# Pro athletes who became successful actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282 "2006-12-22T22:47:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/21 "2006-12-23T04:55:22Z")
[Carl Weathers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Weathers) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/22 "2006-12-23T05:02:53Z")
[QUOTE=D\_Odds] No love for **Kareem Abdul Jabaar** , Bruce Lee’s opponent in _Game of Death_? Of course, the title asks for successful, and Kareem can’t be counted as successful. [/QUOTE] WHAT?!?!? > [@Murdoch](#): > > Listen, kid, I’ve been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I’m out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Denier up and down the court for 48 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/23 "2006-12-23T07:08:58Z")
Mike “Tarzan” “Junior” Henry Bruce Bennett (originally Herman Brix) (not pro, but Olympic, which everybody else is including) And in the “drafted by a sports team, but never played for whatever reason,” include Harvey Lee Yeary, best known by his stagename Lee Majors. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/24 "2006-12-23T10:34:09Z")
How about [Vinny Jones?](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005068/) ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/25 "2006-12-23T12:13:29Z")
Dean Cain ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/26 "2006-12-23T13:45:34Z")
[Roosevelt Grier](http://imdb.com/name/nm0340952/) gave a sensitive, nuanced performance with Ray Milland in _The Thing with Two Heads_. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/27 "2006-12-23T15:10:02Z")
What about Tommy Lee Jones? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/28 "2006-12-23T15:28:10Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] What, no love for Esther Williams? [/QUOTE] That bitch? None at all. However, the real million-dollar mermaid, [Annette Kellerman](http://www.bikiniscience.com/models/AK19_SS/AK19.html)? Lots ‘n’ lots. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/29 "2006-12-23T16:21:54Z")
I don’t even see why Esther Williams was a star wet. If we add to draftees, there’s **Mike Warren** , who played basketball for the national champion UCLA Bruins with Lou Alcindor and was drafted by Portland, but never played pro. He’s had a long career as a TV actor, best known for his role in **Hill Street Blues**. **Paul Robeson** was an all-america college football player – one of the greatest of his time and in the college football Hall of Fame – but never played pro, primarily because the NFL didn’t exist yet. He was one of the greatest Black actors of the 30s and 40s, primiarly on stage (the first Black actor to play “Othello” with an all-white case, for instance). Made a dozen movies and is also well known as a singer – the original voice of “Old Man River,” which was written for him. He sung it on screen in the 1936 version of “Show Boat.” All this, and his career was severely hampered by his race and his politics. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/30 "2006-12-23T16:23:13Z")
Originally Posted by Murdoch “Listen, kid, I’ve been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I’m out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Denier up and down the court for 48 minutes” Just a slight nit. Noted thespian Abdul-Jabbar was referring to dragging Walton and Lanier, not Dernier, up and down the court. Bob Lanier was a great NBA center in the 1970s and 80s for the Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/31 "2006-12-23T19:05:03Z")
Hugely successful horse racing jockey [Gary Stevens](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1230841/) played a memorable role in **Seabiscuit**. Robbed of an Oscar nomination, IMHO. _“So long, Charlie!”_ Great movie!! ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/32 "2006-12-23T23:06:12Z")
What about Jason Statham? He’s a martial artist, though I’m not sure if he was pro. Anyway, I thought he did a good job in the remake of **The Italian Job** a few years ago with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, and Edward Norton. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/33 "2006-12-23T23:14:48Z")
Well Statham was also a pro diver. From wiki: > [@](#): > > Statham developed an interest in sports, diving in particular, which led him to become an excellent athlete in the sport; he finished 12th in the World Championships in 1992 and he was on the British Olympic Team in 1998 as a member of Britain’s National Diving Squad for ten years. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/34 "2006-12-25T18:19:23Z")
Mike Warren wasn’t even the most accomplished athlete in the “Hill Street Blues” cast. Ed Marinaro was the Heisman runner-up at Cornell, and a Vikings RB, before becoming Sgt. Joe Coffey. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/35 "2006-12-25T19:39:59Z")
See post #9 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/36 "2006-12-25T21:29:14Z")
[Randall “Tex” Cobb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002012/) (boxer). Best known as the “warthog from Hell,” biker/bounty hunter in Raising Arizona. Has over 30 movie and TV credits. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/37 "2006-12-25T21:57:02Z")
While I don’t approve in the slightest of rodeo as a sport, it would be remiss not to include pro rodeo champions like Tom Mix. I’m sure there are others but I’m not up on my rodeo history. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/38 "2006-12-25T22:09:39Z")
Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimmer and Tarzan. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/39 "2006-12-25T22:21:53Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimmer and Tarzan. [/QUOTE] See post #35. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282/40 "2006-12-25T22:23:47Z")
Andre the Giant, a pro wrestler and Princess Bride co-star. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-athletes-who-became-successful-actors/385282.md?page=3)