Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson, best known for his memorable roles in Natural Born Killers, The Hunger Games, Cheers, and No Country for Old Men, learned of the criminal career of his dad when he was twelve.
Namely, the A-lister’s father, Charles Voyde Harrelson, was a hitman-for-hire convicted of the killing of federal judge John H. Wood Jr. in 1979 and sentenced to two life sentences.
According to Chron, he was involved with shady dealings, gambling, and committing armed robbery from early age.
Charles carried out the hit for $250,000 on behalf of a drug dealer awaiting trial. He was captured after a six-hour standoff with police. At the time, he confessed of the killing of the judge, who was the first federal judge to be killed in the 20th century, and to other multiple killings, including JFK’s, though that claim was widely dismissed.
Woody Harrelson’s father died in prison in 2007 and the actor was devastated although his father wasn’t part of his life while growing up.
In fact, the actor believed his father was innocent and requested a new trial for him, spending millions of dollars in the process.
“I think that it was not a fair trial … I’m not saying my father’s a saint but I think he’s innocent of that,” Woody said more than 20 years ago. What’s more, he believed his father worked as an undercover CIA agent and wasn’t the criminal everyone thought him to be.
Asked if he really believed his father worked for the CIA, he replied, “I shouldn’t get into this right now. This is where we’re going to get into trouble . . . I know it’s true.”
Charles Harrelson and Woody’s mother married just two weeks after they first met, and he left her and their three sons when Woody was just seven years old.
Speaking of the day he heard his father’s name in connection to the judge’s murder, Woody revealed to The Guardian, “I’m sitting there thinking there can’t be another Charles V. Harrelson. I mean, that’s my dad! It was a wild realization.
“I tried for years to get him out. To get him a new trial… just being a son trying to help his dad. Then I spent a couple of million beating my head against the wall. Lawyers upon lawyers.”
Despite his dad’s absence from most of Woody’s life, the two eventually reunited.
Before his father’s death, Woody Harrelson said in a TV interview, “How do I feel about him? Well I love him.
“I definitely love him. Very fond of him. I mean, there’s probably a lot of people who should be behind bars. I don’t necessarily think he’s one of them.”
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