Chicago Bears legend Dick Butkus is known on his Pro Football Hall of Fame resume as a linebacker, but his numerous acting credits are also worthy of a standing ovation.
Butkus, who died “peacefully in his sleep overnight” on Oct. 5 at the age of 80, appeared in dozens of movies, television shows and commercials following his nine-year playing career with the Chicago Bears from 1965-1973.
The two-time Defensive Player of the Year and eight-time Pro Bowler said football was “the thing I was supposed to do” and noted that acting didn’t come as easy.
“Football for me was never work. If you love something, it’s not work,” Butkus told Sports Illustrated in 2004. In a 1998 interview with the Chicago Tribune, he said that with acting, “I was worried about making a mistake, because people would say, ‘He’s just a football player,’ so I was harder on myself to do it right.”
That didn’t discourage Butkus, a longtime member of the Screen Actors Guild, from embarking on his second act.
From his iconic Miller Lite commercials to his recurring role on the NBC sitcom “My Two Dads,” here’s everything you need to know about Butkus’ acting legacy:
Dick Butkus in movies
Dick Butkus made his acting debut in the 1971 film “Brian’s Song,” which chronicled the life of Brian Piccolo and his friendship with Chicago Bears teammate Gale Sayers. Butkus had an uncredited role in the made-for-television feature film that chronicled Piccolo’s battle with cancer.
He returned to the silver screen in the 1990s, when he had several roles as himself. He appeared in “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” alongside former NFL standout Bubba Smith. The Hall of Famer also played himself in the 1991 crime drama “The Last Boy Scout” and the 2001 comedy “Teddy Bear’s Picnic.”
He also had roles in “Johnny Dangerously” in 1984, where he starred as the dapperly-dressed Arthur in Jocko Dundee’s gang, and as Texan Rodeo Moxey in “Mother, Jugs and Speed” in 1976.
The linebacker was in the 1991 comedy “Necessary Roughness” (above) as part of a prison team with fellow NFL stars Earl Campbell, Jim Kelly, Jerry Rice, Tony Dorsett, Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Herschel Walker.
He also played a coach in the 1999 drama “Any Given Sunday” alongside Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz and fellow Hall of Famers Jim Brown and Lawrence Taylor.
Dick Butkus on TV
Butkus has dozens of small screen credits. He made his television debut in 1974, appearing on an episode each of “Emergency!” and “McMillan & Wife,” playing minor characters. He started getting recurring roles the next year when he appeared in two episodes of “Police Story” and “Joe Forrester.”
The Chicago native got the most air time on the NBC sitcom “Hang Time,” where he played high school basketball coach Mike Katowinski.
He also had longer running roles in “My Two Dads,” “Half Nelson” and “Blue Thunder.”
The cast of NBC-TV’s comedy series “My Two Dads” in 1989 included: Greg Evigan (clockwise from lower left), Vonni Ribisi, Dick Butkus, Staci Keanan, Florence Stanley and Paul Reiser.
He is part of the “MacGyver” legacy. In 1990 and 1991, he was in three episodes across seasons six and seven. He played Earl Dent, an ex-convict trying to turn his life around and provide for his daughter through boxing.
Butkus appeared on other hit shows, including “Magnum, P.I.,” “The Bernie Mac Show,” and and episode of “The Love Boat” where Butkus starred as a boxing champ who takes to the ring for a match with ship’s photographer “Ace” Evans played by Ted McGinley.
He also made a guest appearance on the dais for a “Dean Martin Celebrity Roast” of fellow NFL great Joe Namath in 1979.
In 1984, Butkus starred as a boxing champ who takes on ship’s photographer Ace tries to impress an old flame by confronting himself with a boxing champion (Dick Butkus).
Dick Butkus in commercials
Butkus appeared alongside Smith in a series of Miller Lite ads in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Butkus said he gained a lot of insight into acting from the comedic ads.
“I learned from the Miller Lite commercials, ‘Who cares if you blow a line?’ It doesn’t matter if you do it in one take or 100 takes, if I can do it better each time,” he told the Chicago Tribune in 1998. “The end result is what people see. Working with Bubba (Smith), I was able to add things with facial gestures and stuff… I could play off him and add something. It didn’t matter if I got the laugh.”
He’s perhaps best known for his 1970 Super Bowl commercial for Prestone, an antifreeze company, where he used the tagline: “Because plugging holes is my business.”
He also appeared in commercials for products ranging from Echo Tools, an outdoor power equipment company, to a Qwik-Cook Grill that uses “newspaper for fuel.”
And in the mid-1980s, Butkus was featured in a commercial for WGN radio’s Bears broadcasts alongside his co-commentators Wayne Larrivee and Jim Hart. Bears great William “The Refrigerator” Perry even made a guest appearance.
Contributing: Miriam Di Nunzio, Chicago Sun-Times
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