Alex Karras Dead At 77, NFL Star and 'Webster' Actor Died From Kidney Faiure

Alex Karras, NFL great and known actor in Webster and Blazing Saddles died after suffering kidney failure. Karras was a Linebacker for the Detroit Lions from1958-1970. The Lion plan on giving a tribute to the late great athlete. According to Lions President Tom Lewand, "Perhaps no player in Lions history attained as much success and notoriety for what he did after his playing days as did Alex."

Karras was a star Linebacker at the University of Iowa and later was drafted to the NFL. In addition, he became a part of the Monday Night Football broadcast team from 1974-1976. Even though, Karras  was clearly in love with his sport he eventually ventured off into acting. Karras once said in an interview, "I guess I've always been a performer. But if I'd have told anybody back in high school in Gary [his Indiana hometown] that I wanted to be an actor, they'd have had me quarantined."

The athlete turned actor decided to make his dreams come true and starred along his real-life wife Susan Clark, in the family sitcom Webster from 1983-1989. After releasing his football memoir, Paper Lion, it immediately became a best seller and later was turned into a film. The book gave a detailed account of George Plimpton's training-camp stint in 1963 with the Detroit Lions where Karras was known as the "unofficial hazing master."  In the 1968 film based on his memoir Karras showed his acting skills when he decided to play himself.

It's a sad day in NFL and Television world.