Fred Williamson - Biography

Last Editor: thedrew				Fred Williamson Biography -   Name : Fred Williamson Profession : Actor, Director, Producer, Writer Date of birth : 5 March 1938 Place of birth : Gary, Indiana, USA Nickname : Hammer Height : 6' 3"

Fred Williamson Trivia -

Played football at Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois). High School - Froebel High School, Gary, IN College - Northwestern University, Evanston, IL He is a trained Architect Did a season of Monday Night Football w/Howard Cosell Appeared (mostly) nude in October 73 issue of Playgirl Magazine. Graduated from high school in 1955. 1959 Northwestern University graduate Got the nickname Hammer while playing football he was known to hit hard. "Put the hammer on you". Has black belts in the following martial arts: Kenpo, Shotokan Karate, and Tae-Kwon-Do. Was one of the judges in the Miss Universe pageant in 1976.

Fred Williamson Detailed Biography -

Fred "The Hammer" Williamson (born March 5, 1938 in Gary, Indiana) was a professional football player, a star defensive back in the AFL during the 1960s. After playing college football for Northwestern in the late 1950s, he played a year for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL in 1960. He then switched to the new AFL, playing four seasons for the Oakland Raiders and three seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs. He played in Super Bowl I, but was knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter, his head meeting the knee of Donny Anderson. Following his retirement from football, Williamson had a career as an actor, much in the mold of star running back Jim Brown. Before Jim Brown did it in 1974, Fred posed nude for "Playgirl" magazine in the October 1973 issue. One of Williamson's early television roles was a part in The Cloud Minders, an 1968 episode of the Star Trek, playing Anka. He also played Diahann Carroll's love interest in the sitcom Julia Two of his early film roles were in well-received films of 1970, M*A*S*H and Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon. He also got to play, in 1973, an African-American mafioso in Black Caesar and its subsequent sequel. After this he appeared as an actor and worked as a director in several films, most of which are considered to be of the "blaxploitation" genre. In 1974 he was selected by the ABC television network as a commentator on Monday Night Football to replace Don Meredith, who had left (temporarily, as it turned out) to pursue an acting and broadcasting career at rival network NBC. Williamson was used on a few pre-season broadcasts, but was deemed unsuitable. He was relieved of his duties at the beginning of the regular season, becoming the first MNF personality not to endure for an entire season. He was replaced by fellow former player (and fellow Gary native) Alex Karras. Since then, Williamson has continued his career as an actor and director, recently appearing in the feature film version of the 1970s television series Starsky and Hutch.