Dick Butkus
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.
Photos
Dick Butkus
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet |
|
Spontaneous Combustion | Lt. General (Character) | - | 1990 |
No Score Yet |
|
Driving Academy | Ed Konner (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet |
|
Hamburger... The Motion Picture | Drootin (Character) | - | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Half-Nelson | Unknown (Character) | - | 1985 |
No Score Yet |
|
Cracking Up | Anti-Smoking Enforcer (Character) | - | 1983 |
No Score Yet |
|
Deadly Games | Joe Adams (Character) | - | 1982 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow | Brom Bones (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Superdome | Scott Hennerson (Character) | - | 1978 |
53% |
|
Mother, Jugs & Speed | Rodeo (Character) | - | 1976 |
No Score Yet |
|
Gus | Rob Cargil (Character) | - | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | A Matter of Wife... and Death | Heavy (Character) | - | 1975 |
85% |
|
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 | 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/ |
1982 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fantasy Island | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1978 1980 |
No Score Yet | 67% | 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 |