Next up will be a stint on "Saturday Night Live," following a path Peyton Manning, Lance Armstrong, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Michael Jordan, Bob Uecker, Hulk Hogan and O.J. Simpson followed to crossover commercial success.
Should he devote more time to his hosting, acting and musical careers after the 2008 Summer Olympics, here are the athlete-entertainers he should learn from.
1) Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
His football career didn't last long. After playing at the University of Miami, he failed to stick with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. He gravitated toward pro wrestling, where his athleticism and powerful stage presence earned him millions and the chance to cross over to Hollywood.
The Rock did well enough in "The Mummy Returns" to get the starring role in "The Scorpion King." That film made him one of the most bankable commodities in the industry. Like former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzennegger and martial artist Chuck Norris, he is box office gold in action movies.
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| "The Rock" smells what the red carpet is cooking. (Vince Bucci / Getty Images) |
2) Alex Karras
When "Paper Lion" was filmed — chronicling George Plimpton's hapless "tryout" with the Detroit Lions — defensive tackle Alex Karras stole some scenes. So he gravitated into acting after his NFL career ended in 1971, starring as the horse-punching Mongo in "Blazing Saddles," an Olympic weightlifter in "The 500-Pound Jerk," a sheriff in the immortal "Porky's" and as a bodyguard in "Victor/Victoria."
His most enduring success came in a TV sitcom, as the adoptive father in "Webster" and husband to real-life wife Susan Clark. His numerous TV and movie roles and success on "Monday Night Football" made him a standard-setter for athletes in the entertainment world.
3) Bob Uecker
His mediocre baseball career as a (mostly) back-up catcher gave him much fodder for his second career as a wisecracking broadcaster. He gained national fame for his banter with Johnny Carson during appearances on "The Tonight Show."
His success in the booth landed him memorable roles on TV (George Owens in "Mr. Belvedere") and movies (Harry Doyle "Major League"). If he had a dollar for every time somebody uttered his catchphrase "Juuuuuuuuust a bit outside" he would be even wealthier today.
Despite his considerable success in Hollywood, Uecker always returned to the broadcast booth. During his induction speech at the Hall of Fame (as a broadcaster, of course) he said this: "Of all of the things that I've done, this has always been No. 1, baseball. The commercials, the films, the television series, I could never wait for everything to get over to get back to baseball."
4) Ed Marinaro
When Officer Joe Coffey got blown away in the groundbreaking TV cop drama "Hill Street Blues," America wept along with actress Betty Thomas. That moment was the acting pinnacle for former Minnesota Vikings running back Ed Marinaro.
He appeared in shows like "Laverne & Shirley" before making it big on Hill Street. In the two decades since then, he has earned scores of credits like "Falcon's Crest," "Dynasty" and more recently "Monk."
But his performance as Officer Coffey made his career. He was only supposed to last four episodes before perishing, but his chemistry with Thomas allowed him to last five seasons. "It gave me credibility as an actor," Marinaro said recently. "There's still a stigma attached as an athlete."
5) Ray Allen
The new Boston Celtics guard is the best serious actor on this list — thanks to his surprising performance as Jesus Shuttlesworth in the movie "He Got Game." He held up just fine in Spike Lee's college basketball recruiting tale starring Denzel Washington.
"It made me so nervous because I've never acted in my life," Allen said. "People always ask me if I'm nervous playing in front of twenty or thirty thousand people. That's easy to me. But in acting, you have to connect to emotions and you have to show everybody . . . the whole world . . . what is working inside of your head and inside of your heart."
Allen's next role, in the 2001 movie "Harvard Man," did considerably less to advance his career.
6) Terry Bradshaw
After his highly successful NFL career the former Pittsburgh Steeler aimed for the big screen. "I actually wanted to be accepted, and I wanted to learn the craft of acting, the techniques — and told the agents that I found, 'I don't want big roles. I don't deserve big roles. I want to earn it, like the others do: Study . . . do little scenes'," he told the Associated Press.
He stretched to play "Terry" in the cinematic classic "The Cannonball Run," but the movie opportunities he sought never materialized. He took small TV roles here and there, dabbled with country music and starred as a NFL analyst before agreeing to co-star in the movie "Failure to Launch" last year with the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Bates.
