Former NFL player and longtime actor Bernie Casey has died at the age of 78, passing at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a short fight with an undisclosed illness, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While Casey first landed fame on the football field as a member of the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams, many will likely remember him more his film roles. He was a staple of the Blaxploitation genre, starring opposite fellow NFL star Jim Brown in several films throughout the early ’70s and made his film debut in the sequel to The Magnificent Seven, titled Guns of the Magnificent Seven. Casey then followed it with Martin Scorcese’s Boxcar Bertha and other roles throughout the decade, but was likely more memorable to most audiences thanks to his roles in the ’80s.
Casey appeared in a string of memorable film roles throughout the 1980’s, including Revenge Of The Nerds, Spies Like Us, the unofficial James Bond adventure Never Say Never Again, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and I’m Gonna Git You Sucka as a send-up of his Blaxploitation past. According to The Hollywood Reporter, his acting was apparently only the tip of his creativity:
Casey also wrote, directed, starred in and produced The Dinner (1997), centering on three black men who discuss slavery, black self-loathing, homophobia, etc. while sitting around the dinner table…
A true Renaissance man, Casey also was a published poet as well as a painter whose work was exhibited in galleries around the world.
Casey shocked a lot of people by cutting his NFL career short ahead of the 1969 season with the Rams, ending with 359 catches, more than 5,000 yards, and 40 touchdowns. As The Hollywood Reporter adds, he wanted to focus more on his creative pursuits and felt “there’s a lot of life left after 32…”
“When that sojourn is over and you’re 32 or something, when most people are just beginning to understand who they are, what they can do and what life is all about, you have been considered in the world of sports a dinosaur…From that point on, it’s a downward spiral into the abyss of non-consideration and obscurity and a lot of other things that they never recover from. I want to think in my instance, it’s the beginning.”
He definitely seemed to make the most of it. Rest in peace.
(Via Variety / The Hollywood Reporter)
