R.I.P. Dick Butkus, NFL star and actor

Dick Butkus has died. One of the most celebrated defensive players in NFL history, Butkus also had a notable career as an actor, appearing in more than 50 projects in the 1970s, ’80s, and beyond. Famous for the absolute brutality of his tackles, Butkus later turned to philanthropy, in addition to his work as an actor, celebrity spokesperson, and sports commentator. Per Variety, he died on Thursday, with his death confirmed by the Chicago Bears, the team he played with for many years. Butkus was 80.

A Chicago native, Butkus was a football star in high school and college well before he ever joined the NFL, setting tackling records in pretty much every league he ever played in. Once dubbed “The Most Feared Man In The Game” by Sports Illustrated, Butkus was notorious for hitting opponent players harder, and more conclusively, than anyone else in the NFL; by the end of his career in 1974, he was credited with more than 1,000 tackles across eight years of professional play, and was notorious for stripping the ball from the players he hit. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall Of Fame in 1979, the first year he was eligible for the honor.

Meanwhile, Butkus had also begun to branch out into more performative arts—including a long and lucrative sideline as a pitchman, making him, among other things, one of the first celebrities to do a commercial in the midst of football and TV ads’ biggest day, the Super Bowl, in 1970. Most notably, he had a long partnership with fellow former NFL star Bubba Smith, with the duo poking fun at their tough-as-nails images with a series of ads for Miller Lite. (A few years later, they’d re-team for the one regular gig of Butkus’ acting career, short-lived helicopter action series Blue Thunder, which also starred an extremely young Dana Carvey.)

As an actor (a career that kicked off with an appearance as himself in 1971's Brian’s Song) Butkus was never the most nuanced performer—but, then, he didn’t really need to be. As a genuine tough guy Chicago type (of the sort worshiped, and embodied, by Saturday Night Live’s “Da Bears” crew, which often invoked him by name), Butkus was already halfway to caricature, while also being possessed of a natural charisma and warmth that helped him maintain a career as a character actor well into the 2010s. Whether on Macgyver, Magnum, P.I., Matlock, or more, you went to Dick Butkus to get “a Dick Butkus type”—and got him. Meanwhile, he also busied himself as a sports commentator, and a philanthropist; the Butkus Foundation continues to disperse funds and prizes for a number of charitable causes to this day.

Butkus reportedly died in his sleep earlier today in Malibu. He is survived by three sons, and Helen, his wife of 60 years.