Big hits on the big screen

by Bill Bender
Staff Writer

For some athletes, the show must always go on.

When NFL legend Jim Brown starred in the western Rio Conchos in 1963, he ushered athletes into Hollywood. In 1999, Brown co-starred in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, continuing an illustrious career on the silver screen.

From running past tacklers to dodging Nazi gunfire in The Dirty Dozen, Brown is one of many professionals who moved from the end zone to the studio.

Former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Willie Lanier spent his playing career chasing Brown on the field. The Hall of Fame linebacker made his movie debut in the 1976 film The Black Six, alongside former NFL stars Mercury Morris, "Mean" Joe Greene and Gene Washington.

Lanier said the reality behind athlete's stature extends beyond the football field.

"The reality is that it's not just being a football player," Lanier said. "It's no different than politicians. Name identifications creates a transferable market for athletes to the movie business."

The Black Six is Lanier's only movie credit. Conversely, Fred Williamson, Lanier's teammate at Kansas City during the 1960s, has made the movie business his life's work after football.

Nicknamed "The Hammer," the former Chiefs cornerback has taken on roles as a vampire in From Dusk Till Dawn to a righteous crime fighter alongside Brown in Original Gangsters.

Despite Williamson's and Brown's accomplishments, some athletes are in the movies strictly for cameos. Instances such as Brett Favre's appearance in There's Something About Mary, and Dan Marino's cameo in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective continue to be as much a tradition in the theater as buttered popcorn.

NFL Vice President of Public Relations Greg Aiello said the celebrity status allows athletes the opportunity to adjust to the movies.

"Opportunities come to some players," Aiello said. "Athletes and actors are both performers. Football players have a certain physicality that appeals to movies."

Lawrence Taylor is the latest former NFL legend to make a breakthrough in movies. Taylor starred with Brown in the football saga Any Given Sunday and made a cameo appearance in the 2000 summer blockbuster Shaft.

Aiello said there is a difference between Taylor's and Brown's situations.

"Jim Brown retired to become an actor and was in a movie that had nothing to do with football in The Dirty Dozen Aiello said. "But Taylor stepped into a situation where Oliver Stone needed him for a movie based on football. It's up to Lawrence to see where he goes from there."

Some athletes dabbled in football before becoming sports actors. Before Carl Weathers took the roles of Apollo Creed in Rocky and Chubbs Peterson in Happy Gilmore, he played professional football for the Oakland Raiders.

Even NFL Films, which runs weekly shows such as NFL's Greatest Moments, gives highlights the Hollywood feel. NFL Films Communications Director Cory Laslocky said the company has assisted with several motion pictures, including Rudy and Necessary Roughness, which featured cameos by former players Herschel Walker and Roger Craig.

"One of the hallmarks of NFL Films came from our founder Ed Sabol," Laslocky said. "He wanted to dramatize professional football the same way Hollywood dramatizes fiction."

Fact or fiction, NFL players should continue to tackle roles in movies. Lanier said stars such as Brown and Taylor have approached film like they do football.

"Whatever background you have, it does not leave," Lanier said. "You take what you learn on the field and apply it to pursuits after football."