Famous Faces in Muhammed Ali's "The Greatest" & "When We Were Kings"!

1. Sonny Liston

Actor | Head

Charles "Sonny" Liston's life and death began and ended in the same manner: as a mystery. Liston, one of 25 children by his father, is reputed to have been born in May 1932, yet prison records show various birth dates, among them 1928. After a rough upbringing, with little formal education, Liston ...

2. Muhammad Ali

Actor | The Greatest

Muhammad Ali beat more champions and top contenders than any heavyweight champion in history. He defeated heavyweight kings Sonny Liston (twice), Floyd Patterson (twice), Ernie Terrell, Jimmy Ellis, Ken Norton (twice), Joe Frazier (twice), George Foreman and Leon Spinks. He defeated ...

3. Rahman Ali

Actor | The Greatest

Rahman Ali has lived in the shadow of his famous brother, Muhammad Ali, for his entire life, not that it was a problem for him. On the contrary, both brothers were as close as two brothers could be. Born Rudolph Valentino Clay, he was two years older than his brother, Cassius Marcellous Clay. Both ...

4. Ernest Borgnine

Actor | Marty

Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917 in Hamden, Connecticut. His parents were Anna (Boselli), who had emigrated from Carpi (MO), Italy, and Camillo Borgnino, who had emigrated from Ottiglio (AL), Italy. As an only child, Ernest enjoyed most sports, especially boxing, ...

5. Malick Bowens

Actor | Out of Africa

Early in his acting career Malick Bowens met the worldwide renowned director Peter Brook who invited him to join his theater company, ICTR (International Center on Theatrical Research). This meeting led to a long lasting collaboration, which had a great influence on the actor's life and career. The...

6. James Brown

Actor | The Blues Brothers

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 - December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer, and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and ...

7. David Clennon

Actor | Missing

A tall, lean, sometimes bearded actor with a career lasting more than forty years, David Clennon is also a very vocal political agitator. In 1967, during the most savage years of U.S. aggression against Vietnam, Clennon turned in his Selective Service System identification card (a federal felony) ...

8. Ty Copeman

Actor | Silver Bill Miner

Ty Copeman was born in Paris, France September 7, 1955 to Tyler Copeman, an Air Force enlisted man, and Roseann Patricia. He moved to New Mexico in 1958, then settled in Winter Park, Florida in 1962. Ty Copeman left Florida for Hollywood for the first time in 1974. He says it has been a bumpy ride ...

9. Toni Crabtree

Actress | Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach

Toni Crabtree is known for Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach (1988), Miami Vice (1984) and The Greatest (1977).

10. Robert Duvall

Actor | The Apostle

Veteran actor and director Robert Selden Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, CA, to Mildred Virginia (Hart), an amateur actress, and William Howard Duvall, a career military officer who later became an admiral. Duvall majored in drama at Principia College (Elsah, IL), then served a ...

11. George Foreman

Actor | The Fighter

George Foreman was boxing's most feared fighter from 1973-1974. Undefeated in 40 straight fights, 37 by knockout, he was on a 24 consecutive knockout run when he faced Muhammad Ali on October 30, 1974 in defense of his world heavyweight title in Zaire, Africa. A product of a poor family, Foreman ...

12. Joe Frazier

Actor | Rocky

Joseph William Frazier, nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. He was known for his strength, durability, formidable punching power, and relentless pressure fighting style and was the first boxer to defeat Muhammad Ali. Frazier reigned as the ...

13. James Gammon

Actor | Major League

Rugged-looking James Gammon first broke into the entertainment industry not as an actor but as a TV cameraman. From there, his weatherbeaten features, somewhat menacing attitude and a tough-as-nails voice--the kind that used to be described in detective novels as "whiskey-soaked"--reminiscent of '...

14. Lloyd Haynes

Actor | Room 222

Lloyd Haynes was born on October 19, 1934 in South Bend, Indiana, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Room 222 (1969), Star Trek (1966) and Good Guys Wear Black (1978). He was married to Carolyn Yvonne Giorella, Saundra Lee Madariaga and Alice Elizabeth Ellis. He died on December 31, 1986 in...

