The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story premieres tonight on FX. Based on Jeffrey Toobin’s The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson, the 10-part series covers the Simpson saga from the night Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered until a verdict in Simpson’s case was revealed (Spoiler: He was found not guilty).
For a story about which many of us already know everything there is to know, The People vs. O.J. Simpson is nevertheless surprisingly very good and addictive, taking us back two decades and really examining why O.J. Simpson was found not guilty. It’s a fascinating legal drama, but also a human one, giving personality and dimension to a lot of people we knew mostly through the news.
Before the series kicks off, however, it’s worth revisiting the 11 people the O.J. Simpson trial transformed into celebrities. Before the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, hardly anyone could have identified the following 11 people. After the trial, they were household names in America, for a brief time, anyway.
1. Rob Kardashian
Believe it or not, the Kardashian family got their first taste of national fame because of the O.J. Simpson trial. At the time, Rob Kardashian, Sr., was an attorney and businessman, unknown to the wider world. However, he was also close friends with O.J. Simpson (and Nicole Brown Simpson, who was also close friends with Kardashian’s then-wife, Kris Jenner). In order to help O.J.’s defense, Rob Kardashian — who had not been a practicing lawyer — reactivated his license and joined Simpson’s legal team. He was also the man who read what was thought to be Simpson’s suicide letter after Simpson failed to turn himself in to police after he was charged for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Kardashian died in 2003 of cancer. His ex-wife and daughters, of course, would go on to Keeping Up with the Kardashians fame.
2. Faye Resnick
Resnick, now best known for her appearances on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, gained her first taste of infamy by essentially exploiting the death of her close friend, Nicole Simpson. Before the Simpson trial had even started, Resnick released the roman à clef, Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted , for which she received six figures. The book alleges, among other things, that Nicole Simpson had an affair with Kansas City Chief’s Marcus Allen and that Resnick and Simpson had lesbian trysts. It also includes several other lurid details about Resnick and Simpson’s cocaine-fueled sex exploits. It was so trashy and inflammatory that the judge in the Simpson case briefly put jury selection on hold after the book’s release.
Related: The O.J. Simpson Trial: Where Are They Now?
3. Robert Shapiro
Though he had represented the likes of Darryl Strawberry, José Canseco, Vince Coleman and Johnny Carson, it was the O.J. Simpson trial that made Shapiro a “celebrity lawyer” and a household name. He was the lead attorney in the case with designs on a plea bargain until Johnny Cochran pivoted their defense and accused the L.A.P.D. of framing Simpson because of Simpson’s race. Shapiro, pushed aside later during the case, has since founded LegalZoom.com and ShoeDazzle.com.
4. Johnny Cochran
Though not widely known before the Simpson case, Cochran had been an attorney on several high-profile celebrity and police-brutality cases before Simpson made him nationally famous. (He was, in fact, part of the inspiration for Denzel Washington’s character in the 1993 film Philadelphia.) The Simpson case, however, made him perhaps the most famous attorney in America. Known for his flamboyance and his theatrical style in court, Cochran was also the inspiration for Jackie Chiles on several episodes of Seinfeld. Cochran died in 2005 of an inoperable brain tumor.
5. Marcia Clark
Marcia Clark was the prosecutor in the Simpson case. Previously, she’d successfully prosecuted the murderer of television star Rebecca Schaeffer several years before the Simpson case. Though she ultimately lost the Simpson trial, it made her a well-recognized celebrity, particularly in legal circles. She received a reported $4.2 million for her book about the Simpson case, and she continues to perform duties as a special correspondent in high-profile legal matters (such as the Casey Anthony trial) for various news and entertainment outlets. In recent years, she’s also written four legal thrillers.
6. Christopher Darden
Though he was made famous by the O.J. Simpson case, Darden had tried numerous homicide cases for the Los Angeles prosecutor’s office before the Simpson trial. His most famous moment in the trial, perhaps, was when he asked O.J. to try on the gloves, a move that backfired spectacularly. Darden has since provided legal commentary for a number of television outlets, co-written four novels (including a New York Times bestseller), and worked as a legal professor.
7. Barry Scheck
Though Scheck became nationally known for the O.J. Simpson trial, his work in DNA evidence has since landed him other high-profile cases, such as British au pair Louise Woodward and the wrongly accused Duke University lacrosse player Reade Seligmann. More importantly, Scheck co-founded the Innocence Project, which has overturned 334 wrongful convictions because of DNA testing, including that of Steven Avery, the subject of the Netflix documentary, Making a Murderer.
8. Mark Fuhrman
Furhman was characterized as something of a villain by the defense in the O.J. Simpson case. He was the detective who found the blood evidence used against Simpson, though the defense accused Furhman of planting the evidence as part of a racially motivated effort to frame Simpson for the murders. He was subsequently convicted of perjury for lying about his use of racist terms. Fuhrman has since written several books, one about the Simpson case and another Murder in Greenwich, in which he presents a theory that Michael Skakel had murdered Martha Moxley. (Skakel was convicted of the murder soon thereafter.) Furhman also now has his own radio show in Spokane, Washington, and provides frequent guest commentary for Sean Hannity on Fox News.
9. Lance Ito
Lance Ito became nationally famous as the judge presiding over the O.J. Simpson case, and though he hasn’t parlayed that fame into subsequent celebrity (he refuses to comment publicly on the Simpson case for ethical reasons), Jay Leno exploited Ito with a recurring “comedy” sketch, The Dancing Itos, which really is best forgotten.
10. Al Cowlings
Though Cowlings played in the NFL for nearly a decade, he’s now best known as the best friend of O.J. Simpson and the driver of the white Ford Bronco during the low-speed police chase where Simpson allegedly held a gun to his head and threatened to kill himself. Eventually, Cowlings drove Simpson to his Brentwood mansion, where O.J. surrendered himself to police in front of 95 million television viewers at home. Cowlings was charged with a felony for aiding a fugitive, but the charges were eventually dropped for lack of evidence. There were also some rumors suggesting that Cowling disposed of the murder weapon, rumors that Cowling continues to deny.
11. Kato Kaelin
At the time of the Simpson trial, Kaelin was a struggling actor attempting to get discovered while living in Simpson’s guest house. He testified in the trial about hearing loud thuds against his wall on the night of the murder. However, he made for a terrible witness because of his inconsistent and rambling testimony. Kaelin also never achieved any real success as an actor, but he has appeared in several reality shows, including Celebrity Boot Camp and in numerous comedy skits playing himself. He appears to have no sense of shame.
