The death of Jim Brown, one of the Dirty Dozen and Blaxploitation figure

He was considered Hollywood’s first major African-American action star. The legend of the American football fields of the NFL, who then became an actor in several Blaxploitation films and important works such as The Twelve Bastards, Mars Attacks, The Hell of Sunday or He Got Game, Jim Brown died on May 18 in Los. Angeles. He was 87 years old.

James “Jim” Nathaniel Brown was born to a professional boxer father and a homemaker mother. During his childhood and adolescence, he played several sports before turning his attention to American football, which he played in college.

A great player, with his exceptional speed among other things, he turned pro and played for the Cleveland Browns. He went on to win numerous titles, including the league’s MVP in 1957, 1958 and 1965, and is considered one of the greatest players of all time, as this NFL tribute on Twitter reminds us.

After giving up sports, Jim Brown The course was changed and dedicated to cinema. One of his first appearances was in a cult film dirty dozen, in which twelve criminals are offered a suicide mission during World War II in exchange for amnesty. In this action film with a four-star cast, he plays Robert T. Jefferson, the only African American in the group.

Based on this success, Jim Brown Continues in the 1960s with Le Crime, c’est notre business, Le Dernier train du Katanga, Destination Zebra, The Polar Station and Les 100 fusils. In the 1970s, his popularity increased when he appeared in several films related to Blaxploitation, such as Massacre, Black Gunn or Les Démolisseurs.

During this decade, the imposing actor also played a robber trying to break out of prison to get his hands on his loot in a penitentiary. Money in the West La Chevauchée scary as well as annoying pimp with Harvey Keitel Mélodie pour un tueur.

since the 1980s, Jim Brown Played a killer in the thriller Running Man, directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and appeared in several films that looked at the action side and the police (Killing American Style, Pour la mort d’un cop, Twisted Justice).

In the 1990s, the actor was much rarer on screen, despite his former boxing roles in sci-fi comedies. Mars attacks And former American football greats Sunday hell. He also doubles as Spike Lee in two small roles He got the game (1998) and She Hate Me (2004). At the same time, the actor is a commentator (from 1993 to 1996) on the Ultimate Fighting Championships.

more and more removed from the drawers, Jim Brown It’s in the 2000s on an unknown poster an animal, DreamStreet and Draft Day, a film starring Kevin Costner as the manager of the Buffalo Bills football club. Brown plays his own part in it. This is his last film.