Total Recall: Best Football Playing Actors
In preparation for the Super Bowl, we've assembled a killer lineup of gridiron-to-screen stars.
Who says jocks and theater types don't mix? With the eyes of the sports world fixed on Super Bowl 43, we at RT figured it would be a good time to look at the former pigskin standouts who've made their mark on the world of cinema. We've got a surprisingly diverse roster of pigskin stars that traded their helmets and shoulder pads for SAG cards. In filling out our starting lineup, we decided to stick to a game plan; thus, everyone below has at least several significant screen credits to their name, and we omitted cameos, no matter how memorable (sorry, Dan Marino in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective).
Lyle Alzado
You could probably field an entire squad of former Raiders who've gone on to have movie careers. The silver and black attack is known for cultivating outsized personalities and bad boy swagger, and Lyle Alzado certainly fit the bill. The Pro-Bowl defensive end was known as one of the NFL's most intimidating defenders; he brought his brawn and good humor to roles in Ernest Goes to Camp, Destroyer, and Tapeheads, as well as the sitcom Learning the Ropes. Alzado came clean about his extensive steroid use shortly before his death in 1992, making him one of the first sports stars to do so.
Bubba Smith
Two-time Pro-Bowler Bubba Smith had an outstanding career with the Colts (where he was part of the 1971 championship team), the Raiders, and the Oilers. Upon retiring, Smith has made a number of supporting appearances on television and starred in a series of memorable Miller Light commercials with numerous other ex-jocks. On the silver screen, though, Smith's most memorable role was Moses Hightower in the critically-derided but enduringly popular Police Academy movies. A florist before entering the academy, Hightower has the strength of a superhero, but is one of the most soft-spoken of the recruits.
tomwaitsjrHAPPYICONOCLAST on 01-28-2009 06:42 PM
This seems to be in no discernible order.