Episode #208 | 11.19.24
Woody Harrelson: Contract Killers, JFK Conspiracies, and Fathers & Sons
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One of Hollywood’s most eclectic and unpredictable actors, Woody Harrelson has played a hayseed barback, a streetball hustler, a natural born killer, a true detective, and so many more. But his most profound and difficult role might be his real-life role: the son of an infamous contract killer. Woody’s father, Charles Harrelson, was sent to prison for the assassination of a federal judge, only after he had been the subject of one of the largest federal manhunts in U.S. history – a manhunt that ended with a six-hour standoff with authorities during which he confessed to the assassination of JFK.
This episode contains themes that might be disturbing to some listeners, including sexual abuse of a minor.
Sources
Woody Harrelson Will Light Up (in) Any Room (Esquire)
Woody Harrelson Gets Insanely Candid on Sex, Drugs, ‘Apes’ and Those Han Solo Firings (Hollywood Reporter)
Woody Harrelson’s Lost Weekend (Rolling Stone)
Woody Harrelson: my father, the contract killer (The Guardian)
The Gospel Truths of Woody Harrelson (GQ)
Harrelson arrested after London taxi chase (The Guardian)
Woody No Longer Shutterbugged (E! Online)
Woody Harrelson claims he mistook photographer for zombie (CNN)
The Story of Charles Harrelson - The Hitman Father of Woody Harrelson (All That’s Interesting)
Why Woody Harrelson’s dad was a REAL Natural Born Killer (Daily Mail)
Jailer recalls conversations with Woody Harrelson’s father (News4SA)
Charles Harrelson, 69; father of actor killed federal judge (LA Times)
U.S. Judge, Known for Severity in Drug Cases, Is Slain in Texas (Washington Post)
Blood Not So Simple: Charles Harrelson, Woody’s Dad (Please Kill Me)
The Unfair Trial of a Confessed Outlaw (Medium)
Chagra Acquitted of Hiring Killer of Federal Judge (Washington Post)
Third Man Jailed in Slaying of Hidalgo Grain Dealer (The Brownsville Herald)
Judge Pulls out of Harrelson Case (AP News)
Woody Harrelson Speaks out about 2002 Foursome (People)
Woody Harrelson’s Lost in London: Taxi driver tells all (Daily Mail)
Oliver Stone Q&A: ‘Natural Born Killers’ (NY Post)
Proxy Wedding for Woody (UPI)
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Zeth Lundy.
Copy edited by James Sullivan.
Scored and mixed by Matt Tahaney.
Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.
DISGRACELAND theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie,” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak