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Roddy Piper
Roddy Piper
RODDY PIPER built a worldwide reputation as "Rowdy Roddy Piper," a highly colorful professional wrestler.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland and raised in Canada, Piper fought his first professional match at thirteen in Manitoba, then went on to become national amateur wrestling champion in the 167-lb. class. A 17-year career in the ring followed, during which time Piper also hosted the syndicated TV show, Piper’s Pit.

After deciding to retire from the ring to spend more time with is family, Piper acted in Body Slam with Tanya Roberts and Dirk Benedict, Buy & Sell with Malcolm McDowell and Robert Carradine and Hell Comes to Frogtown. He also had a part in the television pilot for The Highwayman. After John Carpenter met Piper at Wrestlemania III, they discussed making a film together. They Live is the product of their enthusiasm for the idea.

Roddy Piper on They Live

Roddy Piper had already completed a lifetime’s worth of research for his role as John Nada when John Carpenter cast him as the homeless hero of his thriller They Live. In preparation for playing Nada, Piper reached into his own past. The similarities between the actor and the character he plays are different to ignore: both men are physically and emotionally strong people who can withstand life’s hardships; both men spent a lot of time alone in the world and both men eventually emerge as leaders because of their tenacity and belief in themselves.

these similarities made Roddy piper an excellent choice for the part of Nada, but more importantly, it is not an accidental resemblance. Says Piper, "In many ways this part was written for me. John and I spent a lot of time talking when we first met; I told him things about my life that I don’t usually tell people, and he incorporated a lot of that material into this part, even down to certain specific incidents. I trust John completely, though – I could never do a picture where I had to be so revealed if I didn’t trust him."

Piper was born in Glasgow, Scotland and raised in Canada. A young runaway, by the age of 13 Piper was sleeping in the streets. A friend’s uncle who promoted fights put Piper up as a contender for a $25 purse in Manitoba; when he won the match, Piper’s professional fighting career had begun. Seventeen years of professional wrestling and boxing followed.

"I can still remember what street life was like, though. For 25 cents you could spend the night in a youth hostel; when you came in they told you to ‘check your drugs and weapons’, and people actually did it – they could pick them up again as they left the next morning. They fed us supper and breakfast, but you couldn’t go in before 6 p.m. and you had to be out by 6 a.m. It was a hard life. A young kid on the street who didn’t make it into a hostel had to have a partner to watch out for him; otherwise anything could happen."

Piper clearly recalls places like Justiceville from his youth, and knows why professional fighting was so attractive to him. "I wasn’t fighting for sport, I was fighting for my life – for a decent place to sleep and warm clothes to wear and something to eat. I learned to hide all my emotions under a mask of aggression."

Under the name "Rowdy Roddy Piper," he soon became a well known and popular professional wrestler. Wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipe (on which he had performed since the age of five), Piper cut a memorable figure in the colorful world of pro wrestling. Before Piper’s fighting career was over, he had won 21 different championships, beginning with the Amateur Wrestling Championship in the 167-lb. weight class.

His last match at Wrestlemania III drew 93,000 people to the Silverdome in Michigan; one of them was John Carpenter. "Apparently John is a wrestling fan; anyway, we met and talked for awhile," recalls Piper. Arrangements were made to meet again back in Los Angeles. During the next few months, Piper and Carpenter discussed Piper’s proposed change to an acting career. "I told him something about myself, and he told me about a film that he wanted to do. It was about a working homeless person – someone who still had his dignity – and John wanted to know if I’d like to see the script. He told me that Hollywood was tired of people who haven’t lived. he could see that my face had been to an all-night gas station at least!"

Piper had already been studying, acting and had hosted his own syndicated TV show called Piper’s Pit. Although he had done some feature work, he did not consider himself an experienced actor. When Carpenter began discussing the role of John Nada seriously, Piper found a coach who worked with him intensively on a daily basis. "We started with Requiem For a Heavyweight and just kept going from there," recalled Piper. "For several months I studied every day with my drama coach and met every day with John to work on They Live."

The hardest thing for Piper to do, after so many years of hiding his emotions behind an aggressive front, was to earn how to reveal them to an audience. "The only guy I trust is Carpenter," explained Piper. "it’s really hard to change the habits of a lifetime, but John slowly brought me to where I could use my experiences to make the character of Nada stronger. The hardest part of the movie for me is talking about my family; I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve done, but I was glad when that part was over."

Piper, his wife and two daughters live on a ranch far from the congestion of Los Angeles. He looks forward to doing more acting. "The most fun about this whole project for me is the challenge of being myself. After years of real-life drama, I can use what I’ve learned to create dramatic entertainment for my audience, and I don’t have to worry about getting hurt in the ring!"
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