Life After the Olympics: How 15 Athletes Made Their Way to Hollywood

Toshiyuki "Harold" Sakata

Weightlifting, 1948 Olympics, silver medalist

Goldfinger was the highlight of the Hawaiian-born Sakata’s post-Olympics career, so much so that he adopted “Oddjob” — the Bond-battling villains he played, opposite Sean Connery — as his middle name.

Buster Crabbe

Swimming, 1928 and 1932 Olympics, gold medalist

When he hung up his swim trunks, Crabbe took to starring in films and serials as characters like Flash Gordon, Tarzan and Billy the Kid.

Johnny Weismuller

Swimming, 1924 and 1928 Olympics, gold medalist

The most famous screen Tarzan — thanks in great part to being associated with that trademark holler — he appeared in six Tarzan movies alongside Maureen O’Sullivan’s Jane and Cheeta the chimp. He’d stay in the jungle as Jungle Jim for 13 films, before retiring from the screen.

Cathy Rigby

Gymnastics, 1968 and 1972 Olympics

After failing to medal in the two Olympics she competed in, Rigby found a home on the stage, starring in successful Broadway runs of The Wizard of Oz and, later, Peter Pan, for which she was nominated for a Tony.

Hillary Wolf

Judo, 1996 and 2000 Olympics

Turns out Macaulay Culkin’s older sister in the Home Alone films was a bad ass: She represented the United States in two consecutive Olympics.

Bruce Bennett

Shot put, 1928 Olympics, silver medalist

Born Harold Herman Brix, Bennett took a shift in Tarzan’s loincloth — which seems like a requirement for early Olympic veterans — but after he changed his name, the ‘40s brought lots of high-profile movies his way, including Humphrey Bogart’s Sahara, Mildred Pierce with Joan Crawford and John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Bob Anderson

Fencing, 1952 Olympics

Upon retiring from competition, this Brit became a Hollywood fight choreographer, orchestrating the blade work in films like the Star Wars saga, The Princess Bride, The Mask of Zorro, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Dolph Lundgren

U.S. pentathlon team leader (non-competing), 1996 Olympics

After starring as an East German Olympic pentathlete in 1994’s Pentathlon, the third degree black belt was named the team’s honorary leader. (Yes, it qualifies. Barely.)

Nat Pendleton

Wrestling, 1920 Olympics, silver medalist

After years of playing thugs and heavies, he landed a role opposite the Marx Brothers in 1932’s Horse Feathers. That led to another roles in films like The Great Ziegfeld, At the Circus (also with the Marx Brothers) and a recurring part in MGM’s Dr. Kildare film series.

Tian Liang

Diving, 2000 and 2004 Olympics, gold medalist

In China, it's not enough to bring home gold, silver and bronze medals in two separate Olympic Games, you've also got to avoid taking cash in and taking sweet, sweet corporate money: The government booted him from the national team, prohibiting him from competing in the 2008 Games in Beijing. He went on to star in two Chinese films, 2010's The Fantastic Water Babies and 2011's A Beautiful Life.

Bruce Jenner

Decathlalon, 1972 and 1976 Olympics, gold medalist

In the post-Wheaties box phase of his career, Jenner appeared in the Village People movie, Can’t Stop the Music (in the all-important “YMCA sequence”) before serving as a temporary replacement for Erik Estrada on CHiPs. He then became something of a professional celebrity, popping up on tons of game shows and reality shows, including Keeping Up With the Kardashians, which stars his flock of stepdaughters.

Carl Lewis

Track and field, 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympics, gold medalist

After being named Olympian of the Century by Sports Illustrated for his stunning performance in five consecutive Games, Lewis tried to convert that fame into acting roles, with little success: A couple of cameos on Perfect Strangers and in the Cannonball Run-esque movie Speed Zone, as well as a costarring role in the James Spader sci-fi flick Alien Hunter.

Kurt Thomas

Gymnastics, 1976 Olympics

If the United States hadn’t boycotted the 1980 games in Moscow — because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan — Thomas had an excellent chance of winning the gold that eluded him in Montreal in 1976, given that he has two moves still named after him (the Thomas Flair, on the pommel horse, and the Thomas salto, on the floor). He then starred in one of the best bad movies ever made, Gymkata.

Mary Lou Retton

Gymnastics, 1984 Olympics, gold medalist

After tumbling her way into America’s hearts — and being named Sports Illustrated’s Sportswoman of the Year — Retton became a national celebrity. She was the first woman to be on the front of a Wheaties box, she appeared in films like Scrooged and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, and has appeared in numerous commercials.

Mitchell Gaylord

Gymnastics, 1984 Olympics, gold medalist

He scored two bronzes, a silver and helped lead the American men to an all-around gold before leaving gymnastics … only to star in a movie, American Anthem, about a gymnast preparing for the Olympics.