WHAT?!?!?
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
How about Vinny Jones?
Dean Cain
Roosevelt Grier gave a sensitive, nuanced performance with Ray Milland in The Thing with Two Heads.
What about Tommy Lee Jones?
That bitch? None at all. However, the real million-dollar mermaid, Annette Kellerman? Lots ‘n’ lots.
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.
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.
Hugely successful horse racing jockey Gary Stevens played a memorable role in Seabiscuit. Robbed of an Oscar nomination, IMHO.
“So long, Charlie!”
Great movie!!
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.
Well Statham was also a pro diver.
From wiki:
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.
See post #9
Randall “Tex” Cobb (boxer).
Best known as the “warthog from Hell,” biker/bounty hunter in Raising Arizona. Has over 30 movie and TV credits.
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.
Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimmer and Tarzan.
See post #35.
Andre the Giant, a pro wrestler and Princess Bride co-star.