Summary

• Sons of Anarchy was heavily influenced by real-life motorcycle clubs, with some actual Hells Angels members appearing on the show.
• The characters in Sons of Anarchy were closely based on the real Hells Angels, adding an authentic touch to the series.
• Real Hells Angels have been involved in other biker movies like Hells Angels on Wheels, adding a level of realism to the films.

Created by Kurt Sutter, Sons of Anarchy premiered on FX in 2008 and came to an end in 2014 after seven seasons full of drama, betrayal, and action, and it wouldn't have been the same without the real bikers of Sons of Anarchy. In order to bring the now-concluded Sons of Anarchy to life, creator Kurt Sutter took inspiration from real-life motorcycle clubs, and the real Sons of Anarchy bikers influenced the actors of the show. Among those real-life motorcycle clubs was the Hells Angels organization, one of the most famous motorcycle clubs in the world.

Sons of Anarchy was very well received throughout its whole run, with critics praising its story, themes, and the performances of the main cast, particularly that of Katey Sagal as the doomed Gemma Teller-Morrow. A few members of the Hells Angels were part of the show's cast, including the biker characters, and even the fan-favorite Sons of Anarchy character Happy. The Hells Angels were the biggest source of inspiration for the Sons of Anarchy characters, and while SAMCRO might be fictional, they share some major similarities with real-life bikers.

Who Were The Hells Angels? SOA Real Biker Inspiration Explained

The Motorcycle Club Dates Back To 1948

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The Hells Angels is one of the biggest clubs in the world, with a membership of over 6,000 and 467 charters in 59 countries (via CBC). The organization started in 1948 when various small clubs merged, and since then, the Hells Angels have gained a reputation for being a dangerous crew, with various police and international intelligence agencies considering the group to be an organized crime syndicate.

Although the Sons of Anarchy MC isn't real, Kurt Sutter aimed for true authenticity and took a deep look at the culture of motorcycle clubs to build SAMCRO and its members. Sutter even brought David Labrava, a member of the Hells Angels in as a technical consultant and later cast him in the recurring role of Happy Lowman. After Labrava's casting, other Hells Angels appeared in the SOA cast as either guest or recurring characters. The SOA Hells Angels have a lot in common with the real-life club, and that's mostly thanks to the contribution of its members.

Sons Of Anarchy Features Real Hell's Angels

Fan-Favorite Character Happy Lowman Is Played By A Real-Life Hells Angel

The first Hells Angels actor on Sons of Anarchy was David Labrava, who played Happy Lowman, one of the most dangerous members of the club. Happy began as part of the Tacoma, Washington charter. He later became part of the Nomads, and then a full patched member of SAMCRO in season 3. After the Happy SOA character, three other members of the Hells Angels were cast, though in smaller roles.

Rusty Coones played Rane Quinn, a member of the Indian Hills Charter and President of the Nomad Charter who was brought to SAMCRO by Bobby when he was looking for new members. Just like Happy, Quinn made it to the final episode of Sons of Anarchy and voted in favor of Jax meeting Mr. Mayhem.

Next was Chuck Zito, who played Frankie Diamonds, a member of the Nomads charter who was transferred to SAMCRO as part of a bigger plan by Clay. Along with GoGo and Greg the Peg, Frankie committed a series of home invasions to discredit the club and Jax, who was already President, but he was killed when his betrayal was discovered.

Lastly, Ralph “Sonny” Barger played Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz, one of the First 9 founders of SAMCRO. Barger is a founding member of the Oakland chapter of the Hells Angels and was present at the infamous Altamont Free Concert in 1969, as seen in the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter. Lenny appears in only three episodes in Sons of Anarchy, but that was enough to leave a powerful impression.

Sutter took his research on motorcycle clubs very seriously, and having these four members of the Hells Angels being Hells Angels actors on Sons of Anarchy definitely added to the realism of the show. Of course, what Happy, Quinn, Frankie, and Lenny went through in the show can’t be compared to what their actors lived through as members of the Hells Angels, but those experiences definitely helped shape the rest of the series.

One SOA Cast Member Got The Role After A Lost $5 Million Lawsuit

Hells Angels's Chuck Zito Played Frankie Diamonds On The Series

Many would be surprised to find out that a former Hells Angel member actually sued the FX series Sons of Anarchy — and was then rewarded with a part on the show. Former President of the New York chapter of Hells Angels Chuck Zito sued the show and Kurt Sutter back in June of 2010, saying that they stole his idea. Apparently, Zito pitched FX an idea for a real-life-biker-inspired outlaw MC series called Nomads (later The Wild Angels) back in 2004, and he believed that his idea was stolen and used to create Sons of Anarchy (via THR).

