Saturday, September 8, 2018

More NFL Players Who Also Acted

     Since the 2018 NFL season just started (with my Eagles winning, barely, yeah!), I thought I'd do a post that was football-related.  I decided to do a sequel to my post on November 25, 2017 about NFL players who also acted on a big time stage, either in television shows or movies.  Admittedly, many of the guys listed weren't Brando or anything, but I tried to only list those who had at least one acting role where they weren't playing themselves.  And as for their relevant playing details, bear in mind that up until fairly recently many stats weren't kept very well, especially defensive statistics like tackles (sacks weren't even officially tabulated until 1982!).

1) Rick Moser.  I'll start with an obscure one.  IMDB lists Moser with 10 acting credits, including roles on TV's "Mr. Merlin" (1981) and "The Facts of Life" (1985), and in movies such as "Lovely But Deadly" (1981) and "Dazed and Confused" (1993).  In the NFL he was a backup running back/special teamer with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Miami Dolphins from 1978-82.  In 49 games (0 starts) he accumulated 54 rushes for 190 yards (3.5 average) and 1 touchdown, and 3 receptions for 10 yards (3.3 average) and 1 touchdown.  His Wikipedia page says that he set the Super Bowl record for special teams tackles, with 5 in Super Bowl 14 with the Steelers.  (I couldn't confirm this, but just throwing it out there.)  He was on 2 title winning teams, with the Steelers in Super Bowl 13 and 14.

2) Joe Klecko.  Klecko was apparently a friend of Burt Reynolds (RIP), as his roles were in movies with Burt--"Smokey and the Bandit" (1977), "The Cannonball Run" (1981) and "Heat" (1986).  In the NFL he played with the New York Jets and Indianapolis Colts from 1977-88, as a defensive end, defensive tackle, and nose tackle.  He accumulated 9 fumble recoveries and 24 sacks in 155 total games, and 145 starts.  He was named to 4 Pro Bowls and 2 All Pro teams, and is listed as the only man to make the Pro Bowl at his three positions.

3) Tony Gonzalez.  Gonzalez was on TV's "NCIS" (3 episodes, in 2014-16), the TV movie "A.I. Assault" (2006), and movie sequel "xXx:  The Return of Xander Cage" (2017).  As a player he was a tight end, and will surely be named to the Hall of Fame very soon.  He played with the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons from 1997-2013, and started 254 of 270 total games.  He caught 1325 passes for 15,127 yards (11.4 average) and 111 touchdowns.  He also rushed twice for 14 yards, and completed 1 pass for 40 yards.  He was named to 14 Pro Bowls and 6 All Pro teams.  Tony holds the all time tight end records for receptions and yards, and is in the top 10 for overall receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and games played.

4) Joe Namath.  Namath has 21 acting credits on IMDB.  His notable TV roles were on "The Waverly Workers" (1978), "Fantasy Island" (1981), "The Love Boat" (1980-81), and "The A-Team" (1986).  In movies he was top billed in "C.C. & Company" (1970) and "The Last Rebel" (1971), and starred in "Norwood" (1970) (which wasn't about doomed Bills kicker Scott).  In the NFL he was a Hall of Fame quarterback with the New York Jets and Los Angeles Rams from 1965-77, starting 129 out of 140 games.  He completed 1886 of 3762 passes (50.1%), for 27,663 yards, 173 touchdowns, 220 interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 65.5.  Joe also rushed for 140 on 71 attempts (2.0 average) and 7 touchdowns.  He was named to 1 All Pro team and 5 Pro Bowls.  Joe's most famous for winning, and guaranteeing Super Bowl 3 versus the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts, of course.

5) Roman Gabriel.  Gabriel has 6 acting credits--on TV's "Gilligan's Island" (1966), and in movies such as "Skidoo" (1968), "The Undefeated" (1969), and "Khan!" (1975) (which despite its name isn't a Star Trek prequel).  He was also an NFL quarterback, starting 157 out of 183 games with the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles from 1962-77.  Roman completed 2366 out of 4498 passes (52.6%), for 29,444 yards, 201 touchdowns, 149 interceptions, and a 74.3 quarterback rating.  He also rushed for 1304 yards on 358 rushes (3.6 average) and 30 touchdowns.  Honors-wise he was named to 4 Pro Bowls, 1 All Pro team, and was named League MVP once.

