Rams Hall of Fame Guard Tom Mack had a handful of roles. The most memorable was in Woody Allen's film Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask where Mack playeda football player in a spoof commerical. He was with former Ram guard Don Chuy.
He followed that up with the Banacek TV Series as Ed Wolinski in "Let's Hear It for a Living Legend"
His last role was as Kibbii in The Six Million Dollar Man - "One of Our Running Backs Is Missing"
Merlin's younger brother, Phil Olsen, played his younger brother in One More Train to Rob
Later he, with Ken Geddes, appeared in a LA Mass Transit film educating people about proper mass transit use and upkeep and had an anti-vandalism message
Though his football career didn't amount to much, his acting career did. He began by playing Monroe in North Dallas Forty and had a long-term role in First and Ten the HBO series.
Earl Faison, the San Diego Charger great, had a couple of roles, one as former football player who kidnaps another player in Six Million Dollar Man and then a football player in Heaven Can Wait.
Faison is second from the left
Faison is standing in checked shirt
Faison is #85
Earlier, Faison guest starred on the Beverly Hillbillies.
As far as we know Rams defensive linemen Jim Winkler had only one role, as a gladiator in 1954's Demetrius and the Gladiators. In these stills, Winker is behind star Victor Mature in these stills with the blonde curly hair.
Bubba Smith landed in a role that was repeated many times in the Police Academy series. He was Moses Hightower in that series of movies. Smith would have likely been an All-time great in the NFL had he not torn up a knee getting tangled in the first down chains in a 1972 pre-season game. He hung on in the NFl through 1975 and then his acting career began in earnest.
Smith began acting, as many do, playing a bit role in a Tv series. For him it was The Odd Couple
Five years later, in 1978, he had two bit parts in Superdome (a TV movie) as All-Pro Moses Gordine
and as Rojak in Wonder Woman- Light-fingered Lad.y.
Superdome
Wonder Woman
He played a heavy named Claude in the TV series Good Times (which has the best theme ever of any TV series in our view).
The Police Acadamy is still his calling card, that was in 1984. Also in 1984 was Blue Thunder a TV series which he stalled as Lyman 'Bubba' Kelsey along with Dick Butkus, Dana Carvey and others along with an awesome helicopter that helped them fight crime.
Though he had five roles before Blazing Saddles, it was the role of Mongo that made Alex Karras famous. The horse punch survives today as a GIF found on the Internet
Though not listed on IMDN, Karras played himself in Paper Lion even though the film was based on the 1963 season and Karras had been suspended by the NFL for that year.
In 1969 he was a guest on Daniel Boone
He played an assistant coach to Vince Lombardi in the 1973 TV Movie Legend in Granite
He was in 1975's Babe and played George Zaharias, Babe Didrikson's husband.
In 1977 he was Iago 'Mad Bull' Karkus in Mad Bull a made-for-TV movie.
Karras was also in Centennial - The Massacre
In 1978 he was Doc Holliday, a DJ in the film FM.
1980 in When Time Ran out with Paul Newman
In 1981's Victor Victoria Karras played James garner's gay sidekick and bodyguard Squash' Bernstein which was, really, a breakthrough role for the time for a jack-turned actor.
In 1981's Nobody's Perfekt:
In 1982's Porky's he played Sheriff Wallace, Porky's corrupt brother.
Karras's real life wife Susan Clark played Cherry Forever in that film after meeting on the set of Babe
Karras played a corrupt football coach in Against All Odds in 1983
His biggest success was in the TV show Webster which drew critical and commercial acclaim. He was George Papadapolis in that show and was joined by his real-life wife.
Karras in M*A*S*H*
Like Grier, Olsen, Jim Brown and others Karras was a working actor for many, many years and was among the most successful football players to go to Hollywood.
