I believe that Plimpton and Karras became such good friends that one of them named a child after the other. I read this “somewhere” but can’t give a cite. I also remember in “Paper Lion,” Plimpton describes a dream of his wherein Karras tackles him while Plimpton is still in the huddle. I believe the dream took place the night before Plimpton actually played.
Both Mark Harmon and Burt Reynolds had successful college football careers, too, but I have to admit that I had no idea that Plimpton played pro ball. Well, it was an exhibition game…
Huh, what do you know. I always thought there was more of a difference than that. Thanks Tomndebb. I’m learning something new here. Little by little, I think this board may make up for my lack of a real college education. (Biggest mistake I ever made, you only learn so much in military tech school and then vocational school.)
BTW, while listing pro athletes-turned-actors, anyone else remember Fred Dryer as “Hunter”?
And I loved Victor/Victoria. I thought Alex Karras was good in a role that was very risky for him at the time, although Robert Preston stole the movie IMHO.
Not to mention Merlin Olson. Bob Uecker often appears in movies, though usually playing a sportscaster. Chuck Norris really was a karate champion.
Plimpton and Karras:
In Paper Lion, Plimpton does mention that Karras was suspended when he was on the team, and that the anecdotes he tells about Karras are second hand. Karras did play himself in the movie, though, and in the book Plimpton regretted not being teammates with Karras, which may have caused them to seek each other out later.
Actually, I always thought the animal Mongo rides is a Brahma Bull. Doesn’t it have that hump on its back? (And I don’t mean Karras)
And if you’re going to talk about athletes who became actors, you would be remiss to omit Sonia Henie, the Olympic skater. IIRC, she became the highest paid athlete-turned-movie-star of her time. Her films were more popular at the time than Weismuller’s or Buster Crabbe’s, although she wasn’t much of an actress and her work is not seen a whole lot anymore.
Oh, and Manhattan and Dr. Fidelius, I assume you know that Shakespeare never used an original plot in his life, preferring to steal story ideas from the Greeks and Stephen Sondheim.
I couldn’t in good conscience allow this thread to continue without a mention of John Facenda, the late voice of NFL films.
You forgot the football player/actor who was in “Roots”, “Capricorn One”, “1st and Ten”, and the “Naked Gun” movies: OJ Simpson. :D:D
And who actually seemed to have some acting ability - a point which was not lost on some commentators during the trial.
Doesn’t the ‘Ox’ group include all your various cattle, regardless of age, sex, used-to-be sex, and wild related
animals like buffaloes, but not sheep and goats?
Anyone else think WB should make a special edition which incorporates the extra scenes that were included in the broadcast version?