Jim Brown (1936-2023)
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Jim Brown in 100 Rifles (Tom Gries, 1969).
Last Thursday, 18 May 2023, former American footballer and actor Jim Brown died at the age of 87. His wife shared this on Instagram on Friday. Brown appeared in more than 30 films such as The Dirty Dozen (1967), 100 Rifles (1969) with Raquel Welch and He Got Game (1998) and he became Hollywood's first black action hero.
James Nathaniel Brown was born in 1936 in St. Simons Island, Georgia, USA. His parents were Swinton Brown, a professional boxer, and his wife, Theresa, a homemaker. Jim grew up in Manhasset, Long Island, New York from the age of eight. He attended Manhasset Secondary School in Manhasset, New York. Brown earned 13 letters playing football, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, and running track. It was at Manhasset High School that he became a football star and athletic legend and later, he was a great Lacrosse player for Syracuse University. Jim played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965 and is still considered one of the best running backs in the National Football League (NFL). Brown led the Cleveland Browns to their last National Football League (NFL) title in 1964. A year later, he was named the NFL's most valuable player. Despite only playing nine seasons, he retired as the all-time NFL career rushing leader with 12,312 yards. The record stood for 19 years. He was selected nine times for the Pro Bowl, the NFL's All-Star game. Thanks to Brown, American football grew into one of the most popular televised sports in the United States in the 1960s. As such, the lightning-fast running back was one of the sport's first superstars. In 2002, he was named the best professional American footballer ever by The Sporting News. Brown was one of the few athletes to speak out on racial issues in the 1950s as the civil rights movement was growing. He became an activist for equal rights for African-Americans, organised rallies and also spoke out against the war in Vietnam. In 1966, he started the Negro Industrial Economic Union, later known as the Black Economic Union (BEU), an advocacy group for black entrepreneurs and in 1988, he established the Amer-I-Can Foundation, aimed at mentoring gang members in order to get them off the streets and into a new life. Brown was twice married and had five children. From 1959 to 1972, he was married to Sue Jones with whom he had married to Sue Jones. In 1997, he married Monique with whom he had two children.
Shortly before the end of his football career, Jim Brown became an actor. The ruggedly handsome African American first appeared on movie screens as a buffalo soldier in the Western Rio Conchos (Gordon Douglas, 1964). He then played a strong supporting role in the terrific WWII action film The Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich, 1967). Brown played Robert Jefferson, one of 12 convicts sent to France during World War II to assassinate German officers meeting at a castle near Rennes in Brittany before the D-Day invasion. Other fast-paced films followed including Ice Station Zebra (John Sturges, 1968), 100 Rifles (Tom Gries, 1969) with Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds, and El Condor (John Guillermin, 1970). 100 Rifles (1969) was a sensation because it featured one of the first interracial love scenes in a film with Raquel Welch. Brown's popularity grew during the boom of Blaxploitation cinema in the early 1970s portraying tough no-nonsense characters in Slaughter (Jack Starrett, 1972) in which he did another sensational interracial love scene with Stella Stevens, Black Gunn (Robert Hartford-Davis, 1972) and Three the Hard Way (Gordon Parks Jr., 1974). His on-screen work in the latter part of the 1970s and 1980s was primarily centred around guest spots on popular TV shows such as CHiPs (1977) and Knight Rider (1982). However, Brown then resurfaced in better-quality films beginning with his role as a fiery assassin in The Running Man (Paul Michael Glaser, 1987), an adaptation of a Stephen King novel. He parodied the blaxploitation genre along with many other African-American actors in the comedy I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (Keenen Ivory Wayans, 1988) and played an ex-heavyweight boxer in the Sci-Fi comedy Mars Attacks! (Tim Burton, 1996). Ironically he played an ex-football legend in the sports film Any Given Sunday (Oliver Stone, 1999) with Al Pacino. His final film was Draft Day (Ivan Reitman, 2014) with Kevin Costner. Additionally, Jim Brown was a ringside commentator for the first six events of the Ultimate Fighting Championships from 1993 through to 1996. A bona fide legend in American sports and a successful actor, he continues to remain busy in front of the camera with recent appearances in various sports shows & TV productions.
"It is with deep sadness that I must share that my husband, Jim Brown, has passed away," Monique Brown wrote on Facebook. "He passed away peacefully in our home in L.A. To the world, he was an activist, actor and football star. To our family, he was a beloved and wonderful husband, father and grandfather. Our hearts are broken..."
Sources: Nu.nl. AD.nl, Wikipedia and IMDb.
