pronounced Reeno) Thunder. So clicked on his link to his site and found out to my dismay he had died back in 2003!

What was shocking for me, was that I actually knew him. This goes back to the late 1970s. Being part Native American myself I perchance went to an outdoor powwow at the Museum of the American Indian..I took my camera with me and got some excellent photos, mainly using black and white film. Then I found out about the American Indian Community House (AICH) in Manhattan and at the time they were having a gallery exhibit of Native art work. I asked permission if I could photograph some of the work and they said it was all right. A few weeks later, I went back to them, with a small portfolio of some of the black and white prints I had made up as I knew how to develop my own film and prints. I showed off my work to some of the staff members and they were so impressed that right then and there they asked me to in effect be their "official" photographer to photograph future exhibits, the powwows, to photograph their jewelry that they made on site and to photograph some of the people that belonged to AICH as many were aspiring actors who wanted their 8x10 glossy resume photos

..and yes, you can guess just who was one of the people I photographed...Rino Thunder...you can say it was a classic case of knowing him before he got "famous"--he was seen in some of the following movies:

Film

· 7th Street (2002)

· Fresh Kill (1994)

· Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)

· Beyond the Law (1992)

· Hot Shots! (1991)

· Power (1986)

· Wolfen (1982)

Television

· Miracle in the Wilderness 1992

· Invisible Thread Penn & Teller 1987

· Three Sovereigns For Sarah - American Playhouse 'John The Indian' 1985

· Stone Pillow Starring Lucille Ball 1985

· Dance in America 'Song For Dead Warriors' - Narrator (Emmy Award) 1984

· Johnny Appleseed And The Frontier Within - 'Shamen' (Emmy Award) 1983

· Leatherstocking Tales - Singing Bear (Emmy Award: Outstanding Childrens' Anthology/Dramatic Programming) 1982

When I photographed him he took on the stance of the very serious person, the classic "stoic" Indian-- never cracked a smile, but he did have a wicked sense of humor. I unfortunately don't have any of my photos of him printed up..but I do still have all the negatives of all the people I had photographed during that time.

Anyway, like I said you can imagine my shock when I was looking at that website, only to find out he had passed away in 2003..odd, as I never even remember anything mentioned about his passing..I surely would have remembered hearing about it.

http://www.tv.com/rino-thunder/person/236178/biography.html

So have any of you actually known any "celebrities"? And then found out they had passed away? All I know I really feel a sadness about having learned of this actor's passing..

(Update from original posting. While I never printed up any of the photos I took of Rino Thunder, I still have the negatives and am able to scan them to digitize.)

Image Source: ©Melanie Neer~Personal photo taken at the American Indian Community House of then "unknown" actor Rino Thunder circa 1978)