Celebrity Biographies
Alex karras
Alex Karras was an American football star who became a well-known face on television around the world with the series “Webster”, where he played the protagonist’s adoptive father. Karras died on October 10, 2012 at his home in Los Angeles, at the age of 77, “after maintaining a heroic fight against kidney disease, heart disease, senile dementia and, for the last two years, cancer. stomach,” according to a statement from his family.
Born on July 15, 1935 in Gary, Indiana, Alexander George Karras was the son of a doctor of Greek origin and a Canadian. He had to face the death of his parent at the age of 13, the same age he was when he learned to play soccer with his brothers, who also became professionals in the sport.
Alex Karras triumphed above all as a defenseman for the Detroit Lions, between 1958 and 1970. He suffered various neuronal injuries from the numerous blows he suffered to the head. When his career languished, he turned professional wresling, American wrestling.
He debuted as an actor playing himself in León de papel (Paper Lion) , where Alan Alda played a real character, George Plimpton , a respected journalist who, to document himself when writing an article, posed as a soccer player and managed to be signed by a team.
The experience was so satisfying that Karras began playing numerous supporting roles, such as the unforgettable Mongo, the brutish of the villain’s hit men in Hot Saddles , James Garner ‘s bodyguard in Victor or Victoria , or the sheriff in Porky’s .
Divorced from Joan Jurgensen in 1958, with whom he had five children, he joined the actress Susan Clark , whom he had met during the filming of the telefilm Babe , and with whom he had another daughter. Karras also starred with Clark in Jimmy B. and Andre , another telefilm, from 1980.
On television he was lavished regularly as he was, for example, a Roman soldier in Masada and an army officer in MASH (the series). But his greatest success came when he was hired by the sitcom Webster to play George Papadopolis, a character cut to size. It was about a former football player of Greek roots, who adopted Webster, an orphaned seven-year-old boy, whose father was a former teammate. For greater similarity with his real life, his wife was played by the aforementioned Susan Clark.
After the end of the series, which was on the air between 1983 and 1989, Alex Karras practically gave up acting, although he occasionally appeared in a title, such as Buffalo ’66 . For a brief period of time he also worked as a soccer coach.