Post by mrbose on Oct 5, 2008 13:47:40 GMT -5
;DO. J. Simpson
AKA Orenthal James Simpson
Born: 9-Jul-1947
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: Black
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Football, Actor
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Searching tirelessly for the real killers
Growing up in San Francisco, O.J. Simpson ran with a street gang called the Persian Warriors or Persian Kings. He was briefly incarcerated at the city's juvenile detention center. Simpson was a fine football player, winning the Heisman Trophy as the game's best college player while attending the University of Southern California in 1968. In the pros, he played for the Buffalo Bills from 1969-77 and San Francisco 49ers from 1978-79, winning All-Pro honors five times and the Most Valuable Player Award in 1973. He was the first player to run for 2,000 yards in a season. It's been done since, in the NFL's current 16-game season, but Simpson's the only man to accomplish it in 14 games.
He always wanted to be an actor, and his football celebrity got him some slight roles in late-'60s TV shows like Dragnet and Medical Center. After football, Simpson worked regularly in movies and on TV, including Roots, The Towering Inferno, Capricorn One, and the cable series 1st & Ten. He also had a recurring slapstick role in the Naked Gun movies. His most famous role, though, was as pitchman for Hertz, perpetually running through airports.
He met his second wife, Nicole Brown, when she was 17. They began an affair before he'd divorced his first wife, and married in 1985. In 1989, Simpson was convicted of spousal abuse for beating her. He got probation, community service, and fines totaling less than $1,000. In 1992 she divorced him, and in 1994 she was knifed to death along with her friend, Ron Goldman. Simpson was considered a suspect, and promised to turn himself in to police, but he didn't show up at the agreed-upon time. Several hours later his white Ford Bronco was spotted, trailed by friend Al Cowlings. Up to 100,000,000 people watched as a "low-speed chase" down Interstate 5 was telecast live across America. When Cowling parked at Simpson's house, cops waited 45 minutes for Simpson to step out of the car. He had $8,000 in cash, a fake goatee and mustache, his passport, and a loaded pistol.
Simpson's trial was a huge media event, lasting eight months and covered at length daily. Americans were introduced to a parade of colorful characters, including Lance Ito, the judge of questionable competence; Kato Kaelin, Simpson's lazy houseguest; and Johnnie Cochran, his slick defense lawyer. When prosecutors asked Simpson to try on the killer's gloves, he couldn't squeeze his hand inside, and it was Cochran who famously quipped, "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit". Curiously, in the course of their "investigation", detectives had obtained samples of Simpson's and the victims' blood. This is, to say the least, not proper police procedure. When asked on the witness stand whether he'd planted any evidence to frame Simpson, LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. Simpson was acquitted, and vowed to devote his life to finding the real killers. Instead, he's played a lot of golf.
In a subsequent civil trial, where standards of proof are lower, Simpson was found liable for the deaths of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. He was ordered to pay damages totaling more than $33,000,000. However, there's been little call for his acting skills or celebrity endorsements in recent years, leaving Simpson to live on his NFL pension. In 2004, he was ordered to surrender his income from autographs.
AKA Orenthal James Simpson
Born: 9-Jul-1947
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: Black
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Football, Actor
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Searching tirelessly for the real killers
Growing up in San Francisco, O.J. Simpson ran with a street gang called the Persian Warriors or Persian Kings. He was briefly incarcerated at the city's juvenile detention center. Simpson was a fine football player, winning the Heisman Trophy as the game's best college player while attending the University of Southern California in 1968. In the pros, he played for the Buffalo Bills from 1969-77 and San Francisco 49ers from 1978-79, winning All-Pro honors five times and the Most Valuable Player Award in 1973. He was the first player to run for 2,000 yards in a season. It's been done since, in the NFL's current 16-game season, but Simpson's the only man to accomplish it in 14 games.
He always wanted to be an actor, and his football celebrity got him some slight roles in late-'60s TV shows like Dragnet and Medical Center. After football, Simpson worked regularly in movies and on TV, including Roots, The Towering Inferno, Capricorn One, and the cable series 1st & Ten. He also had a recurring slapstick role in the Naked Gun movies. His most famous role, though, was as pitchman for Hertz, perpetually running through airports.
He met his second wife, Nicole Brown, when she was 17. They began an affair before he'd divorced his first wife, and married in 1985. In 1989, Simpson was convicted of spousal abuse for beating her. He got probation, community service, and fines totaling less than $1,000. In 1992 she divorced him, and in 1994 she was knifed to death along with her friend, Ron Goldman. Simpson was considered a suspect, and promised to turn himself in to police, but he didn't show up at the agreed-upon time. Several hours later his white Ford Bronco was spotted, trailed by friend Al Cowlings. Up to 100,000,000 people watched as a "low-speed chase" down Interstate 5 was telecast live across America. When Cowling parked at Simpson's house, cops waited 45 minutes for Simpson to step out of the car. He had $8,000 in cash, a fake goatee and mustache, his passport, and a loaded pistol.
Simpson's trial was a huge media event, lasting eight months and covered at length daily. Americans were introduced to a parade of colorful characters, including Lance Ito, the judge of questionable competence; Kato Kaelin, Simpson's lazy houseguest; and Johnnie Cochran, his slick defense lawyer. When prosecutors asked Simpson to try on the killer's gloves, he couldn't squeeze his hand inside, and it was Cochran who famously quipped, "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit". Curiously, in the course of their "investigation", detectives had obtained samples of Simpson's and the victims' blood. This is, to say the least, not proper police procedure. When asked on the witness stand whether he'd planted any evidence to frame Simpson, LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. Simpson was acquitted, and vowed to devote his life to finding the real killers. Instead, he's played a lot of golf.
In a subsequent civil trial, where standards of proof are lower, Simpson was found liable for the deaths of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. He was ordered to pay damages totaling more than $33,000,000. However, there's been little call for his acting skills or celebrity endorsements in recent years, leaving Simpson to live on his NFL pension. In 2004, he was ordered to surrender his income from autographs.