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Polybius

(21,759 posts)
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 05:27 AM 6 hrs ago

Bo Gritz, Green Beret Who Inspired Sylvester Stallone's 'Rambo', Dead at 87

Source: Yahoo! News

Bo Gritz, also known as James Gordon Gritz, has died at the age of 87, according to his wife. The Green Beret and Vietnam War veteran was a major inspiration for Sylvester Stallone's character of John Rambo in the 1992 movie First Blood.

According to TMZ, Gritz's wife confirmed he had died on Friday, Feb.27, at their Sandy Valley home in Nevada. His cause of death has not officially been confirmed, with his wife having previosly documenting his health battles and cancer diagnosis.

His wife posted on social media days before that she had taken Gritz back to their home from the hospital after a recent diagnosis. She claims Gritz had always said he wanted to die in Sandy Valley, where he's lived for 45 years.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/bo-gritz-green-beret-inspired-181548393.html



I remember him from Ruby Ridge.
9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Bo Gritz, Green Beret Who Inspired Sylvester Stallone's 'Rambo', Dead at 87 (Original Post) Polybius 6 hrs ago OP
He also... 2naSalit 5 hrs ago #1
he also ran for president a few times Eugene 4 hrs ago #2
He mostly... 2naSalit 4 hrs ago #4
Now that's a blast from the past Rastapopoulos 4 hrs ago #3
david duke considered gritz as a vp candidate in 1988. rampartd 3 hrs ago #5
Good Riddance n/t gay texan 3 hrs ago #6
Could you understand what he was saying? twodogsbarking 3 hrs ago #7
Stallone turned into a moron - was it because of this character? mdbl 3 hrs ago #8
Stallone is an actor PCB66 1 hr ago #9

2naSalit

(101,828 posts)
1. He also...
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 06:47 AM
5 hrs ago

Ran for office in Idaho a couple times as a libertarian. He got some votes because, well, it's Idaho.

Eugene

(67,025 posts)
2. he also ran for president a few times
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 07:08 AM
4 hrs ago

I never heard of him until I got a direct mailing in 1984.

2naSalit

(101,828 posts)
4. He mostly...
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 08:04 AM
4 hrs ago

Ran for president. I think he only ran for statewide office once somewhere in there. I didn't pay a lot of attention to him since he didn't have a real chance at anything. It was only interesting that he got enough votes to make it onto the news for a few weeks.

Rastapopoulos

(743 posts)
3. Now that's a blast from the past
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 07:48 AM
4 hrs ago

I remember when he ran for president in the 1992 election. He probably took a few votes from GHW Bush.

rampartd

(4,465 posts)
5. david duke considered gritz as a vp candidate in 1988.
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 08:06 AM
3 hrs ago

according to wikipedia......

"After meeting Duke, Gritz described him as "a brash, untraveled, overly opinionated, bigoted young man" and declared, "I will not support anyone that I know to hate any class of Americans."[30]"

i'm trying to remember his involvement in the iran hostage rescue attempt if anyone has that memory.

PCB66

(104 posts)
9. Stallone is an actor
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 11:04 AM
1 hr ago

He did great in the first Rocky. Not anything noteworthy besides that.

In the book that First Blood was based upon the real hero was the Sheriff.

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