Karras also had a fine turn as the James Garner's bodyguard in Blake Edwards' Victor/Victoria, who ultimately admits his own homosexuality when he thinks he sees his boss do likewise. But let's face it: for guys my age, who were just a bit too young to have seen Karras play pro football, he is remembered for one word. And that word is Mongo, the character he played in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles. The link takes you to the classic scene of Mongo's attack on Rock Ridge, right up until the sheriff tricks him with a Candygram. Below, I give Karras's most famous character the last word, wishing him goodbye.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Goodbye, Mongo: Alex Karras, 1935-2012
What can I say? Alex Karras was a heckuva football player, and he was one of a generation of ex-jocks to "go Hollywood" and make more money on the screen, small and big, than they did on the field. Karras was one of the luckier ones in that he got to star in a sitcom in the eighties, the popular Webster. He did a lot of TV work before then, appearing on ABC Sports broadcasts, doing game shows, guest-starring on sitcoms, working with George Plimpton, and doing a bit of wrestling, too. (Karras had done some pro wrestling work prior to beginning his football career, and took it up again for one season where he'd been suspended for betting on football games.) And here's a bizarre clip where he gets his chance against a female game show contestant who happens to be a pro wrestler herself. (And yes, Charles Nelson Reilly is very funny at the very end of the clip.)
Karras also had a fine turn as the James Garner's bodyguard in Blake Edwards' Victor/Victoria, who ultimately admits his own homosexuality when he thinks he sees his boss do likewise. But let's face it: for guys my age, who were just a bit too young to have seen Karras play pro football, he is remembered for one word. And that word is Mongo, the character he played in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles. The link takes you to the classic scene of Mongo's attack on Rock Ridge, right up until the sheriff tricks him with a Candygram. Below, I give Karras's most famous character the last word, wishing him goodbye.
Karras also had a fine turn as the James Garner's bodyguard in Blake Edwards' Victor/Victoria, who ultimately admits his own homosexuality when he thinks he sees his boss do likewise. But let's face it: for guys my age, who were just a bit too young to have seen Karras play pro football, he is remembered for one word. And that word is Mongo, the character he played in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles. The link takes you to the classic scene of Mongo's attack on Rock Ridge, right up until the sheriff tricks him with a Candygram. Below, I give Karras's most famous character the last word, wishing him goodbye.
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