Actor Bernie Casey, who appeared in such films as Boxcar Bertha, Never Say Never Again and Revenge of the Nerds after a career as a standout NFL wide receiver, has died. He was 78.
Casey, who also starred in Cleopatra Jones and several other blaxploitation movies of the 1970s, died Tuesday after a brief illness at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his representative told The Hollywood Reporter.
In the Warner Bros. drama Brothers (1977), Casey distinguished himself by portraying a thinly veiled version of George Jackson, a member of the Black Panther Party who was killed in what officials described as an escape attempt from San Quentin in 1971. His writings had inspired oppressed people around the world, and Bob Dylan recorded a song as a tribute to Jackson in 1971.
Casey also wrote, directed, starred in and produced The Dinner (1997), centering on three black men who discuss slavery, black self-loathing, homophobia, etc. while sitting around the dinner table.
Casey played a heroic former slave and train robber in Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha (1972), was CIA agent Felix Leiter (a recurring character in Bond films) in Never Say Never Again (1983) and portrayed U.N. Jefferson, the president of the Lambda Lambda Lambda fraternity, in Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and two follow-up telefilms.
In Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), Casey played schoolteacher Mr. Ryan ("Who was Joan of Arc?" he asks, and Keanu Reeves' Ted guesses, "Noah's wife?"), portrayed a detective opposite Burt Reynolds in Sharky's Machine (1981) and stood out as the prisoner who protects Eddie Murphy in jail in the sequel Another 48 Hrs. (1990).
And not long after he unexpectedly retired from the Los Angeles Rams, Casey portrayed Chicago Bears player J.C. Caroline in the 1971 ABC telefilm Brian's Song, the heart-wrenching tale about the friendship between Brian Piccolo (James Caan) and Gayle Sayers (Billy Dee Williams).
