This devilishly handsome former football player managed to parlay his sports fame into a career in acting, writing and directing. Born and raised in Gary, IN, Williamson spent the 1960s playing football for the Kansas City Chiefs. He made his acting debut at the age of 31 in the 1969 TV-movie "Deadlock" and in 1970 became a regular on the series "Julia", as the law student boyfriend of star Diahann Carroll.

In 1970, Williamson made his feature film bow in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H*. He went on to appear in another 22 films in the 1970s, many of them blaxploitation flicks like "The Legend of