Alexander George Karras (July 15, 1935 â€" October 10, 2012) was an
American football player, professional wrestler, sportscaster, and
actor. He was a four-time Pro Bowl player with the Detroit Lions of
the National Football League (NFL), where he played from 1958 to 1970.
As an actor, Karras played Mongo in the 1974 comedy film Blazing
Saddles. He starred as George Papadopolis, the adoptive father of
Webster Long (Emmanuel Lewis), in the ABC sitcom Webster (1983â€"1989)
alongside his wife Susan Clark. Karras also had a prominent role in
Victor/Victoria, starring Julie Andrews and James Garner. He is a
member of the College Football Hall of Fame and was elected to the Pro
Football Hall of Fame in the Centennial class.Alexander George Karras
(July 15, 1935 â€" October 10, 2012) was an American football player,
professional wrestler, sportscaster, and actor. He was a four-time Pro
Bowl player with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League
(NFL), where he played from 1958 to 1970. As an actor, Karras played
Mongo in the 1974 comedy film Blazing Saddles. He starred as George
Papadopolis, the adoptive father of Webster Long (Emmanuel Lewis), in
the ABC sitcom Webster (1983â€"1989) alongside his wife Susan Clark.
Karras also had a prominent role in Victor/Victoria, starring Julie
Andrews and James Garner. He is a member of the College Football Hall
of Fame and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the
Centennial class.Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, Karras was the son
of Dr. George Karras, a Greek immigrant (from Chios) who graduated
from the University of Chicago and got his medical degree in Canada.
There, George Karras met and married a Canadian woman, Alex's mother,
Emmeline (née Wilson), a registered nurse. George Karras opened a
medical practice in Gary, but he died when Alex was thirteen years
old. By that time, Alex Karras had learned to play football in a
parking lot near his home, and he blossomed into a four-time Indiana
all-state selection at Gary's Emerson High School.His older brothers,
Lou (a future member of the Redskins) and Ted (who later played with
the Bears and Lions), had played at Purdue but later Ted transferred
to Indiana. Because of this, Alex said, "Indiana had the inside track"
on recruiting him.[citation needed] Shortly after he graduated from
high school, three coaches from the Iowa Hawkeyes met Karras at his
brother Louie's house with an airplane and flew him to Spencer, Iowa,
where he remained incommunicado through the summer. Writing in the
Detroit Free Press in 1971 (as reprinted in the Iowa City
Press-Citizen), Karras said that "nobody knew where I was, not even my
mom, although Louie told her not to worry. Obviously, Iowa came up
with something, I have no intention of stirring up any mess. I'll only
say that, as Louie explained it, some accommodations were made by the
people at Iowa that would make things easier for the family, and so
away I went. It was the beginning of some awful years." Alex Karras Top Movies & Young Movies