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Dr. Woodrow Juniper "Woody" Strode (b. 1954) is the coroner operating at the SBPD from Season Four onward. He is portrayed by Kurt Fuller.

Biography[]

Woody works as the Santa Barbara Police Department's Coroner and he has appeared many times since 2009, but he figures prominently in Season Six. He even goes on a bender with Shawn, Gus, and Lassiter ("Last Night Gus"). He's a bit strange, often agreeing with Shawn and Gus's crazy theories, like vampires as the cause of death. He was in the All Coroner's League. Woody is also very quirky, using strange examples and making comments and morbid jokes that even Shawn is slightly disturbed by. His wife cheated on him twelve times; the known instances are with her personal trainer, White Sox slugger Harold Baines, and a cabbie from Khartoum named Matak. He is wanted in the Philippines for unknown reasons. Despite being disturbing and making strange comments (for example he once proposed that a woman died of smallpox only to find out that it had been eradicated several decades previously), he seems to be good at his job.

In "Autopsy Turvy", Woody begins a romantic relationship with Grace Larsen, a former flame and a mortician who helps Woody with a case. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that it was Grace who was the murderer, and she wanted to be thought of as good as Woody. In this same episode, it is revealed that Woody may have a crush on Karen, as he asks her if she was currently seeing anyone, and then when she tells him she's married with a child he says he guesses she'll only, "be the chief of doing (him) in (his) dreams!" Woody begins a relationship with Ursula, Marlowe's parole officer and lover of Carlton after a one-night stand after Juliet gets them together to help Carlton and Marlowe live together in their own home. Woody stated that they were both what each other was looking for.

Some time after the events of The Break-Up, Woody was given the job as Head Medical Examiner for the State of California. However, it is clear that he didn't last very long in that gig when Shawn and Gus meet him in San Francisco during Psych: The Movie as an assistant coroner to Butterfly McMillan. She explains he was fired for closing up a cadaver with a chili dog in the chest cavity, but Woody insists it was rather the fact that he opened the cadaver back up in order to retrieve his lunch that got him fired.

In Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, Woody helps out Shawn and Gus by testing the human hand they found and discovers it belongs to Devon Tileback. He later goes undercover as Amerigo Catalon in the Herschel House when Shawn and Gus suspect Emile Herschel is behind the mutilation. Brimming with confidence, he gets into the home despite not being able to spell Catalon's name and soon finds evidence linking the home to the Viking's Den Ice Bar. When the case is solved, Woody declares that he likes being Catalon so much that he has decided to keep pretending for a while longer. However, he flees the premises when he's informed that the real Catalon has arrived.

In Psych 3: This Is Gus, it is revealed that the Herschel House is actually pressing charges against Woody for pretending to be Catalon and that Karen has offered to be a character witness to help him out. He is supposed to meet up with her at the police station in San Francisco, but at the scheduled trial time he's not there and instead makes a call. He makes light of the situation and reveals he will be defending himself (he claims to have passed the bar exam) so that he can pocket the money appointed for his public defender. His plan is to drag the trial out for six months and plead out insanity when he has built up a nice "nest egg" with the money. Karen chews him out and reminds him that he's supposed to claim that his Catalon impersonation was an official police cover if he wants to stand a chance in court. She also tells him to keep quiet about the surgery he tried to perform. It is unknown if Woody was acquitted, or even if he showed up at all.

Quotes[]

"I cannot thank you enough for believing in me!"
— Woody Strode (from Autopsy Turvy)

Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • He predicts Shawn will die in a gangland-style execution; they'll never find his head.
  • He predicts that Gus will die by slipping in the bathtub.
  • He and Grace Larsen were lovers in college.
  • He "came out" (without using a label) during "Autopsy Turvy", while declaring that: "[You know, since] it is as easy for me to love a man as it is to love a woman; you're all just meltable flesh and breakable bones...".
  • He is attracted to Mr. Yang.
  • He is attracted to Karen Vick.
  • According to Psych: The Movie, he is attracted to Ryan Reynolds. He is first seen admiring Reynolds' physique on the cover of a Men's Health issue, and later he accidentally calls Henry "Ryan" and admits that he "can't stop thinking about Ryan Reynolds."
  • He is an NBA fan, particularly the Sacramento Kings.
  • He frequents Furry websites.
  • In the Psych fan vote, the result of which was announced during the "Psych After Pshow", Woody was the winner in the "Best Supporting Character" category.
  • He has 44 Twitter followers, and is verified.
  • He shares his name with legendary athlete and actor Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (1914-1994).

Gallery[]

Comehome80
The gallery page for Woodrow Strode can be found here.

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