Dick Butkus
Birthday: Born in 1942-12-09 in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Deathday: 2023-10-05
Richard Marvin Butkus (December 9, 1942 - October 5, 2023) was an American former professional football player, sports commentator, and actor. He played football as a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1965 to 1973. He was invited to eight Pro Bowls, named a first-team All-Pro six times, and was twice recognized by his peers as the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year. He was renowned as a fierce tackler and for the relentless effort with which he played and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most intimidating linebackers in pro football history.
TV Credits
Growing Pains
Character: Robert
Fatherhood has taken on a whole new meaning for Jason Seaver, who has assumed the chores of cooking, cleaning and minding the kids so that his wife, Maggie, can pursue a career in journalism after spending 15 years as a housewife....
Magnum, P.I.
Character:
A private investigator who works when he wants, lives in a beachfront estate in Hawaii, drives a posh Ferrari, runs up an unlimited tab at a swank bar, and charms attractive women in peril - that's the lifestyle of Thomas Magnum, aka Magnum, P.I....
Night Court
Character: Stanley
An eccentric fun-loving judge presides over an urban night court and all the silliness going on there....
Kate & Allie
Character:
Kate & Allie is an American television situation comedy which ran from March 19, 1984, to May 22, 1989. Kate & Allie first aired on CBS as a midseason replacement series and only six episodes were initially commissioned, but the favorable response from critics and viewers alike easily convinced CBS to commit to a full season in the fall of 1984. The series was created by Sherry Coben....
My Two Dads
Character: Ed Klawicki
Joey and Michael, who fought over the same woman 13 years ago now have, upon her death, been awarded joint custody of her daughter - who might be either of theirs. So how do the men settle their problems? With a paternity test? No way. Instead, they all move in together to raise Nicole as a two-dad nuclear family. Under the watchful eye of the family court judge, dads and daughter adjust to their new situation....
The Bernie Mac Show
Character: Dick Butkus
The Bernie Mac Show is an American sitcom that aired on Fox for five seasons from November 14, 2001 to April 14, 2006. The series featured comic actor Bernie Mac and his wife Wanda raising his sister's three kids: Jordan, Bryana, and Vanessa....
Matlock
Character: Vic Garrett / The Annihilator
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of criminal defense attorney Ben Matlock. The show, produced by The Fred Silverman Company, Dean Hargrove Productions, Viacom Productions and Paramount Television originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC; and from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC. The show's format is similar to that of CBS's Perry Mason, with Matlock identifying the perpetrators and then confronting them in dr...
Simon & Simon
Character:
Simon & Simon is an American detective television series that originally ran from November 24, 1981 to January 21, 1989. The series was broadcast on CBS and starred Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as two brothers who run a private detective agency together....
Early Edition
Character:
Gary Hobson thinks he may even be losing his mind when tomorrow's newspaper mysteriously arrives today giving him a disconcerting look into the future. What will he do with tomorrow's news?...
The Greatest American Hero
Character: Coach Andrews
The chronicles of teacher Ralph Hinkley's adventures after a group of aliens gives him a red suit that gives him superhuman abilities. Unfortunately, Ralph, who hates wearing the suit, immediately loses its instruction booklet, and thus has to learn how to use its powers by trial and error, often with comical results....
Hang Time
Character: Coach Mike Katowinski
Hang Time is an American teen sitcom about a fictional Indiana high school's boys' basketball team "Deering" with one female player, that aired from 1995–2000. It aired on Saturday mornings on NBC as part of the network's TNBC morning block. It was created by Troy Searer, Robert Tarlow, and Mark Fink. The show lasted six seasons, during which the cast was changed almost in its entirety. Only two cast members stayed with the show throughout its entire run, similar to Saved by the Bell: The New Cl...
MacGyver
Character: Earl Dent
He's everyone's favorite action hero... but he's a hero with a difference. Angus MacGyver is a secret agent whose wits are his deadliest weapon. Armed with only a knapsack filled with everyday items he picks up along the way, he improvises his way out of every peril the bad guys throw at him. Making a bomb out of chewing gum? Fixing a speeding car's breaks... while he's riding in it? Using soda pop to cook up tear gas? That's all in a day's adventures for MacGyver. He's part Boy Scout, part gen...
Wonder Woman
Character: Neil
With the strength of Hercules, the wisdom of Athena, the speed of Mercury and the beauty of Aphrodite, she’s Wonder Woman. Beautiful Amazon princess Wonder Woman travels to 1940s America disguised as Diana Prince, assistant to handsome but trouble-prone Major Steve Trevor. Using her golden belt, which imbues her with astonishing strength, her bullet-deflecting bracelets, a golden lasso that dispels dishonesty and an invisible supersonic plane, Wonder Woman combats evil....
