Dick Butkus, the ferocious Chicago Bears middle linebacker who brought his reputation as an NFL barbarian to Hollywood for Miller Lite commercials, sitcoms and films, has died. He was 80.
A member of the Screen Actors Guild for more than four decades, Butkus died peacefully in his sleep overnight at his home in Malibu, his family announced Thursday.
From 1987-89, Butkus had a recurring role as cafe owner Ed Klawicki on My Two Dads, an NBC sitcom about two single men (Paul Reiser, Greg Evigan) raising a teenage daughter (Staci Keanan).
Butkus joined the NBC Saturday morning series Hang Time in 1998 as old-school Deering High Tornados basketball coach Mike Katowinski, taking over for former NBA star Reggie Theus, and he worked on that show for its final three seasons.
Earlier, Butkus was a regular on two short-lived, light-hearted network dramas: ABC’s Blue Thunder, which featured Dana Carvey and a gadget-filled helicopter,...
A member of the Screen Actors Guild for more than four decades, Butkus died peacefully in his sleep overnight at his home in Malibu, his family announced Thursday.
From 1987-89, Butkus had a recurring role as cafe owner Ed Klawicki on My Two Dads, an NBC sitcom about two single men (Paul Reiser, Greg Evigan) raising a teenage daughter (Staci Keanan).
Butkus joined the NBC Saturday morning series Hang Time in 1998 as old-school Deering High Tornados basketball coach Mike Katowinski, taking over for former NBA star Reggie Theus, and he worked on that show for its final three seasons.
Earlier, Butkus was a regular on two short-lived, light-hearted network dramas: ABC’s Blue Thunder, which featured Dana Carvey and a gadget-filled helicopter,...
- 10/5/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Dick Butkus, one of the most celebrated linebackers in NFL history who played eight seasons for the Chicago Bears before turning to a career as an actor and sports commentator, died Thursday in Malibu. He was 80 years old.
The Butkus family released a statement through the Chicago Bears organization, confirming his death.
“The Butkus family confirms that football and entertainment legend Dick Butkus died peacefully in his sleep overnight at home in Malibu, California. The Butkus family is gathering with Dick’s wife Helen. They appreciate your prayers and support,” the statement reads.
A Chicago native, Butkus was drafted by his hometown team in 1965 after a breakthrough college football career that saw him lead the University of Illinois to a Rose Bowl victory in 1963. During his time with the Bears, Butkus twice won defensive player of the year, appeared in eight Pro Bowls and was named to first-team All-Pro five times.
The Butkus family released a statement through the Chicago Bears organization, confirming his death.
“The Butkus family confirms that football and entertainment legend Dick Butkus died peacefully in his sleep overnight at home in Malibu, California. The Butkus family is gathering with Dick’s wife Helen. They appreciate your prayers and support,” the statement reads.
A Chicago native, Butkus was drafted by his hometown team in 1965 after a breakthrough college football career that saw him lead the University of Illinois to a Rose Bowl victory in 1963. During his time with the Bears, Butkus twice won defensive player of the year, appeared in eight Pro Bowls and was named to first-team All-Pro five times.
- 10/5/2023
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
NFL Network‘s Rich Eisen knows he’s carrying on a great NFL Films legacy as narrator of NFL Icons. Under the leadership of filmmaker Steve Sabol and with the power of John Facenda‘s baritone voice, NFL Films documentaries enraptured generations of football fans. “When I get the scripts sent to me from NFL Films, I hear Steve Sabol’s voice in my head,” Eisen says. “I do hear Facenda’s voice in my head, because the scripts are written in the same way. The story that I’ve heard many times from folks who’ve worked at NFL Films is John Facenda, when he got a script and a line in a script that he liked, he said, ‘Now that’s a horse I can ride.’ The number of horses I’ve been able to ride because of NFL Icons, I’ve lost track.” Currently in its second season,...
- 10/14/2022
- TV Insider
The NFL is canceling its annual Hall of Fame Game, which this year was to feature the Dallas Cowboys against the Pittsburgh Steelers on August 6 on NBC. The traditionally preseason opener in Canton, Ohio, the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, is played ahead of the hall’s induction ceremony, which has now been postponed.
Both events were scrubbed because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report on the league’s website. The NFL is still planning a full season that would start September 10; both the Cowboys and Steelers would have started training camps early due to the game but now are expected to convene with the rest of the teams at the end of July.