15. David Huddleston

Actor | The Big Lebowski

David Huddleston was born on September 17, 1930 in Vinton, Virginia, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for The Big Lebowski (1998), Blazing Saddles (1974) and The Producers (2005). He was married to Sarah C. Koeppe and Carole Ann Swart. He died on August 2, 2016 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.

16. Ben Johnson

Actor | The Last Picture Show

Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper ...

17. James Earl Jones

Actor | Rogue One

Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred ...

18. Gene Kilroy

Actor | The Greatest

Gene Kilroy is known for The Greatest (1977), Muhammad Ali (2021) and Toy Masters (2012).

19. B.B. King

Actor | Blues Brothers 2000

Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 - May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many ...

20. Don King

Actor | The Devil's Advocate

Don King coined the phrase, "Only in America." He lives it. He breathes it. He believes it. It's part of his soul. "Only in America can a Don King happen," explains Don. "America is the greatest country in the world-I love America. What I've accomplished could not have been done anywhere else." ...

21. Spike Lee

Director | Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended ...

22. Norman Mailer

Writer | Tough Guys Don't Dance

Norman Mailer, the Brooklyn-born and -bred writer who fought for what he characterized as the "heavyweight championship" of American letters after the 1961 death of Ernest Hemingway, never came close to his dream of writing the Great American novel, but he was a colossus of American culture and ...

23. Miriam Makeba

Soundtrack | Transamerica

Miriam Makeba was born on March 4, 1932 in Prospect Township, near Johannesburg, South Africa. She was an actress and composer, known for Transamerica (2005), Sarafina! (1992) and Bobby (2006). She was married to Stokely Carmichael, Hugh Masekela and Sonny Pilay. She died on November 10, 2008 in ...

24. John Marley

Actor | Love Story

Veteran character actor John Marley was one of those familiar but nameless faces that television and filmgoers did not take a shine to until the late 1960s, when he had already hit middle age. Quite distinctive with his dour, craggy face, dark bushy brows and upswept silvery hair, John started life...

25. Jack McDermott

Actor | The Final Countdown

Jack McDermott was born on January 3, 1927. He is an actor, known for The Final Countdown (1980), Absence of Malice (1981) and Cocoon: The Return (1988).

26. Dina Merrill

Actress | BUtterfield 8

It would have been pretty difficult for willowy actress/model Dina Merrill to have pulled off playing a commoner on stage, film or TV in her day. She reeked of elegance and class. The epitome of style, poise and glamour, the New York-born socialite and celebrity was born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton on ...

27. Roger E. Mosley

Actor | Magnum, P.I.

Roger E. Mosley was born on December 18, 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Magnum, P.I. (1980), A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996) and Terminal Island (1973). He was married to Antoinette 'Toni' Laudermilk and Saundra J Locke. He died on August 7, ...

28. Ken Norton

Actor | Dirty Work

Ken Norton was born on August 9, 1943 in Jacksonville, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Dirty Work (1998), Mandingo (1975) and Drum (1976). He was married to Rose Conant, Jacqueline Halton and Jeannette Brinson. He died on September 18, 2013 in Henderson, Nevada, USA.

29. George Plimpton

Actor | Good Will Hunting

George Plimpton was born on March 18, 1927 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Good Will Hunting (1997), Nixon (1995) and Just Cause (1995). He was married to Sara Whitehead Dudley and Freddy Medora Espy. He died on September 26, 2003 in Manhattan, New York City, ...

30. Malachi Throne

Actor | It Takes a Thief

Malachi Throne, the character actor who became one of the more ubiquitous faces on television from the "Golden Age" of the 1950s through the 21st-century, was born in New York City on December 1, 1928, the son of Samuel and Rebecca (née Chaikin) Throne, who had immigrated to America from the ...

