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Ben Davidson

At 6 feet 8 inches, Ben Davidson had the kind of physical presence the camera could understand immediately. Born in Los Angeles on June 14, 1940, he became known first as a formidable professional football player and later as an actor whose size, handlebar mustache and cultivated villain persona made him a natural fit for tough, imposing characters. Davidson did not play football at Woodrow Wilson High School, preferring basketball and track. He entered the sport at East Los Angeles College after being noticed by the football coach, then joined the University of Washington in 1959 and played on consecutive Rose Bowl-winning teams. His professional career took him through the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins before he found his defining team with the Oakland Raiders. Playing for Oakland from 1964 through 1972, Davidson thrived as a pass rusher and became an AFL All-Star in 1966, 1967 and 1968. He was part of the Raiders team that won the 1967 AFL championship and played in Super Bowl II. His aggressive style also made him one of football’s most controversial figures, a reputation he embraced rather than softened. That established persona carried readily into acting. Davidson appeared in films including The Black Six, M*A*S*H and Conan the Barbarian. He played Porter the Bouncer in Behind the Green Door and later appeared as a convict football player in Necessary Roughness. His television work included Ball Four, Banacek, Happy Days, CHiPs, the pilot for Lucan and the TV movie Goldie and the Bears. He also played himself in Miller Lite advertisements alongside John Madden and Rodney Dangerfield. Davidson’s acting career was not about disappearing into delicate transformations. It drew on what audiences already recognized: unusual height, a hardened look and the sense that he could alter the mood of a scene simply by walking into it. Across sports, movies and television, he turned a carefully maintained public persona into a compact but distinctive screen career.