Jim Brown, NFL Great and Star of Films Including ‘The Dirty Dozen,’ Dies at 87
variety.comCarmel Dagan Jim Brown, the NFL titan who appeared in “The Dirty Dozen,” a number of Blaxploitation films and Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday,” The Running Man,” Tim Burton’s “Mars Attacks” and Spike Lee’s “He Got Game,” to name a few films, died Thursday in Los Angeles.
He was 87.His wife Monique posted the news of his death on Instagram, saying, “He passed peacefully last night at our L.A. home.”In nine extraordinary seasons as a fullback with the Cleveland Browns, Brown set an array of NFL records.
In 2002 the Sporting News named him the greatest professional football player ever. That phenomenal athleticism and a charismatic personality made him bankable as the first African American action star.
Sidney Poitier, Sammy Davis Jr. and Bill Cosby had come before, but they were not action stars, and Fred Williamson was a Blaxploitation star like Brown in the 1970s, but he did not get the chance to appear in mainstream studio action films in the 1960s like Brown did.
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