Actor; Born April 1, 1938; Died August 9, 2009.

John Quade, who has died at the age of 71, was a familiar heavy in American movies and television, including several films with Clint Eastwood, in which he served as the villain to Eastwood's hero or anti-hero.

A big, burly man with grizzled, sometimes bearded features and a bald head, Quade looked as if he had just stepped off the western prairie. He was one of the townsfolk who tried to kill Eastwood's nameless stranger in High Plains Drifter (1973) and the bandit leader from whom Eastwood rescues Sondra Locke in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).

He teamed up with Eastwood again, playing a biker, in the comedy Every Which Way But Loose (1978) and the sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980).

Born John William Saunders in Kansas City in 1938, Quade worked locally as a locomotive engineer and moved to California in the mid-1960s, not to work in films but to work on the space programme, constructing parts for lunar missions.

His distinctive looks attracted attention and he was encouraged to consider acting. A local stage production led to a small part in the western TV series Bonanza in 1968. That in turn led to roles in other TV shows and movies, including Papillon (1973) and The Sting (1973).

He brought an obvious and immediate menace to roles. "His face definitely stands out in a crowd," his widow, Gwen Saunders, told the Los Angeles Times. "He had to be careful he didn't overshadow scenes just by the way he looked. The first film he did with Clint Eastwood, Clint hired him for his face and told him afterward that he felt like he got a bonus because John could act."

Quade was particularly memorable as Cholla, the leader of the biker gang, in the Eastwood comedies, though they were both overshadowed by Clyde, the orang-utan.

During the 1970s and 1980s he appeared in around 100 films and TV shows, turning up in Kojak (1976), Charlie's Angels (1978), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979), The A-Team (1983 and 1985) and Hill Street Blues (1985).

In the early 1990s, he retired from films and television and spent much of his time as a Christian activist and speaker. An outspoken opponent of the US government, he opposed the extension of government powers and such measures as vehicle registration and driving licences.

He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Gwen Saunders, and by six children, 10 grandchildren and his mother. By BRIAN PENDREIGH