There are many professional athletes who have made the leap to the big screen. This Sunday we are going to talk about one of them, a star of the American football who took advantage of his imposing physicist to participate, among others, in a mythical film: Conan the barbarian.
On June 14, 1940 he was born in Los AngelesBenjamin Earl Davidson. Due to his height (2.03 meters in adulthood), he did not practice American football in the institute, but basketball. But a coach noticed him and convinced him to play football.
He entered the University of Washington in Seattle, where he led the Huskies to win four Rose Bowls in a row. Was drafteadoIn 1961 by the New York Giants, who transferred him to the Green Bay Packers Before the season began. Actually, it was a lucky movement, because the Packers won the champions ring, the only title of their career. In 1962 he was transferred to the Washington Redskins, where he played two seasons, after which he was sent to the Oakland Raiders of his native California, which were then in another competition, the AFL.
With this team he won an AFL title and was three times chosen for the All Star of this competition, which in 1970 merged with the NFL, retaining this last name. During his career, Davidson won a well -deserved reputation for hard and dirty playerthat he himself did not disregard and accentuated with features like his impressive mustacho. In 1971 he left professional football.
Three years after retiring, in 1974, Davidson signed with the Portland Storm of the newly created World Football League. A knee injury At the end of the season he ended his season and his career as a player.
Born in the cradle of cinema, and with a very cinematographic physicist thanks to his height and mustache, Davidson began to make his first steps in the cinema. Participated in several films and series, being the most prominent the aforementioned Conan the barbarian1982 and shot in Spain.
In the film, Davidson interpreta a Rexor, One of the two minions of the main villain, Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones). The other Secuaz, Thorgrim, was played by Danish bodybuilders Sven-Ole Thorsen, intimate friend of the film’s protagonist, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his first great role of Hollywood.
Married and with three daughters, Ben Davidson settled in San Diego. He was diagnosed with Prostate cancer and died on July 2, 2012. He was 72 years old.
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