MULTIZ321
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ROYAL HOLIDAY CLUB RHC (POINTS)
Are Chuck Connors, the basketball player, and Chuck Connors, the actor, the same guy?
Yep.
People of a certain age remember Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain, 'The Rifleman' and Jason McCord in 'Branded'.
But before he became an actor, Connors played both basketball and baseball for the major leagues.
His very short professional basketball career was spent with the Boston Celtics.
On this date in 1946, Connors became the first NBA player to shatter a backboard.
It happened during a pregame warm-up in Boston Garden.
From hoopster, he moved on to slugger, playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers (in just one game) and the Chicago Cubs.
He only lasted a year with the Cubs, before he was moved back to the minor leagues.
He was playing for a team near Hollywood, when Connors was spotted by an MGM casting director, who got him his first acting role — he played a police officer in the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn film, 'Pat and Mike'.
Quote:"I had never trained or studied to become an actor, I just stood there in front of the cameras and did what came natural to me." — Chuck Connors
Richard
