Roger Lawrence "Rod" Strunk (March 20, 1941 – July 11, 2007), popularly known as Rod Lauren, was an American actor and singer. As an actor, he worked mostly in television, appearing in single episodes of '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', ''

Combat! ''Combat!'' is an American television drama series that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The exclamation point in ''Combat!'' was depicted on-screen as a stylized bayonet. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American so ...

'' and '' Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.'' amongst others during the 1960s. Lauren's most notable film is ''

The Crawling Hand ''The Crawling Hand'' is a 1963 American science fiction horror film directed by Herbert L. Strock, and starring Peter Breck, Kent Taylor, Rod Lauren, Alan Hale and Allison Hayes. It was later featured on the television shows ''Mystery Science ...

'' (1963) which achieved latter-day notoriety when it was featured on '' Mystery Science Theater 3000''. As a singer, Lauren is a one-hit wonder who hit #31 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart with the song "If I Had a Girl" in 1960 and performed twice on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...

'' that year. From 1979 to 2001, Lauren, who had since reverted to the use of his given name, Roger Lawrence Strunk, was married to

Nida Blanca Dorothy Guinto Jones (January 6, 1936 – November 7, 2001), popularly known by her stage name Nida Blanca, was a Filipina actress. After a successful acting career in films during the 1950s, many of which are with actor Nestor de Villa, ...

, a leading

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

film actress whom Lauren met during the filming of '' Once Before I Die''. After Blanca's body was discovered on November 6, 2001 in the parking lot inside a San Juan City parking garage (she had been stabbed to death), Lauren soon emerged as a suspect behind the killing. He moved back to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and was able to successfully fight extradition to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

to face trial for the murder. Other suspects were later charged. On July 11, 2007, Lauren committed suicide by jumping from a second-floor balcony of the Tracy Inn in

Tracy, California Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 93,000 at the 2020 census. Tracy is located inside a geographic triangle formed by Interstate 205 on the north side of the city, Inters ...

, where he had been staying for the previous three days.

References

External links

* * 1941 births 2007 deaths American male film actors American male television actors RCA Victor artists Musicians from Fresno, California Suicides by jumping in California People from Tracy, California Male actors from Fresno, California 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American male singers 2007 suicides {{US-screen-actor-1940s-stub