Emergency!
Character: Dave 'The Animal'
The crew of Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 51, particularly the paramedic team, and Rampart Hospital respond to emergencies in their operating area....
Vega$
Character:
Vega$ is an American detective television drama series that aired on ABC between 1978 and 1981. It was produced by Aaron Spelling. The series was filmed in its entirety in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is believed to be the first television series produced entirely in Las Vegas. The show stars Robert Urich as private detective Dan Tanna, who drove around the streets of Las Vegas in a red 1957 Ford Thunderbird solving crimes and making Las Vegas a better place for residents and tourists alike....
Police Story
Character:
Police Story is an anthology television crime drama. The show was the brainchild of author and former policeman Joseph Wambaugh and represented a major step forward in the realistic depiction of police work and violence on network TV. Although it was an anthology, there were certain things that all episodes had in common; for instance, the main character in each episode was a police officer. The setting was always Los Angeles and the characters always worked for some branch of the LAPD. Notwith...
Matt Houston
Character: Crusher Kawalski
Matt Houston is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC from 1982 to 1985. Created by Lawrence Gordon, the series was produced by Aaron Spelling....
Blue Thunder
Character: Richard Butowski
Blue Thunder is a 1984 ABC television series based on the movie of the same title featuring the Blue Thunder helicopter. The series uses the converted Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopter and large portions of stock footage from the 1983 film. A ground unit named "Rolling Thunder" backed up the helicopter in the television series. This was a large support van with a desert camouflage off-road vehicle stored inside. The television series cast includes James Farentino, Dana Carvey, and former profess...
Blacke's Magic
Character:
Blacke's Magic is an American crime drama series that aired on NBC from January to May 1986. The series stars Hal Linden as magician Alexander Blacke who, with some help from his con-man father Leonard, solves mysteries that get in the way of his performances. The series aired for a total of thirteen episodes and featured crimes that tested logic against seemingly magical crimes. The stories were not so much whodunits as "how-he-do-its," for Alex Blacke often had to turn detective to solve the m...
Half Nelson
Character: Beau
Rocky Nelson is a former New York cop who is trying to make it as an actor in Hollywood. However, like most actor-wannabes, he is still looking for his big break, and his lack of stature doesn't endear him to the directors. So, he is currently working for Beverly Hills Patrol, a private security agency that caters to the needs of the Hollywood elite and who also try to keep things quiet for their clients. And every now and then Rocky comes across a case which requires him to slip into his old co...
Joe Forrester
Character:
Joe Forrester is an American Crime/Drama TV series, starring Lloyd Bridges....
Bronk
Character:
Bronk is an American television series starring Jack Palance as Detective Lieutenant Alex Bronkov. The series is set in the fictional Ocean City, California. 24 episodes were aired from September 21, 1975 to March 28, 1976 on CBS. The series lasted only one season....
Deal or No Deal
Character: Self - Supporter
A contestant must choose from 26 sealed briefcases containing a marker for various amounts of cash from one penny to $1 million. The player then eliminates the remaining 25 cases one by one. The chosen ones are opened and the amount of money inside revealed. After several cases are opened, the player is tempted by the Banker to accept an offer of cash in exchange for not continuing the game and possibly winning a larger sum of money....
Saturday Night Live
Character: Self - Cameo (uncredited)
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest....
Charlie Grace
Character: Dick Butkus
Charlie Grace is a Los Angeles private eye with a daughter named Jenny, works along with other cops, including his partner, Crawford, to solve different multiple mystery cases....
Taxi
Character: Party Guy
Louie De Palma is a cantankerous, acerbic taxi dispatcher in New York City. He tries to maintain order over a collection of varied and strange characters who drive for him. As he bullies and insults them from the safety of his “cage,” they form a special bond among themselves, becoming friends and supporting each other through the inevitable trials and tribulations of life....
The Six Million Dollar Man
Character: Bobby Laport
Follow the adventures of Steve Austin, cybernetically enhanced astronaut turned secret agent, employed by the OSI, under the command of Oscar Goldman and supervised by the scientist who created his cybernetics, Rudy Wells. Steve uses the superior strength and speed provided by his bionic arm and legs, and the enhanced vision provided by his artificial eye, to fight enemy agents, aliens, mad scientists, and a wide variety of other villains....