The league has been adamant that its 2020 season would begin on time. It held its draft virtually earlier this year. It’s unclear whether today’s decision could impact the currently planned four-week preseason.
Both events were scrubbed because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report on the league’s website. The NFL is still planning a full season that would start September 10; both the Cowboys and Steelers would have started training camps early due to the game but now are expected to convene with the rest of the teams at the end of July.
The league has been adamant that its 2020 season would begin on time. It held its draft virtually earlier this year. It’s unclear whether today’s decision could impact the currently planned four-week preseason.
- 6/25/2020
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Judging from the massive television audiences that tune in for college and NFL football, you might think that football movies would be an easy sell at the American box office. They’re not — and making matters worse, fans who pay to see football in the theater often have to settle for fictional teams, like the Miami Sharks and the North Dallas Bulls, because the NFL doesn’t often play ball with Hollywood.
So give Draft Day credit. It not only got league permission — with sports all-star Kevin Costner playing the embattled general-manager of the downtrodden Cleveland Browns — but the NFL endorsed the film wholeheartedly,...
So give Draft Day credit. It not only got league permission — with sports all-star Kevin Costner playing the embattled general-manager of the downtrodden Cleveland Browns — but the NFL endorsed the film wholeheartedly,...
- 4/12/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
The National Film Registry has added 25 more films that will be preserved in the Library of Congress. To be included in the registry the film needs to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” They have to be at least ten years old and are chosen from a list of films nominated by the public.
There's some great films that have been added this year. We've got the original 3:10 to Yuma, The Matrix, A Christmas Story, A League of Their Own, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dirty Harry, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and several more.
Check out the full list of films that were added this year below, and you can head over to the Registry website to nominate films that you think should be added in 2013!
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Considered to be one of the best westerns of the 1950s, “3:10 to Yuma” has gained in stature since its original release as...
There's some great films that have been added this year. We've got the original 3:10 to Yuma, The Matrix, A Christmas Story, A League of Their Own, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dirty Harry, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and several more.
Check out the full list of films that were added this year below, and you can head over to the Registry website to nominate films that you think should be added in 2013!
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Considered to be one of the best westerns of the 1950s, “3:10 to Yuma” has gained in stature since its original release as...
- 12/20/2012
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Steve Sabol, who helped change the perception of the National Football League, and revolutionized the sports highlight package along the way, died today of brain cancer at the age of 69. Sabol’s father Ed founded NFL films in 1962, and hired his son—a film school student at the time—to be his cinematographer, shooting games around the league. Steve Sabol eventually became NFL Film’s president and chief creative force, crafting short documentaries that had a look and a tone more like popular art than mere sports reporting. In the ‘60s and ‘70s heyday of NFL Films, when ...
- 9/19/2012
- avclub.com
Steve Sabol, who died Tuesday of brain cancer at age 69, wasn't the founder of NFL Films, but he was its heart and soul. Here's a look at some of the ways Sabol helped his father, Ed Sabol, turn a $240,000 deal into a force that changed TV sports, the movies—and especially Sundays: 1. The Mythology: The 1965 deal struck between the league and the Sabols, who committed to documenting every NFL game of every NFL team, helped transform a game into a religion, and highlight reels into drama, complete with tantalizing slow motion and, in the early years, "the voice of God," narrator John Facenda. The touch of the younger Sabol, who was a film buff as much as a football fan, was evident....
- 9/18/2012
- E! Online
Steve Sabol, half of the father-son team credited with revolutionizing sports broadcasting and president of NFL Films, passed away Tuesday (Sept. 18) after a battle with brain cancer at the age of 69 in Moorestown, N.J., reports the AP.
Sabol was diagnosed with a brain tumor after suffering from a seizure in March 2011. His father Ed Sabol founded NFL Films in 1964 and Steve worked with him as a cinematographer from the very beginning. The two are pictured together above in 2004.
Before his father was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Steve told the AP, "We see the game as art as much as sport. That helped us nurture not only the game's traditions but to develop its mythology: America's Team, The Catch, The Frozen Tundra."
Over the course of his career, Steve Sabol earned 35 Emmys for writing, cinematography, editing, directing and producing.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says in a statement,...