Sutter denied these claims, and the two had a very public dispute. FX and Sutter eventually ended up winning the suit, much to Zito's dismay. That's why it was such a shock that in 2012, Sutter announced that Zito would be one of the Hells Angels actors on Sons of Anarchy.

Zito appeared in Sons of Anarchy season 5 as Frankie Diamonds, and he even appeared in Kurt Sutter's Discovery Channel docuseries Outlaw Empires. Apparently, the two were able to bury the hatchet after Zito's lawsuit, so much so that Zito was cast on two of Sutter's shows. Zito's acting credits date all the way back to 1982, and has been working steadily in the decades since. Outside his short stint in the Sons of Anarchy cast, he's probably most well known for playing Chucky "The Enforcer" Pancamo in 45 episodes of the drama television series Oz.

Were Sons Of Anarchy Characters Played By Hells Angels Accurate?

The Show's Ranks System Is Accurate While It Glosses Over Some Ugly Truths About The Clubs

It's not surprising given the inclusion of some real bikers in the cast, that Sons of Anarchy is a highly accurate show, and Sutter worked very hard to make it such. One such thing the show gets right is the motorcycle club ranking system. Reportedly, most real-life motorcycle clubs do have a hierarchy system in place to denote rank and station. These ranks are usually identified by patches. However, some of the things that Jax and Clay did as President and VP would normally be left up to other prospects.

Club prospects do have to go through an initiation, which is depicted on the show. However, the initiation process itself takes much longer in real life than it does in Sons of Anarchy. It depends on the motorcycle club itself, but some of the initiation rites are quite brutal. Sadly, Juice's (Theo Rossi) racism storyline is also in line with the truth.

While there are a few Black and Hispanic MCs, the majority are white and outwardly racist. Sons of Anarchy also glosses over MCs true feelings towards women. While Gemma has some bit of power in SoA, that would've never happened to a woman in real life. Kurt Sutter's Sons of Anarchy tries to stay as close to real life as possible, but it does fall short in some areas.

Was Jax Based On A Real Hells Angels Biker?

Charlie Hunnam Drew Inspiration From One Real Biker

Charlie Hunnam explained that he spent time with real motorcycle clubs during the rehearsal period of Sons of Anarchy season 1, and that's when he met the real-life Jax Teller. Based in Oakland, this unnamed club was where the 22-year-old Jax Teller grew up and where his father was "the heir apparent." Jax's apparently had "an amazing presence about him," and Hunnam called the biker "an old school outlaw cowboy," which could easily be used to describe the modern-day gunslinger Sons of Anarchy Jax too.

The real-life Jax clearly had a huge impact on the actor, as Hunnam based his whole character on Jax, everything from his get-up to his personality. Tragically, the real-life Jax tragically suffered a death similar to the Sons of Anarchy Jax, as he was killed just one week after leaving Oakland. Hunnam keeps the real-life Jax's necklace as a memorial, as none of the other real Sons of Anarchy bikers had a bigger influence on the show than him.

Real Hells Angels Have Appeared In Movies Too

Hells Angels On Wheels And Wild Angels Both Used Real Bikers

Sons of Anarchy was not the only fictional story that decided to use real Hells Angels in order to add some authenticity. There have been a number of biker movies over the years that have attempted to capture the outlaw spirit of such clubs, leading to some recruiting members of the Hells Angels to appear alongside the actors. One of the most notable was Hells Angels on Wheels, a 1967 movie that starred Jack Nicholson in his early days of indie filmmaking.

Nicholson plays a young man who becomes welcomed in by a chapter of the Hells Angels only to be turned off by their violent ways. Infamous biker Ralph 'Sonny' Barger (who played Lenny on Sons of Anarchy) was the president of the Oakland, California chapter of the Hells Angels at the time of the filming and was used as a consultant while also appearing briefly on screen. Another movie to allegedly used Hells Angels members was the 1966 The Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda which inspired many of the best biker movies.

Though The Wild Angels director Roger Corman cast some members of the Venice, California Chapter of the Hells Angels in the movie, once the movie was released, they were unhappy with the way they were portrayed and threatened to have Corman killed (via THR):

“They announced that they were suing me for $1 million for defamation of character, on the basis [that] I had portrayed them as an outlaw motorcycle gang, whereas they were actually a social organization, dedicated to the spreading of technical information about motorcycles. Then they announced that they were going to kill me.”

Wisely, when speaking to the president of the organization, Corman suggested that they forget about killing him and just focus on getting the $1 million from the lawsuit. Based on Corman's words, it sounds like the Hells Angels got their money. Perhaps he should have offered them roles in his next movie, similar to what Kurt Sutter did with Chuck Zito in Sons of Anarchy.