Born To The Wind

1 9 8 0 (USA)
4 x 60 minute episodes

This short-lived NBC series starred 6-foot-7 American Indian actor Will Sampson Jr, who began his screen career in the film One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975).

Indian Chief Painted Bear (Sampson) feared that his people’s pride and survival were at stake as they secretly prepared for war against the Shining Mountain tribe over the disputed guardianship of Yellow Fox, an orphaned baby boy.

Painted Bear’s village had assumed responsibility for the baby when a young mother died in childbirth. However, the baby’s dead father was a Shining Mountain warrior, and the chief, Broken Foot (Ned Romero) asked for a tribal parley on neutral ground to decide which tribe would raise Yellow Fox.

Equally suspicious, both sides appreciated the importance of the boy as another potential warrior.

Prairie Woman (Linda Redfearn) was Painted Bear’s sqaw, Star Fire (Rose Portillo) his daughter, and Two Hawks (Guillermo San Juan) his teenage son.

One Feather (Dehl Berti) was the village medicine man, and Low Wolf (A Martinez) and White Bull (Emilio Delgado) were two other featured braves.

Born To The Wind was a genuine effort to treat in a dramatic format the society and culture of the American Indian with sensitivity. The series was set around 1800, prior to the arrival of white settlers, and only once – in the concluding episode – did a white man appear.

Will Sampson Jr died in 1987, 41 days after undergoing a heart-lung transplant. He was just 53.

Painted Bear
Will Sampson
Prairie Woman
Linda Redfearn
Star Fire
Rose Portillo
Low Wolf
A Martinez
Broken Foot
Ned Romero
Lost Robe
Henry Darrow
One Feather
Dehl Berti
White Bull
Emilio Delgado
Red Stone
Sandra Griego
Two Hawks
Guillermo San Juan
Arrow Woman
Cynthia Avila
Night Eyes
Claudio Martínez
Cold Maker
Manu Tupou
Digger Woman
Silvana Gallardo
Grey Cloud
Nick Ramus