Erland van Lidth De Jeude was a two-time NCAA Division III All-American in wrestling, finishing sixth in 1975 and second in 1976, for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

De Jeude was the heavyweight alternate for Team USA at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and a hopeful for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. He also won a bronze medal in a World Cup competition held in Tehran in 1978.

Born in the Netherlands, he came to the United States as a child in the late 1950s and attended Ridgefield High School in Ridgefield, Connecticut, where he was a champion shot-putter.

De Jeude also appeared in student theater productions at MIT and becoming a teaching assistant while still an undergraduate. He received his bachelor's degree in computer science and electrical engineering from MIT and worked in New York City as a computer professional after graduation.

A casting director spotted De Jeude as he was working out at the New York Athletic Club and this led to his role as the fearsome Terror, who was the leader of the Fordham Baldies, in the 1979 Philip Kaufman film The Wanderers. In 1980, De Jeude portrayed the role of Grossberger in Stir Crazy alongside Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder and later appeared as Dynamo in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film The Running Man, where he announced his presence by singing an aria from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and electrocutes his victims.

While acting, De Jeude continued his career in information technology, including setting up his own IT company, while also teaching English at Manhattan Community College and developing a singing career with the Amato Opera in New York where he studied to become a Heldenbaritone,

Sadly a few months after finishing filming of The Running Man, De Jeude passed away at the age of 34 years old due to heart failure.