NFL Stars Who Went Hollywood

Terry Crews’ action-comedy turn and more.

Jim Brown - Terry Crews, O.J. Simpson, Jim Brown and other football greats who traded their cleats for Hollywood scripts. After nine stellar seasons with the Cleveland Browns in the 1950s and ‘60s, running back Jim Brown continued to break barriers when he made the switch to acting, tackling an array of genres. He has appeared in such films as The Dirty Dozen, I’m Gonna Get You Sucka and Any Given Sunday.—Britt Middleton (Photo: Twentieth Century Fox)
O.J. Simpson - O.J. Simpson’s infamous legal troubles have all but eclipsed his former gridiron glory as one of the game’s greatest running backs, playing with the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers in the 1970s. On the big screen, Simpson most famously played Norberg, the best friend and partner of Frank Derbin in the Naked Gun trilogy.  (Photo: Paramount Pictures)
Terry Crews - Terry Crews as Julius on Everybody Hates Chris was a hardworking dad who was also a heavy penny-pincher.  Moreover, he's based on Chris Rock's late father.(Photo: Michael Desmond/The CW Network)Bubba Smith - Bubba Smith, who died last August after an apparent diet-pill overdose, was one of the most feared defensive ends during his tenure in the NFL, where he played for the then-Baltimore Colts, the Houston Oilers and the Oakland Raiders during the 1960s and ‘70s. His one-liners in a slew of Miller Lite commercials helped him exercise his comedic muscle, and he played the soft-spoken officer Moses Hightower in the Police Academy movies and also appeared in television series including Charlie’s Angels and Good Times. (Photo: Warner Bros)

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Jim Brown - Terry Crews, O.J. Simpson, Jim Brown and other football greats who traded their cleats for Hollywood scripts. After nine stellar seasons with the Cleveland Browns in the 1950s and ‘60s, running back Jim Brown continued to break barriers when he made the switch to acting, tackling an array of genres. He has appeared in such films as The Dirty Dozen, I’m Gonna Get You Sucka and Any Given Sunday.—Britt Middleton (Photo: Twentieth Century Fox)

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