The Rockford Files
Character: Dick Butkus
Cranky but likable L.A. PI Jim Rockford pulls no punches (but takes plenty of them). An ex-con sent to the slammer for a crime he didn't commit, Rockford takes on cases others don't want, aided by his tough old man, his lawyer girlfriend and some shady associates from his past....
Burke's Law
Character: Tony Ward
Burke's Law, a revival of the 1960s cop television series of the same name, aired on CBS from 1994 to 1995. The series centers on Amos Burke, a senior Los Angeles police officer and millionaire, and his son, Peter, who is a detective under his command....
The Love Boat
Character: Ernie Jordan
Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins....
McMillan & Wife
Character: Coach
McMillan & Wife is a lighthearted American police procedural that aired on NBC from September 17, 1971 to April 24, 1977. Starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James in the title roles, the series premiered in 90-minute episodes as part of the wheel series NBC Mystery Movie, in rotation with Columbo and McCloud. Initially airing on Wednesday night, the original line-up was shifted to Sundays in the second season, where it aired for the rest of its run. This was the first element to be created spe...
Petrocelli
Character: Bill Eberly
Petrocelli is an American legal drama which ran for two seasons on NBC from September 11, 1974 to March 31, 1976. Tony Petrocelli is an Italian-American Harvard-educated lawyer who gave up the big money and frenetic pace of major-metropolitan life to practice in a sleepy city in the American Southwest. He and wife Maggie live in a trailer in the country while waiting for their new house to be built, and travel around in a beat-up old pickup truck. For a quiet rural area, Petrocelli seems to hav...
The Mike Douglas Show
Character: Self
The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia....
Chicago Sons
Character:
A bachelor pad overlooking Wrigley Field is home to the close-knit but usually bickering Kolchuk brothers....
I Didn't Do It
Character: Himself
Ultra-competitive fraternal twins Lindy and Logan Watson, together with their four best friends, navigate their freshman year of high school. Each episode begins with a comedic "what just happened?" situation as Lindy and Logan each spin their own vivid account of a certain occurrence or predicament. The series utilizes flashback scenes to tell the siblings' unique stories. ...
Coach
Character: Dick Butkus
Hayden Fox, the curmudgeonly coach of Minnesota State University's Screaming Eagles football team, tries to navigate his way through the sports world, fatherhood and family life without dropping the ball....
Murder, She Wrote
Character: Tank Mason
An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases....
Rich Man, Poor Man
Character: Al Funducci
Based on the best-selling 1969 novel by Irwin Shaw, the series follows the divergent career courses of the impoverished German American Jordache brothers....
Fantasy Island
Character: Moose Maloney
A magical island hosted by Mr Roarke and Tattoo where weekly guests learn valuable life lessons in their pursuit of fulfilling their dreams. Not all dreams are fulfilled as expected....
Movie Credits
Brian's Song
Character: Dick Butkus (uncredited)
Based on the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers and the bond established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying....
The Last Boy Scout
Character: Himself
When the girl that detective Joe Hallenback is protecting gets murdered, the boyfriend of the murdered girl attempts to investigate and solve the case. What they discover is that there is deep seated corruption going on between a crooked politician and the owner of a pro football team....
Hamburger: The Motion Picture
Character: Drootin
Russell has been expelled from several schools for lewd, crude and nude conduct. Busterburger University is his last chance at education and satisfying his disappointed parents...
Cry, Onion!
Character: Jeff
Onion Jack has bought a piece of land on which to settle, but the property is still in possession of the orphans of the original owner and is coveted by the local oil baron....
Deadly Games
Character: Joe Adams
A masked maniac with a penchant for a monster-themed board game is playing his own twisted game with the women of a small American town. Each time the dice are rolled, another victim meets a grisly end. Returning home to mourn the death of her murdered sister, Keegan befriends local cop Roger and reclusive cinema projectionist Billy — but soon finds herself in the killer's sights....
Rodney Dangerfield: Exposed!
Character: himself
Rodney Dangerfield's third ABC special....
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Character: Dick Butkus
Young sweethearts Billy and Kate move to the Big Apple, land jobs in a high-tech office park and soon reunite with the friendly and lovable Gizmo. But a series of accidents creates a whole new generation of Gremlins. The situation worsens when the devilish green creatures invade a top-secret laboratory and develop genetically altered powers, making them even harder to destroy!...
Crunch Course
Character: Self
Forty-two, hard-hitting minutes of the NFL's outstanding defenders, past and present, who have elevated the art of punishing ball carriers into a science...
