I just finished watching The Rookie in which Dennis Quaid plays MLB pitcher Jim Morris. He also played a pitcher in I Never Promised You A Rose Garden. He was a race cyclist in Breaking Away, a sort of ultimate fighter in Tough Enough and played for hordes of “NFL” teams at QB in both Everybody’s All American and Any Given Sunday.
Paul Newman also boxed in Somebody Up There Likes Me, drove racing cars in Winning, played ice hockey in Slapshot and twice played pool player Fast Eddy Felson in The Hustler and The Colour Of Money.
This conversation has to start and end with Kevin Costner. He was a bicycle racer in “American Flyers,” set the minor league home run record in “Bull Durham,” almost won the U.S. Open in “Tin Cup” and threw a perfect game for the Tigers in “For Love of the Game.”
Robert Redford comes to mind with baseball, The Natural and Olympic skiing, Down Hill Racer.
And what about Burt Lancaster as a sky diver in The Gypsy Moths and as a baseball, football and track star in Jim Thorp All American. He also was the swimmer in * The Swimmer* but that was just weird. In the film based on a Hemingway (Ernest) short story he boxed. The film was The Killers.
Ronald Reagan also did the athletic thing in a baseball pic The Grover Clevland Alexander Story and college football in Knute Rockne All American.
Robby Bensen also had a number of them during the 1970s if I remember correctly.
He played a distance runner in Running Brave, a baseball playing Hasidic Jew in The Chosen and a college basketball player in One on One. He had something to do with Olympic ice dancing in Ice Castles
Sylvester Stalone. Obviously, boxing in the Rocky series. But he dabbled with wrestling in Paradice. That was the name of it wasn’t it? He played soccer in Victory and arm wrestled in Over the Top.
[QUOTE=want2know]
“*Personal * Best”, actually.
You know I was thinking “Personal Best” as I was typing but I guess somehow my mind wandered to Mariel and it came out “Perfect” or maybe I was thinking about Jamie Lee Curtis, but thanks for the correction.
Forest Whitaker has played football (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), wrestling (VisionQuest), pool (The Color of Money), and cricket (The Crying Game) players.