6) Howie Long.  Long has 14 acting credits, in TV's "King of the Hill" (2000), and in movies such as "In 'n Out" (1984), "Broken Arrow" (1996), "That Thing You Do!" (1996), "Firestorm" (1998), and "3000 Miles to Graceland" (2001).  Howie played with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders from 1981-93, as a defensive end and nose tackle.  He started 151 out of 179 games, and intercepted 2 passes for 84 yards, recovered 10 fumbles, and sacked the quarterback 84 times.  He was named to 2 All Pro teams and 8 Pro Bowls, and won Super Bowl 18.  He's also a Hall of Famer.

7) Brian Bosworth.  Among Bosworth's 23 acting credits were roles on TV's "CSI: Miami" (2005), and in movies such as "Stone Cold" (1991), "Virus" (1996), "Three Kings" (1999), "Mach 2" 2001), and "Rock Slyde" (2009).  As a player he's renowned for being one of the NFL's most infamous busts, as he was a great, controversial college football star while playing only 3 years (1987-89) in the NFL, with the Seattle Seahawks, before injuries ended his career.  He played in 24 games (all starts) at linebacker, and achieved 4 sacks.  Alas, he's best remembered for being embarrassingly run over by Bo Jackson on a touchdown run in a game versus the Raiders.

8) Bob Golic.  Golic is best known for a role on TV's "Saved by the Bell: The College Years" (1993-4), but he also appeared on TV's "Coach" (1993), and "Dave's World" (1995), and in movies such as "The Taking of Beverly Hills" (1991), "Da Vinci's War" (1993), and "Dreamboat" (1997).  He was a nose tackle/defensive end/defensive tackle/linebacker in a career lasting from 1979-92 with the New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns, and Los Angeles Raiders, starting 160 of 187 games.  He intercepted 1 pass for 7 yards, recovered 5 fumbles, totaled 22.5 sacks, and was named to 3 Pro Bowls.

9) Don Meredith.  Meredith accumulated 19 acting credits, including roles in TV movies such as "Terror on the 40th Floor" (1974), "Mayday at 40,000 Feet" (1976), and "Undercover with the KKK" (1981), and on TV programs such as 8 episodes of "Police Story" (1973-76) and "Evening Shade" (1992), and in the 2002 movie "Three Days of Rain."  He played as a quarterback with the Dallas Cowboys from 1961-68, starting 83 out of 104 games.  Meredith completed 1170 out of 2308 passes (50.7%), for 17,199 yards, 135 touchdowns, 111 interceptions, and a 74.8 quarterback rating.  He also rushed for 1216 yards on 242 attempts (5.0 average) and 15 touchdowns.  He was named to 3 Pro Bowls, and played in the famous "Ice Bowl" game versus the Green Bay Packers before Super Bowl 2.  Don was best known as a television commentator, particularly as Howard Cosell's comic foil.

10) Michael Strahan.  Stahan's acting has been mostly on TV programs--"Chuck" (2008), "Brothers" (2009), "Are We There Yet?" (2011), and "Black-ish" (2015) among others.  Movie roles include "Magic Mike XXL" (2015) and "Ice Age: Collision Course" (voice) (2016).  In the NFL he was a Hall of Fame defensive end, playing from 1993-2007,  and starting 205 of 216 games.  He intercepted 4 passes for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns, forced 24 fumbles, and recovered 15 fumbles.  He accumulated 659 tackles, 192 assisted tackles, and 141.5 sacks (6th all time) including the single season record (which is controversial, for many reasons, including Favre's flop in the final game).  He made 4 All Pro teams, and 7 Pro Bowls, and won 1 Super Bowl.

11) Deacon Jones.  Acting credits include turns on the TV shows "Bewitched" (1969), "The Brady Bunch" (1971), "Wonder Woman" (1978) and "Good Vs. Evil" (1999).  Movie roles include "Heaven Can Wait" (1978) and "The Norseman" (1978).  Jones played at defensive end from 1961-74, with the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and Washington Redskins starting 168 out of 191 games.  He was named to 8 Pro Bowls, and 5 All Pro teams.  He's an excellent example of how statistics of the past don't tell the full story of a player's skill. He "only" accumulated 2 interceptions for 50 yards, and 15 fumble recoveries, officially.  However, he was unquestionably one of the very best defensive ends ever, and even coined the term "sack" for tackling a quarterback behind the line of scrimmage. Also, football historians estimated he achieved over 170 sacks, although this is unofficial, of course.

12) Fred Biletnikoff.  Fred had a brief acting career, appearing on the television shows "Vega$" (1979) and "Matt Houston" (1982), and the movies "The Norseman" (1978) and the disturbingly named "A Knife for the Ladies" (1974).  On the field, Fred was a Hall of Fame flanker/wide receiver, playing 190 games (160 starts) with the Oakland Raiders from 1965-78.  He caught 589 passes for 8974 yards (15.2 average) and 76 touchdowns.  He was also the MVP for the winning Raiders in Super Bowl 11.

