Attempted to qualify for the 1972 Olympics as a miler, running a time of 4:06.
Father of actor James Parks.
He has played the character of Earl McGraw in three separate films involving Quentin Tarantino: From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Grindhouse (2007) (both Death Proof (2007) and Planet Terror (2007)).
He played Earl McGraw, the police officer with bad puns, in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and then played Esteban Vinaio, the 80-year-old, smooth Mexican pimp who once was Bill's mentor in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004). This makes him only one of two actors to appear in both Kill Bill films playing different characters. The other person to play separate roles in both films is Chia Hui Liu.
He was a pall bearer for Lenny Bruce.
His brother Jimmy drowned in 1968.
Lived on a yacht in the Monterey, California, harbor in the early 1980s.
Parks' second wife, a small-part actress named Jan Moriarty, took a fatal overdose of pills in 1964, less than two months after their marriage.
Prior to becoming an actor. his jobs included picking fruit, digging ditches, driving trucks and fighting forest fires.
Recorded a half-dozen country/blues/jazz albums in the late '60s and early '70s.
The official "Kill Bill" websites claim that he is "frequently cited by longtime fan Quentin Tarantino as the world's greatest living actor.".
The pilot of the series "Then Came Bronson" (1969) reflects and drew heavily on the background of Parks' own life story.
The theme song "Long Lonesome Highway" from Parks' TV series "Then Came Bronson" (1969), sung by Parks himself, was penned by James Hendricks, a Greenwich Village folksinger who was married to 'Mama Cass Elliot' of The Mamas and the Papas, not by Jimi Hendrix. The song became a Top 40 hit in 1970.
Turned down an offer to play minor league baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates because he was making more money upholstering caskets.
Was a close friend of legendary director Jean Renoir.
Was discovered by Frank Silvera while acting in a play entitled "Compulsion" at age 18.
Was one of five children of an itinerant laborer. Like the rest of his family, Parks drifted from job to job in his early teens, briefly marrying at age 16.