Mike Henry (American football)
| Mike Henry | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Dennis Henry August 15, 1936 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| No. 68, 37, 53 | |
| Linebacker | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth: August 15, 1936 | |
| Place of birth: Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| Career information | |
| College: Southern California | |
| NFL Draft: 1958 / Round: 9 / Pick: 100 | |
| Debuted in 1959 | |
| Last played in 1964 | |
| Career history | |
|
|
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
| Games played | 76 |
| Interceptions | 9 |
| Fumble recoveries | 6 |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
Michael Dennis "Mike" Henry (born August 15, 1936 in Los Angeles, California) is a former American football linebacker and actor.
Henry's football career as a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1958–1961) and the Los Angeles Rams (1962–1964) led him to be noticed by Warner Bros.
His most prominent role was as Tarzan in three 1960s movies, Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966), Tarzan and the Great River (1967), and Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968), that were all filmed back-to-back in 1965. Henry turned down the lead of the subsequent Tarzan television series, which then went to actor Ron Ely. After leaving the Tarzan series Henry was one of many actors to be under consideration for the title role in the Batman TV series, which was originally to have been done as a straight crime-adventure series before producer William Dozier decided on a more satirical campy format. (The role of Batman ultimately went to Adam West). Henry is also best known to movie audiences for playing Jackie Gleason's dim-witted son "Junior" in the Smokey and the Bandit films opposite Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, after portraying a corrupt prison guard (opposite Reynolds) in The Longest Yard. Henry also portrayed "Sergeant Kowalski" in The Green Berets, corrupt sheriff "Blue Tom" Hendricks in Rio Lobo, and "Lt. Col. Donald Penobscot" in an episode of the television series M*A*S*H. His last acting roles were on the TV shows Gilmore Girls and Scrubs in the mid 2000s, after which he contracted Parkinson's disease and retired from acting.
[edit] External links
- Mike Henry at the Internet Movie Database
- Mike Henry at Brian's Drive-In Theater
- Mike Henry's 1962 Post Cereal football card
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jock Mahoney |
Actors to portray Tarzan 1966-1968 |
Succeeded by Ron Ely |