13) Ray Nitschke.  Ray's acting career is incredibly brief, and not very challenging, as he played football players in "Head" (1968), and "The Longest Yard" (1974).  In the NFL he was a Hall of Fame linebacker with the Green Bay Packers from 1958-72, starting 150 of 190 games.  He intercepted 25 passes for 385 yards and 2 touchdowns, recovered 23 fumbles, returned 6 kickoffs for 53 yards (8.8 average), and caught 1 pass for 34 yards.  He was also a starter on 5 NFL title winners--3 NFL championships and 2 Super Bowls.

14) Brett Favre.  Another Hall of Fame Packer with a small acting resume.  Favre acted on TV's "Arli$$" (1997), "KaBlam!" (1998), and in the movie "Reggie's Prayer" (1996).  He also played himself in the movie "There's Something About Mary" (1998).  On the field he started 298 out of 302 games, mostly with the Packers, but also with the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings from 1991-2010.  He completed 6300 out of 10169 passes (62.0%), for 71,838 yards, 508 touchdowns, and 336 interceptions, and a 86.0 quarterback rating.  He also rushed for 1844 yards on 602 rushes (3.1 average) and 14 touchdowns.  Given his long career, he's been the all time leader in passing attempts, completions, touchdown passes, yards, etc., although some of these have been broken, or probably will be by Drew Brees and/or Tom Brady soon.

15) Michael Irvin.  Irvin has 8 acting credits, including TV's "One on One" (2002) and "Burn Notice" (2009), and in movies such as ""The Longest Yard" (2005), and "Slamma Jamma" (2017).  On the field he played wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys from 1988-99, starting 147 of 159 games.  He caught 750 passes for 11,904 yards (15.9 average) and 65 touchdowns, and also rushed 6 times for 6 yards (1.0 average).  Irvin was named to 1 All Pro team, 5 Pro Bowls, and was part of 3 Super Bowl titles.  He's also a Hall of Famer.

16) Mark Schlereth.  Mark has 3 acting credits--12 episodes of TV's "Guiding Light" (2007-9), TV's "Ballers" (2015-17), and a role in the movie "Red Dawn" (2012).  He's also been a producer.  He played offensive guard and center for the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos from 1989-2000, starting 140 out of 156 games.  He recovered 2 fumbles, was named to 2 Pro Bowls, and won 3 Super Bowls.  He's also allegedly not fully house broken--I'll leave it to readers to find out one of the reasons he's nicknamed "Stink."

17) Dan Marino.  Among Dan's 5 acting credits include the movie "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" (1994), and TV's "The Magic School Bus" (1996) and "The Simpsons" (1999).  (To be fair, I think he only played himself, so not much of an acting challenge.)  In the NFL he was a Hall of Fame quarterback with the Miami Dolphins from 1983-99, starting 240 out of 242 games.  Dan completed 4967 out of 8358 passes (59.4%), for 61,361 yards, 420 touchdowns, 252 interceptions, and a 86.4 quarterback rating.  He rushed 301 times for 87 yards (.3 yard average) and 9 touchdowns.  He was notoriously hard to sack--he holds the all time record for lowest sack rate (3.13%) with Peyton Manning.

18) Bill Romanowski.  Bill has 8 acing credits, including the movies "The Longest Yard" (2005), "Wieners" (2008), "Get Smart" (2008), "Bedtime Stories" (2008), and "Blended" (2014).  His playing career lasted from 1988-2003, with the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos, and Oakland Raiders.  He started 222 out of 243 total games.  Bill intercepted 18 passes for 98 yards and 1 touchdown, forced 16 fumbles, recovered 18 fumbles, and totaled 964 tackles, 154 assisted tackles, and 39.5 sacks.  He also played on 4 Super Bowl winners, and was named to 2 Pro Bowls.

19) Roy Jefferson.  He only acted once, but it was a starring role in the movie "Brotherhood of Death" (1976).  On the field he played from 1965-78 with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Colts, and Washington Redskins.  He started 144 out of 162 games at wide receiver/ split end.  Overall he caught 451 passes for 7539 yards, (16.7 average) and 52 touchdowns, while rushing 25 times for 188 yards (7.5 average).  He also returned 5 kickoffs for 91 yards (18.2 average), and returned 58 punts for 436 yards (7.5 average) and another touchdown.  Honors-wise he was named to 1 All Pro team, 3 Pro Bowls, and was part of 1 Super Bowl winning team.

