European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 26, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse A family affair starring the juice . Simpson was still an a Flor when he filmed do la a to movie with Elizabeth Montgomery in �?T77.movie actor Simpson enters his next stage by Vernon Scott up Hollywood reporter. As a motion picture actor . Simpson never attained the sort of stardom he enjoyed on the Gridiron. In Short the likeable affable Simpson was a far better athlete than actor. Still he has accomplished More on the screen than any other football Star turned actor at least in movies. His career overshadows that of onetime los Angeles ram All pro Merlin Olsen who starred in a couple of to series and appeared in an occasional movie role. Alex Karras the fearsome linebacker for the Detroit Lions also had his Day in the Sun As a to series Star. Fred dryer starred in Hunter for seven years on the tube and continues to produce and Star in television movies. Fred Williamson has had a steady career As a film writer producer director and actor James Brown Bubba Smith and a handful of other sex footballers have made marginal livings from acting. But none of them matched Simpson As a popular football player who became a Hollywood performer. He was and remains a legend for his Gridiron feats As an undergraduate at Southern Cal and As a record setting running Back in the National football league. A Hall of Famer. Many another football Flash has tried his hand at acting with Little Success Don Meredith and Joe Namath to name two. There were some movie stars who played football to be sure John Wayne Burt Reynolds Ronald Reagan and others but that is a different Story. Simpson who posed no threat to become an Oscar contender for Best actor nevertheless has starred in or played character roles in at least a dozen movies. The most successful of his dramatic films was the towering inferno in 1974 with Steve Mcqueen Paul Newman William Holden and Faye Dunaway. He a was seen in a minor role As a Security guard. He also played dramatic parts in the Klansman the Diamond mercenaries Capricorn one firepower and the Cassandra crossing. Simpson played a supporting role in the major miniseries roots in 1977. He starred in the to movies Detour Goldie and the Boxer and Goldie and the Boxer go to Hollywood plus a killing affair. But it was in comedy that Simpson gave his Best performances especially As a Dunder headed cop in the naked gun from the files of police squad and the sequel the naked gun 2 a the smell of tear. Simpson was a smiling Happy camper on movie sets confident and at ease with playing make by live. He was approachable on sound stages and in studio commissaries. As at us and with the Buffalo Bills and san Francisco 49ers, Simpson was a team player on movie companies. He enjoyed running lines with fellow cast members swapping jokes and anecdotes Between scenes. He was universally popular with Cali of the casts and Crews with which he worked in films and television. He was praised for his even temper and Coop Calion with directors. Simpson loved to talk football with fellow actors almost All of whom admired his Grace and courage As an athlete. During an interview with up Early in his acting career 0 j. Was asked How he managed to play so Many years without major injuries. He laughed and said ill m big boned it hurts the Guys who tackle me More than it hurts me. A anyhow i had 10 teammates knocking Down the opposing team. And Don t forget i was running around the other Guys not trying to run Over them. A acting is a lot More dangerous than playing Ball if you ask me. When you make a mistake on the Field it in t As noticeable and you go on to the next play. If you blow your lines in a movie everybody has to Stop and Start Over again until you get it right. A that really hurts when you know you re taking up time and costing folks a lot of Simpson had a reputation for being a natural actor although his elocution never measured up to say Anthony Hopkins. But the same was True of Mcqueen who became a Good Friend. For three years from 1983 to 1985, Simpson worked As an analyst in the Booth for abcs monday night football. In recent years he was a member of no cd a pregame show with Bob Costas a Job he held at the time of his arrest on murder charges in the slayings of his sex wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her Friend Ronald Lyle Goldman. Now Simpson finds himself cast in the most difficult role of his life. No matter what the outcome of the Case nothing in his careers As athlete broadcaster or actor could prepare him for what he faces in the immediate John Young Waco Texas Tribune Herald. You a seen that movie before. John Botu Shi and Paul Newman were fleeing the cops in. Wait. No Robert Bedford and Dan Aykroyd were outnumbered a zillion to one by the cops in. Hold it of. One thing you re sure of a , Simpson was in it. No wait. That was the towering in demo. Whatever this was a bad movie and great to. Here they were trying to film a police Chase in los Angeles and people would run up to the fugitive a a double murder suspect no less a with signs of encouragement. It was life imitating Art imitating life imitating Art from Santa Monica to Infinity. How comfortable were we with ., and vice versa so comfortable that we could watch him making out with docs cd in drag Bill Murray in a Saf urday night live Send off called mandingo ii. So comfortable that we can to remember when last it w As we saw him on to. By now . Is no More a football hero than Bob Uecker is a baseball Star. Simpson is a celebrity a a presence of every to family. So let s not discount the angst of a nation too shocked to appreciate fully what has been done to Nicole Simpsons and Ron Goldman a families. We Are . Simpson s family. We re dazed. In football terms we be just had our Bell rung. Household name last weekend i was surprised to hear my 6-year-old son too Young to have seen him in naked gun too otherwise occupied to watch him on nil live refer to Simpson by name. Quot How do you know who . Simpson is a 1 asked. Well dad. He a the Guy in the White Bronco being chased by police on to right How. Football Star to Star movie Star you mean that Guy get real. That s what was so harrowing the night of june 17 a the reality of it. There was no director on the roads shoulder with a megaphone to Cut the Chase. If something gruesome was going to happen we were going to see it live in living color. There would be no need for Abraham zapruder and his Home movies. There would be no sign near the overpass obstructing a graphic moment. However this Saga ended it would be replayed backward Forward and in slow motion. This is not a comedy. We have to remind ourselves of that. But at times on this frightening night the comedy seemed overflowing. In journalism school we Are reminded that the phrase Quot High Speed Chase Quot is redundant. What do police do a Chase at Low speeds Well yes. Just saw it on can. At Simpson s mansion while no one else came near the Bronco Simpsons dog kept watch. Reports had one swat team member camouflaging himself As a Bush. Did the policeman worry that the dog would mistake him for the real thing outside the estate in Peter Jennings words bystanders were Quot cheering the bizarre before the cameras the bystanders mugged and chanted they arc info looters a there to Sec and he seen nothing a not even this a is real for them. Life is a photo Opportunity. If its not seen on to it never happened. And now they were being seen on to outside the juices estate. That must have meant they were relevant. For the rest of us lets acknowledge that we assign far More relevance to to celebrities than we do to the real world round us. Americans knew the exact instant family member . Surrendered in . But had t the foggiest notion what was happening in their own neighbourhoods a and in some cases other parts of their own Homes. Co it nows service
