Movie and Television Career
Namath went on to a minor career as an actor in several movies, including C.C. and Company with Ann-Margret and William Smith in 1970, and he starred in a brief 1978 television series, The Waverly Wonders. He guest-starred on many television shows, including Married... with Children, Here's Lucy, The Brady Bunch, The Flip Wilson Show, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, The Dean Martin Show, The Simpsons, The A-Team, ALF and The John Larroquette Show. He was guest host on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson several times, as well as hosting his own show, the 1969 cult classic The Joe Namath Show (co-hosted by Dick Schaap) with its eclectic guest pairings and open-bar attitude. He appeared as T.J. on The A-Team. OnThe A-Team, his character T.J. Bryant was punched by Mr. T and verbally threatened by former football star Jim Brown in one episode ("Quarterback Sneak") during season 5 of the series.
He also served as a color commentator on broadcasts of NFL games for a while, including the 1985 season of Monday Night Football, but never seemed to be particularly comfortable in this role and was accused of being over-critical of then current players.
Namath also auditioned to host the 1988 revival of the classic game show Family Feud for CBS, but that role went to Ray Combs.
Known as "Broadway Joe", he made his only appearance on Broadway as a cast replacement in a revival of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. He has also appeared in summerstock productions of Damn Yankees and Fiddler on the Roof.
Read more about this topic: Joe Namath
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