Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Dick Butkus

Highest Rated: 85% Brian's Song (1971)

Lowest Rated: 53% Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976)

Birthday: Dec 9, 1942

Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA

In the 1960s, Dick Butkus made himself one of the most feared defensive players in professional football and synonymous with the rugged, blue-collar ethos of the Chicago Bears. Born in the Windy City, he built a reputation as a ferocious linebacker at the University of Illinois and was drafted by the Bears in 1965. Demonstrating an agility belied by his 6'3" 245-lb. stature, he briefly helped revive the Bears' fortunes as he terrorized quarterbacks and blew up running plays. Butkus was selected to eight Pro Bowls, but by the early 1970s, a nagging knee injury slowed him and the recurring pain forced him to retire in 1973. He began an acting career as a frequent television guest star and, in tandem with fellow NFL-vet Bubba Smith, a high-profile pitchman for Miller Lite in its long-running "Tastes Great, Less Filling" campaign. He periodically landed regular gigs on television, as per his supporting cast roles on "Blue Thunder" (NBC, 1984), "My Two Dads" (1987-1990) and "Hang Time" (NBC, 1995-2000). In 2008, ESPN built a reality-TV show, "Bound for Glory," around the premise of Butkus coaching a struggling high school football team. A first-ballot inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Butkus remained an archetype of the game's pre-frills, no-holds-barred smash-mouth era.

Show Less Show More

Highest rated movies

85% 82% Brian's Song
Watchlist
53% 53% Mother, Jugs & Speed
Watchlist
Half-Nelson
Watchlist
52% Hamburger... The Motion Picture
Watchlist
57% Gus
Watchlist
56% Driving Academy
Watchlist
A Matter of Wife... and Death
Watchlist
60% The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Watchlist
18% Spontaneous Combustion
Watchlist
8% Deadly Games
Watchlist

Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet 18% Spontaneous Combustion Lt. General (Character) - 1990
No Score Yet 56% Driving Academy Ed Konner (Character) - 1988
No Score Yet 52% Hamburger... The Motion Picture Drootin (Character) - 1986
No Score Yet No Score Yet Half-Nelson Unknown (Character) - 1985
No Score Yet 48% Cracking Up Anti-Smoking Enforcer (Character) - 1983
No Score Yet 8% Deadly Games Joe Adams (Character) - 1982
No Score Yet 60% The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Brom Bones (Character) - 1980
No Score Yet No Score Yet Superdome Scott Hennerson (Character) - 1978
53% 53% Mother, Jugs & Speed Rodeo (Character) - 1976
No Score Yet 57% Gus Rob Cargil (Character) - 1976
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Matter of Wife... and Death Heavy (Character) - 1975
85% 82% Brian's Song Dick Butkus (Character) - 1971

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet I Didn't Do It Self 2014
No Score Yet No Score Yet Deal or No Deal Unknown (Guest Star) 2007
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hang Time Coach Mike Katowinski (Character) 1998-2000
No Score Yet No Score Yet Early Edition Unknown (Guest Star) 1997
No Score Yet No Score Yet Coach Unknown (Guest Star) 1992 1997
29% No Score Yet Chicago Sons Unknown (Guest Star) 1997
43% No Score Yet Burke's Law Unknown (Guest Star) 1994
No Score Yet 70% MacGyver Unknown (Guest Star) 1990-1991
No Score Yet No Score Yet My Two Dads Ed Klawicki (Character),
Unknown (Guest Star)
1987-1989
No Score Yet No Score Yet Kate & Allie Unknown (Guest Star) 1988
No Score Yet No Score Yet Growing Pains Unknown (Guest Star) 1988
No Score Yet No Score Yet Matlock Unknown (Guest Star) 1987
No Score Yet 89% Murder, She Wrote Tank Mason (Guest Star) 1985
No Score Yet No Score Yet Blue Thunder Richard 'Ski' Butowski (Character) 1984
No Score Yet No Score Yet Simon & Simon Joe Blake (Guest Star) 1982
No Score Yet No Score Yet Greatest American Hero Coach Andrews (Guest Star) 1982
No Score Yet 95% Magnum, P.I. Clarence/Dumbo (Guest Star) 1982
No Score Yet No Score Yet Fantasy Island Unknown (Guest Star) 1978 1980
No Score Yet 71% Taxi Party Guy (Guest Star) 1979
100% 82% Wonder Woman Unknown (Guest Star) 1979
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Rockford Files Dick Butkus (Guest Star) 1976
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Six Million Dollar Man Bobby Laport (Guest Star) 1975
No Score Yet No Score Yet Bronk Unknown (Guest Star) 1975
No Score Yet No Score Yet Police Story Sullivan (Character) 1975
No Score Yet No Score Yet McMillan and Wife Coach (Guest Star) 1974