Jim Brown (1936-2023)
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Jim Brown in 100 Rifles (Tom Gries, 1969).
Last Thursday, 18 May 2023, former American footballer and actor Jim Brown died at the age of 87. His wife shared this on Instagram on Friday. Brown appeared in more than 30 films such as The Dirty Dozen (1967), 100 Rifles (1969) with Raquel Welch and He Got Game (1998) and he became Hollywood's first black action hero.
James Nathaniel Brown was born in 1936 in St. Simons Island, Georgia, USA. His parents were Swinton Brown, a professional boxer, and his wife, Theresa, a homemaker. Jim grew up in Manhasset, Long Island, New York from the age of eight. He attended Manhasset Secondary School in Manhasset, New York. Brown earned 13 letters playing football, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, and running track. It was at Manhasset High School that he became a football star and athletic legend and later, he was a great Lacrosse player for Syracuse University. Jim played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965 and is still considered one of the best running backs in the National Football League (NFL). Brown led the Cleveland Browns to their last National Football League (NFL) title in 1964. A year later, he was named the NFL's most valuable player. Despite only playing nine seasons, he retired as the all-time NFL career rushing leader with 12,312 yards. The record stood for 19 years. He was selected nine times for the Pro Bowl, the NFL's All-Star game. Thanks to Brown, American football grew into one of the most popular televised sports in the United States in the 1960s. As such, the lightning-fast running back was one of the sport's first superstars. In 2002, he was named the best professional American footballer ever by The Sporting News. Brown was one of the few athletes to speak out on racial issues in the 1950s as the civil rights movement was growing. He became an activist for equal rights for African-Americans, organised rallies and also spoke out against the war in Vietnam. In 1966, he started the Negro Industrial Economic Union, later known as the Black Economic Union (BEU), an advocacy group for black entrepreneurs and in 1988, he established the Amer-I-Can Foundation, aimed at mentoring gang members in order to get them off the streets and into a new life. Brown was twice married and had five children. From 1959 to 1972, he was married to Sue Jones with whom he had married to Sue Jones. In 1997, he married Monique with whom he had two children.
Shortly before the end of his football career, Jim Brown became an actor. The ruggedly handsome African American first appeared on movie screens as a buffalo soldier in the Western Rio Conchos (Gordon Douglas, 1964). He then played a strong supporting role in the terrific WWII action film The Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich, 1967). Brown played Robert Jefferson, one of 12 convicts sent to France during World War II to assassinate German officers meeting at a castle near Rennes in Brittany before the D-Day invasion. Other fast-paced films followed including Ice Station Zebra (John Sturges, 1968), 100 Rifles (Tom Gries, 1969) with Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds, and El Condor (John Guillermin, 1970). 100 Rifles (1969) was a sensation because it featured one of the first interracial love scenes in a film with Raquel Welch. Brown's popularity grew during the boom of Blaxploitation cinema in the early 1970s portraying tough no-nonsense characters in Slaughter (Jack Starrett, 1972) in which he did another sensational interracial love scene with Stella Stevens, Black Gunn (Robert Hartford-Davis, 1972) and Three the Hard Way (Gordon Parks Jr., 1974). His on-screen work in the latter part of the 1970s and 1980s was primarily centred around guest spots on popular TV shows such as CHiPs (1977) and Knight Rider (1982). However, Brown then resurfaced in better-quality films beginning with his role as a fiery assassin in The Running Man (Paul Michael Glaser, 1987), an adaptation of a Stephen King novel. He parodied the blaxploitation genre along with many other African-American actors in the comedy I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (Keenen Ivory Wayans, 1988) and played an ex-heavyweight boxer in the Sci-Fi comedy Mars Attacks! (Tim Burton, 1996). Ironically he played an ex-football legend in the sports film Any Given Sunday (Oliver Stone, 1999) with Al Pacino. His final film was Draft Day (Ivan Reitman, 2014) with Kevin Costner. Additionally, Jim Brown was a ringside commentator for the first six events of the Ultimate Fighting Championships from 1993 through to 1996. A bona fide legend in American sports and a successful actor, he continues to remain busy in front of the camera with recent appearances in various sports shows & TV productions.
"It is with deep sadness that I must share that my husband, Jim Brown, has passed away," Monique Brown wrote on Facebook. "He passed away peacefully in our home in L.A. To the world, he was an activist, actor and football star. To our family, he was a beloved and wonderful husband, father and grandfather. Our hearts are broken..."
Sources: Nu.nl. AD.nl, Wikipedia and IMDb.