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Character: Brom Bones
A TV adaptation of Washington Irving's classic ghost story. Humor is the drawing card in this version, with Jeff Goldblum a nerdish Ichabod Crane, Dick Butkus an appropriately nasty Brom Bones, and Meg Foster as spirited Katrina van Tassel. Angered that Katrina has grown fond of schoolmaster Crane, Brom Bones determines to scare off the interloper by filling his head with spooky tales of a Headless Horseman. Crane pooh-poohs the legends, until one fateful ride home in the dark of night....
Johnny Dangerously
Character: Arthur
An honest, goodhearted man is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills....
Superdome
Character: Scott Hennerson
It's the biggest event of the year — the Super Bowl! But the star players for the Cougars, gathered in New Orleans for the big game, are preoccupied with some serious off-the-field issues. Dave Walecki's marriage to his wife Nancy is falling apart, while Jim McCauley is involved in a shady deal with a management firm that could destroy his career. But that's nothing compared to the real drama. There's an assassin killing off many of the team's personnel (as well as their chances of winning)!...
Crash Course
Character: Ed Konner
Some students taking driver's ed during the summer. Among the students is Riko, a cocky guy; Chad, a guy from a privileged background, who's terrified to get behind the wheel; Vanessa, who's over protective mom who wouldn't allow her to take the course, who went behind her back; and Maria, a spoiled foreign student. Now the principal wants the students to pass so he tells the instructor, who's still not over his wife leaving and is not exactly up to the task, that it's important for the students...
The Stepford Children
Character: Tom Wilcox
Steven and Laura Harding, along with their kids David and Mary, have moved to the quiet community of Stepford. Steven joins the men's club, which is still assimilating their wives into robots. This time, they have begun to turn their out of control teens into robots as well. Once they are assimilated, they are obedient, homework loving, big band dancing droids. Laura, David, and Mary stumble onto this mystery, and they must avoid Steven's plans to turn them into robots....
Spontaneous Combustion
Character: Lt. General
A young man finds out that his parents had been used in an atomic-weapons experiment shortly before he was born, and that the results have had some unexpected effects on him....
Gus
Character: Rob Cargil
The California Atoms are in last place with no hope of moving up. But by switching the mule from team mascot to team member, (He can kick 100 yard field goals!) they start winning, and move up in the rankings, Hurrah! The competition isn't so happy....
Mother, Jugs & Speed
Character: Rodeo
To beat out competing ambulance services, an ace driver, an office secretary/paramedic and a suspended cop resort to some outrageous behavior to help people in distress. They're a crew whose condition is even more critical than their clients!...
Any Given Sunday
Character: Opposing Coach - Game 3
A star quarterback gets knocked out of the game and an unknown third stringer is called in to replace him. The unknown gives a stunning performance and forces the ageing coach to reevaluate his game plans and life. A new co-owner/president adds to the pressure of winning. The new owner must prove herself in a male dominated world....
Smorgasbord
Character: Anti-Smoking Enforcer
Warren Nefron is a hopeless klutz who has some of the worst luck in the world: when he tries to end it all with a foolproof suicide plan, he still manages to mess it up. In desperation, he goes to a psychiatrist to see if there is some way for him to end his troubles....
Memorial Stadium: True Illini Spirit
Character: Self
Documentary traces the history of Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Covers the earliest days of football at the university, to early concepts for a stadium, World War I, honoring the true Fighting Illini and the first games at the arena built in the early 1920's. Historical film and photographs are mixed with interviews from noted Illinois football players, architects, historians, contractors, veterans and their families, college marching band directors, newspap...
WrestleMania II
Character: Referee
Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper in a Boxing match Battle Royal featuring superstars and athletes from the WWF and NFL Hulk Hogan (c) vs. King Kong Bundy in a Steel Cage match for the WWF Championship...
Necessary Roughness
Character: Convict Football Player
When the Texas State University Fightin' Armadillos football team is disqualified for cheating and poor grades, the University is forced to pick from a team that actually goes to school. Will they even win a single game?...
A Matter of Wife... and Death
Character: Heavy
A private investigator is confronted by the police AND the mob about the killing of a former private-eye associate....
Teddy Bears' Picnic
Character: Dick Butkus
In Harry Shearer's tongue-in-cheek comedy, a waiter at Zanbesu Glen (a chi-chi Northern California resort) uses his movie camera to spy on the annual communal vacation of a group of rich, white U.S. government and business leaders who drink and carouse to excess while plotting their next move on the global stage. His goal? To sell the embarrassing and incriminating footage to the media and expose the "leaders" for what they really are....