Sabol was diagnosed with a brain tumor after suffering from a seizure in March 2011. His father Ed Sabol founded NFL Films in 1964 and Steve worked with him as a cinematographer from the very beginning. The two are pictured together above in 2004.
Before his father was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Steve told the AP, "We see the game as art as much as sport. That helped us nurture not only the game's traditions but to develop its mythology: America's Team, The Catch, The Frozen Tundra."
Over the course of his career, Steve Sabol earned 35 Emmys for writing, cinematography, editing, directing and producing.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says in a statement,...
- 9/18/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Steve Sabol: NFL Films producer dead at 69 Steve Sabol, an NFL Films multitasker who helped to increase the popularity of pro-football TV viewership in the United States, died earlier today in Moorestown, N.J. Sabol, who had been suffering from brain cancer, was 69. Founded by Ed Sabol (Steve’s father) in 1962, NFL Films added cinematic tricks — e.g., slow motion, an orchestral score — to the televised depiction of American football. According to the New York Times, NFL won 107 sports Emmy Awards, including two this year, "Steve Sabol was cited by name on more than a third." NFL Films: Sam Peckinpah / [...]...
- 9/18/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films, died Tuesday after an 18-month battle with brain cancer. He was 69. Regarded by NFL fans, players, commentators and executives as a football innovator, Sabol took the reins of the league's official production company in 1985 from his father, Ed Sabol, who founded the venture. Also: Brian Dawkins Joining Espn as NFL Analyst Under Sabol's guidance, NFL Films was the first production company to wire players and coaches for sound and use ground-level, slow-motion montage editing in sports. During his three-decade rule at NFL Films, Sabol won more than...
- 9/18/2012
- by Danielle Paquette
- The Wrap
Steve Sabol, who ran NFL Films for more than 25 years after the Emmy-winning production company was created by his father, died Tuesday after a long battle with brain cancer. He was 69. Sobol was originally a cameraman for the company, which pioneered the use of wiring players and coaches for sound, helping give fans inside perspective on the sport and its stars. NFL Films also pioneered now-standard sports-film effects like ground-level slow motion and montages; its popularity made it a key player in helping elevate football past baseball to become America’s favorite TV sport. Much of that push was attributable to Sabol, who took over as president in 1985, winning more than 40 Emmys and overseeing 107 Emmys for the company. Sabol enshrined his father Ed into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year, just learning he had an inoperable brain tumor, according to NFL.com.
- 9/18/2012
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Steve Sabol, who revolutionized the way sports are covered in America as the president of NFL Films, died on Tuesday from brain cancer, according to NFL.com. He was 69.
In the early ’60s, Sabol joined his father Ed Sabol in creating a new style of looking at the sport of football — it was intimate, passionate, and brought fans used to watching from the stands, or their living-room La-z-Boys, closer to the field than they had ever been. It was one thing to watch a game on TV on Sunday, it was quite another to relive it the following week thanks to the Sabols,...
In the early ’60s, Sabol joined his father Ed Sabol in creating a new style of looking at the sport of football — it was intimate, passionate, and brought fans used to watching from the stands, or their living-room La-z-Boys, closer to the field than they had ever been. It was one thing to watch a game on TV on Sunday, it was quite another to relive it the following week thanks to the Sabols,...
- 9/18/2012
- by Chris Nashawaty
- EW - Inside TV
Steve Sabol, the president of NFL Films and the son of its founder, died Tuesday of brain cancer, the league announced today. He was a few weeks shy of his 70th birthday. Sabol took over the mantle of NFL Films from his father Ed Sabol, who founded the company in 1962 after filming his son's high school football games. Steve learned in March 2011 that he had a brain tumor that couldn’t be removed after being hospitalized for a seizure. Ed Sabol celebrated his 96th birthday on Sept. 11. Generations of NFL fans learned...
- 9/18/2012
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Steve Sabol -- one of the founding members of "NFL Films" -- passed away this morning after battling brain cancer. He was 69. Steve had suffered a seizure in March 2011. Doctors discovered an unremovable tumor in his brain ... and he had been receiving treatment ever since. Sabol co-founded NFL Films in the '60s with his father, Ed Sabol ... and together they revolutionized the way football fans watched the game ... with slow dramatic montages, compelling music...
- 9/18/2012
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Tony Romo. Jessica Simpson. Pacman Jones. Terrell Owens. Jerry Jones.
