Joan jurgensen alex karras biography

American football player, sportscaster and actor (–)

American football player

Alexander George Karras (July 15, &#;&#; October 10, ) was an American professional football player, professional wrestler, sportscaster, and actor. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection playing defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), where he played from to He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Centennial class.

As an actor, Karras played Mongo in the comedy film Blazing Saddles. He starred as George Papadopolis, the adoptive father of Webster Long (Emmanuel Lewis), in the ABCsitcomWebster (–) alongside his wife Susan Clark. Karras also had a prominent role in Victor/Victoria, starring Julie Andrews and James Garner.

Early life

Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, Karras was the son of Dr. George Karras, a Greek immigrant (from Chios) who graduated from the University of Chicago and pursued his medical degree in Canada. There, George Karras met and married a Canadian woman, Alex's mother, Emmeline (née Wilson), a registered nurse. George Karras opened a medical practice in Gary, but he died when Alex was thirteen years old. By that time, Alex Karras had learned to play football in a parking lot near his home, with and against his athletically inclined brothers, and he blossomed into a four-time Indiana all-state selection at Gary's Emerson High School. Karras also excelled in numerous other sports in hi

Alex Karras, who has died of kidney failure at the age of 77, followed one successful career, in professional football, with another, in films and television, notably play-punching a horse in one of the signature madcap scenes of Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles.

He had been part of the mass concussion lawsuit more than 3, former players filed against the National Football League. Though he portrayed his share of heavies, Karras, a lb defensive lineman with the Detroit Lions, also pulled off comedy roles in films including Victor/Victoria () and, from to , as an adoptive father in the television series Webster."

"Before I was a football player, I wanted to be an actor," he recalled. "My dad was an actor, and I used to sit in the theatre in the front row and fantasise about being an actor." After his father's death when he was a boy, he said, "my whole family had to change what their intentions were." His became football, the sport his older brothers had pushed him into. "I went through that thinking, knowing, that eventually I would go back to what I really wanted to do."

Karras was born in , in Gary, Indiana, the fourth of six children of a doctor. As a defensive lineman at the University of Iowa he was part of a team that won the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day , beating Oregon State. The Lions selected him as the 10th overall pick of the draft – he began his NFL career after a few months as a professional wrestler.

Karras played 12 seasons with the Lions from to , missing the season after he was suspended along with Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers for betting on other teams' games (Karras returned to wrestling during his ban). The Lions website called him "one of the fiercest members" of the Lions' s defensive unit who "used his stocky build to bullrush offensive lines." After retirement he provided colour commentary on ABC's Monday Night Football for three seasons, from until

Karras

Alexander George "Alex" Karras (July 15, &#; October 10, ) was an American football player, wrestler, movie, television, stage, voice actor, and writer who is known for his role as George Papadapolis in the television series Webster.

Karras was born on July 15, in Gary, Indiana. He studied at the University of Chicago. Karras was married to Joan Jurgensen from until they divorced in Then he was married to Susan Clark from until his death in With Jurgensen, he has five children. Then with Clark he has one child. Karras died on October 10, in Los Angeles, California from kidney failure, aged

References

Other websites

Full name, Alexander G. Karras; born July 15, , in Gary, IN; son of Lou (a physician) and Emmiline (a registered nurse; maiden name, Wilson) Karras; married Joan Jurgensen, (divorced, ); married Susan Clark (an actress); children: five. Addresses: AGENT--c/o William Morris Agency, ElCamino Drive, Beverly Hills, CA

As a football player with Iowa State University, Alex Karras was picked for the All-American team and received the Outland Trophy, both in ; later, inhis years with the Detroit Lions, Karras was selected all-pro defensive tackle in , , and , and was named to the National Football League's Pro Bowl team in , , , and

Nationality

American

Gender

Male

Birth Details

July 15,

Gary, Indiana, United States

Famous Works

• Credits
• FILM DEBUT--As himself, Paper Lion, United Artists,
• Credits; PRINCIPAL APPEARANCES
• Mongo, Blazing Saddles, Warner Brothers,
• Doc Holliday, FM (also known as Citizen's Band), Universal,
• the Hooded Fang, Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, Cinema Shares International,
• Tiny Baker, When Time Ran Out, Warner Brothers,
• Swaboda, Nobody's Perfekt, Columbia,
• Sheriff Wallace, Porky's, Twentieth Century-Fox,
• Squash, Victor/Victoria, Metro-Mayer-Goldwyn/United Artists,
• Hank Sully, Against All Odds, Columbia,
• Also appeared in Win, Place, or Steal (also known as Three for the Moneyand Just Another Day at the Races), Cinema National, ; and The Great Lester Boggs,
• Credits; PRINCIPAL TELEVISION APPEARANCES; SERIES
• Commentator and pregame host, Monday Night Football, ABC,
• George Papadapolis, Webster, ABC,
• Also host, Monday Night Football Preview, WLS-TV, Chicago.
• MINI-SERIES Hans Brumbaugh, Centennial, NBC,
• Credits; PILOTS
• Mr. Hollenbeck, Mulligan's Stew, NBC,
• Credits; EPISODIC
• Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell, ABC.
• The Tonight Show, NBC.
• Credits; MOVIES
• Booker Llewellyn, Hardcase, ABC,
• Hughie Rae Feather, The Pound Jerk, CBS,
• George Zaharias, Babe, CBS,