20) Bo Jackson.  8 total acting credits.  He appeared on TV shows such as "Diagnosis:  Murder" (1995) and "Married with Children" (1996), and movies, including "The Chamber" (1996), "Fakin' Da Funk" (1997), and "The Pandora Project" (1998).  Jackson is most famous for being a great college football player, and a decent Major League baseball player.  His NFL career was short, only lasting parts of 4 seasons (1987-1990) due to his baseball commitments and then injury.  Playing running back, he started 23 out of 38 games.  He rushed 515 times for 2782 yards (5.4 average) and 16 touchdowns, while catching 40 passes for 352 yards (8.8 average) and 2 more touchdowns.  He also made 1 Pro Bowl.

21) Mike Ditka.  Among Ditka's 13 acting credits were roles on TV shows like "Cheers" (1993), and "3rd Rock from the Sun" (1997), and in movies/shorts like "UP Michigan" (2001, "Kicking and Screaming" (2005), and "Madzilla" (2014).  In the NFL he was a Hall of Fame tight end, playing with the Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys from 1961-72.  He started 118 out of 158 games, and caught 427 passes for 5812 yards (13.6 average) and 43 touchdowns.  He also was All Pro 2 times, and a Pro Bowler 5 times.

22) Bernie Casey.  Casey has 80 acting credits, including movies such as "Guns of the Magnificent Seven" (1969), "Boxcar Bertha" (1972), "Cleopatra Jones" (1973), "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (1976), "Never Say Never Again" (1983), "Revenge of the Nerds" (1984, and several of its sequels), "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka" (1988), "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989), and "In the Mouth of Madness" (1994).  On the field he played halfback/flanker/tight end/wide receiver from 1961-68 for the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams.  He caught 359 passes for 5444 yards (15.2 average) and 40 touchdowns, and also rushed once for 23 yards.  He started 92 out of 105 games, and made 1 Pro Bowl.  Therefore, it seems to me that Bernie has the distinction of having the most balanced dual career out of all the players mentioned.  Most fall into 2 camps--either they're great players who acted a little bit, or solid actors who played briefly.  Bernie had decently extensive careers at both.

23) Woody Strode.  92 acting credits for Strode, including movies like "The Ten Commandments" (1956), "Pork Chop Hill" (1959), "Spartacus" (1960), "Sergeant Rutledge" (1960), "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962), "The Professionals" (1966), "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968), "Kingdom of the Spiders" (1977), and "The Quick and the Dead" (1995).  He was also nominated for a Golden Globe award for "Spartacus" which I think is unique for ex-NFLers.  His NFL career was very short, but important:  Along with teammate Kenny Washington, and Marion Motley and Bill Willis for the AAFC's Cleveland Browns, they were the first men to break the pro football color barrier, which lasted from 1933-45.  In 1946 Strode played in 10 games for the Los Angeles Rams at end, catching 4 passes for 37 yards, and returning 1 kickoff for 6 yards.

24) Frank McRae.  Frank accumulated 63 acting credits, in movies such as "Shaft in Africa" (1973), "Dillinger" (1973), "F.I.S.T." (1978), "Rocky II" (1979), "Norma Rae" (1979), "48 Hrs." (1982), "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983), "Red Dawn" (1984), "License to Kill" (1989), and "Last Action Hero" (1993), along with a turn in TV's "ER" (2003).  His playing career was very short, lasting 6 games with the Chicago Bears in 1967 at defensive tackle.  No stats were listed.

     Finally, the last two are near misses, or honorable mentions.

25) Donald Gibb. Among Gibb's 93 credits are roles in movies like"Stripes" (1981), "Bloodsport" (1988), "U.S. Marshalls" (1998), and "Hancock" (2008), and in TV show like "Cheers" (1992) and "Seinfeld" (1995).  He's best known, though, for playing "Ogre" in the "Revenge of the Nerds" movie and TV movie series.  As for football, he's listed as being with the San Diego Chargers in the mid 1970's.  I couldn't find out any information, though, as free agents and practice squad members' names aren't listed anywhere I could find.  So presumably he was on the preseason roster and/or practice squad, but he never played in a regular season NFL game.

26) Gary Klar (sometimes listed as Klahr).  Klar was on TV's "Law & Order" (1995), and in movies such as "Trading Places" (1983), "Legal Eagles" (1986), "Three Men and a Baby" (1987), "Married to the Mob" (1988), "Big" (1988), "Cadillac Man" (1990), and "Quick Change" (1990).  But to horror fans such as myself, he'll always be best remembered as "Private Steele" in the George Romero classic "Day of the Dead" (1985).  Football-wise, he played college ball at the University of Arizona.  He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the 11th round of the 1970 NFL draft.  However, in the preseason he tore his Achilles tendon, and ended his playing career.




 


































  




































  

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