They could be the cast of the next "Surreal Life." Instead, they'll be stars of HBO's latest "Hard Knocks," which returns Wednesday night.
The inside-football training camp show seems to have called an audible, going Hollywood with the characters from "America's Team." But Ross Greenburg is trying hard to sack that notion.
"I'm telling you, we are going to attack this '...
They could be the cast of the next "Surreal Life." Instead, they'll be stars of HBO's latest "Hard Knocks," which returns Wednesday night.
The inside-football training camp show seems to have called an audible, going Hollywood with the characters from "America's Team." But Ross Greenburg is trying hard to sack that notion.
"I'm telling you, we are going to attack this '...
- 8/4/2008
- by By MIKE BATTAGLINO
- NYPost.com
New York -- James Brown, Phil Simms and Cris Collinsworth will host the renowned "Inside the NFL" when the show returns to the air on Showtime in early September.
"Inside the NFL" is the longest-running series on cable, having gone 31 years on HBO before the network canceled it this year. Showtime and CBS Sports said a month ago that it had revived the series, which is produced by NFL Films and CBS Sports. It'll air Wednesdays throughout the season on Showtime, produced by the NFL Films' Steve Sabol and CBS Sports' Sean McManus.
And it's CBS Sports that will supply two of the three hosts of the program. Brown is the host of "The NFL Today" and an Emmy winner three times, including this year's Sports Emmy. Simms has been lead analyst for the CBS coverage of the NFL since 1998. Collinsworth is an eight-time Emmy winner, including seven times as outstanding sports studio analyst. He has worked for NBC and Fox Sports before returning to NBC Sports as studio analyst for "Sunday Night Football" and game analyst for the NFL Network's "Thursday Night Football."
Collinsworth started his broadcasting career as a reporter for "Inside the NFL" in 1989 and had been co-host on HBO from 1990 to 2007. "We're just going to have some fun," Collinsworth told reporters in a conference call Monday. "That's what the 'Inside the NFL' show has always been about."...
"Inside the NFL" is the longest-running series on cable, having gone 31 years on HBO before the network canceled it this year. Showtime and CBS Sports said a month ago that it had revived the series, which is produced by NFL Films and CBS Sports. It'll air Wednesdays throughout the season on Showtime, produced by the NFL Films' Steve Sabol and CBS Sports' Sean McManus.
And it's CBS Sports that will supply two of the three hosts of the program. Brown is the host of "The NFL Today" and an Emmy winner three times, including this year's Sports Emmy. Simms has been lead analyst for the CBS coverage of the NFL since 1998. Collinsworth is an eight-time Emmy winner, including seven times as outstanding sports studio analyst. He has worked for NBC and Fox Sports before returning to NBC Sports as studio analyst for "Sunday Night Football" and game analyst for the NFL Network's "Thursday Night Football."
Collinsworth started his broadcasting career as a reporter for "Inside the NFL" in 1989 and had been co-host on HBO from 1990 to 2007. "We're just going to have some fun," Collinsworth told reporters in a conference call Monday. "That's what the 'Inside the NFL' show has always been about."...
- 7/7/2008
- by By Paul J. Gough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Ion reached a deal with NFL Films to put the documentary unit's "NFL Game of the Week" on the network beginning Saturday.
"NFL Game of the Week" is NFL Films' one-hour deep dive into a selected game with film that is specially shot for the telecast, including new angles and microphones that catch the action on the field.
Ion's first telecast is the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game that aired Sunday night. "NFL Game of the Week" is narrated by NFL Films president Steve Sabol. The show has been on the air in syndication since 1965.
It's one of two programs announced Monday between NFL Films and Ion. "Stories of the NFL", an original series, will take an hourlong look at some NFL players. The 20 episodes will appear on Ion starting in February.
"NFL Game of the Week" is NFL Films' one-hour deep dive into a selected game with film that is specially shot for the telecast, including new angles and microphones that catch the action on the field.
Ion's first telecast is the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game that aired Sunday night. "NFL Game of the Week" is narrated by NFL Films president Steve Sabol. The show has been on the air in syndication since 1965.
It's one of two programs announced Monday between NFL Films and Ion. "Stories of the NFL", an original series, will take an hourlong look at some NFL players. The 20 episodes will appear on Ion starting in February.
- 9/11/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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