Bradshaw was a hit, although some moviegoers will never fully recover from seeing him naked on the big screen.
7) Rick Fox
If Spike Lee raves about Fox's work in "Oz," who are we to argue? This former NBA forward gained a foothold in Hollywood during his Lakers days and has built a nice acting career.
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| Rick Fox went from a champion basketball player to a pretty good actor. (Noah Graham/NBAE / Getty Images) |
He had a small role in "He Got Game," among other movies, and recently began a recurring role on "One Tree Hill" on Fox. He even lives the Hollywood lifestyle, with a high-profile divorce (Vanessa Williams!) and an A-list of new friends (Sharon Stone! Kristin Davis!) keeping the tabloid reporters busy.
8) Merlin Olsen
So how does a member of the Los Angeles Rams' "Fearsome Foursome" end up selling flowers for FTP and starring in such family fare as "Little House on the Prairie" and "Father Murphy"?
As the sports pages said, he was a gentle giant. Olsen earned a master's degree in economics. He made a smooth transition from the playing field to the broadcast booth. His easy, articulate delivery led him to commercial opportunities and those acting gigs.
And Olsen has lots of inspirational quotes out there, just waiting to be made into a poster. Like this one: "Perseverance isn't just the willingness to work hard. It's that, plus the willingness to be stubborn about your own belief in yourself."
9) Jim Brown
He left the Cleveland Browns for Tinseltown in his athletic prime and he scored right away with "The Dirty Dozen." Brown has acted steadily since 1964, earning credits in a diverse range of TV shows ("T.J. Hooker") and movies ("I'm Gonna Git You Sucka"). Arguably his best effort came more recently, as Montezuma Monroe in "Any Given Sunday."
"Though I never pursued my film career with excessive vigor, at first I was doing nicely," he once told Ebony. "My first three or four years in the business, I made eight films. A handful even made some money. You're not supposed to talk about things you almost got in Hollywood, but I'm talking about a lot of things I'm not supposed to, so the hell with it: I was one of the finalists for a Best Supporting Actor nomination for my work in 'The Dirty Dozen'. I acted with some of the cream of Hollywood and I like to think I didn't embarrass anybody."
America wasn't quite ready for his hot love scenes with Raquel Welch in "100 Rifles" back in 1969 — but then again Brown has made a career out of provocation.
10) Fred Dryer (tie)
Sgt. Rick Hunter became one of the great TV detective characters of all time. Fred Dryer, another former Rams defensive lineman, clicked with co-star Stepfanie Kramer and created ratings magic in this role. "It's a good action series that's tailor-made for me at this stage in my career," he said in 1985.
Dryer has played a variety of other TV and movie roles over the years, but will always be remembered for his long-running success in "Hunter" and all its subsequent incarnations. (He was considered for the role of Sam Malone in "Cheers," but that role went to Ted Danson instead . . . and the rest is history.)
10) Bubba Smith (tie)
A serious actor he was not. The legendary NFL defensive end (primarily with the Baltimore Colts) played for laughs when he moved into show business. His deadpan Miller Light commercials ("easy-opening can") helped set a standard for future jock pitchmen.
He developed the character Moses Hightower for the amazing "Police Academy" franchise. Less memorable was the 1984 TV series "Blue Thunder" with fellow beer pitchman and small-role comedic actor Dick Butkus.
HONORABLE MENTION: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ("Airplane"), O.J. Simpson ("Naked Gun" series), Lance Armstrong ("Dodgeball"), Kelly Slater ("Baywatch"), Cam Neely ("Dumb and Dumber"), Dan Marino ("Ace Ventura, Pet Detective"), Randall "Tex" Cobb ("Raising Arizona"), Lawrence Taylor ("Any Given Sunday"), Bernie Williams (jazz music), Wayman Tisdale (jazz music), Marty McSorley ("Con Air"), Julius Erving (The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh"), Howie Long ("Broken Arrow"), Andrew The Giant ("The Princess Bride"), George "The Animal" Steele ("Ed Wood") and Alex English ("Amazing Grace and Chuck").
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