31. Paul Winfield

Actor | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Signifying intelligence, eloquence, versatility and quiet intensity, one of the more important, critically acclaimed black actors to gain a Hollywood foothold in the 1970s was Paul Winfield. He was born in 1939 in Dallas, Texas, where he lived in his early years before moving with his family to Los...

32. Arthur Adams

Actor | Coming to America

Arthur Adams was born on November 22, 1915 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Coming to America (1988), Midnight Madness (1980) and The Last Flight of Noah's Ark (1980). He died on May 3, 1992 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

33. Drew Bundini Brown

Actor | Shaft

Drew Bundini Brown was born on March 21, 1928 in Midway, Florida, USA. He was an actor, known for Shaft (1971), Shaft's Big Score! (1972) and The Greatest (1977). He was married to Rhoda Palestine Brown. He died on September 24, 1987 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.

34. Annazette Chase

Actress | Truck Turner

Annazette Chase was born on December 18, 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Truck Turner (1974), The Toy (1982) and The Greatest (1977).

35. Odessa Clay

Self | ABC's Wide World of Sports

Odessa Clay was born on February 12, 1917 in the USA. She died on August 20, 1994 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

36. Howard Cosell

Self | Bananas

When you think of the words honesty, straight from the shoulder, and tell it like it is, you think of one man: Howard Cosell. Howard is best remembered as the greatest sportscaster in the history of sports. His way with words and ability of telling like it was, brought him fame not only in America,...

37. Paul Mantee

Actor | Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

Born in San Francisco, Paul Mantee started "pretending" when he was very young, playing at being people like Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney. He toiled anonymously in the Hollywood vineyards for several years; it was this initial lack of success that worked in his favor when "an unfamiliar face" was ...

38. Chip McAllister

Producer | Pizza & Karaoke

Chip McAllister was born on October 2, 1957 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Pizza & Karaoke (2010), The Greatest (1977) and Precious Time (2008). He has been married to Kim McAllister since 1985. They have three children.

39. Dorothy Meyer

Actress | Cobra

A comedic mainstay on several sitcoms of the 1970s, she is best remembered for making a career out of playing wisecracking maids, neighbors, friends, nurses, and church ladies. The daughter of a Presbyterian minister, her childhood was spent on the Bible Belt where she appeared singing and acting ...

40. Archie Moore

Actor | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Archie Moore (born Archibald Lee Wright; December 13, 1913 or 1916- December 9, 1998) was an American professional boxer and the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time (December 1952 - May 1962). He had one of the longest professional careers in the history of the sport, ...

41. Dick Sadler

Self | When We Were Kings

42. Mobutu Sese Seko

Actor | Congo vivo

Mobutu Sese Seko was born Joseph Mobutu in Lisala, Belgian Congo. His father was a cook, who died when Mobutu was a child, and his mother was a maid in a hotel. She used her earnings to send him to a Christian Brothers Catholic boarding school for his education. In 1949 he joined the Force Publique...

43. Richard Venture

Actor | Heartbreak Ridge

Richard Venture was born on November 12, 1923 in New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Heartbreak Ridge (1986), Missing (1982) and Scent of a Woman (1992). He was married to Katherine Catalano, Lorraine Venture, Olivia Cole and Grayce Grant. He died on December 19, 2017 in Chester, ...

44. Mira Waters

Actress | The Six Million Dollar Man

Mira Waters is known for The Six Million Dollar Man (1974), The Greatest (1977) and Barnaby Jones (1973).

45. Ernie Wheelwright

Actor | The Longest Yard

Ernie Wheelwright was born on November 28, 1939 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for The Longest Yard (1974), Wildcats (1986) and Trackdown (1976). He died on May 3, 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

46. Teddy Wilson

Actor | Good Times

Teddy Wilson was born on December 10, 1943 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Good Times (1974), Bound by Honor (1993) and Life Stinks (1991). He was married to Joan Pringle. He died on July 21, 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

47. The Spinners

Soundtrack | Avengers: Infinity War

The Spinners is known for Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Spaceballs (1987) and The Holiday (2006).