Dick Butkus, football player turned film and TV regular, dies at 80
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Dick Butkus, the feared and famously intense linebacker from the Chicago Bears who later became a fixture in films, TV shows, and commercials, has died. The Bears confirmed his death at age 80 in Malibu, Cali., though no cause was given.
After retiring from the NFL in 1973, Butkus went on to appear in football-themed films such as The Longest Yard, Necessary Roughness, and Any Given Sunday, and was a regular in sitcoms My Two Dads and Hang Time. His 1970 Super Bowl ad for Prestone is considered the first highly successful celebrity endorsement for the big game.
Focus on Sport/Getty Dick Butkus, c. 1970s
Richard Marvin Butkus was born Dec. 9, 1942 in Chicago, Ill. He played high school and then college football at the University of Illinois before being drafted by the NFL in 1965. Butkus played with the Chicago Bears for eight years where he developed a reputation as a hard-hitting tackler.
In 1970, Butkus appeared as himself in the celebrated TV movie Brian's Song, starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams in the story of Bears' running back Brian Piccolo who died from cancer at age 26.
Butkus retired from professional football in 1973 and soon took up an acting career with small parts, mostly in comedies, such as 1976's Mother, Jugs & Speed, 1983's Cracking Up, notable as Jerry Lewis' last film, and 1984's Johnny Dangerously, directed by Amy Heckerling and starring Michael Keaton.
Cindy Ord/Getty Dick Butkus in 2023
Butkus was a regular during the first two seasons of the Paul Reiser sitcom My Two Dads, playing cafe owner Ed Klawicki from 1987 to '89. Butkus later joined the teen sitcom Hang Time in 1998 as Coach Mike Katowinski in its fourth season and stayed on through the show's run, ending in 2000.
Butkus was also a prolific ad man, starring in a series of popular Miller Lite commercials with former Baltimore Colt defensive end Bubba Smith.
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