Joe Theismann – Football, Acting, and Motivating Others

FEATURED PHOTO: Joe Theismann, Trevor Donovan | CREDIT: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Allister Foster

This Saturday, January 26 at 8 p.m., football legend Joe Theismann will co-star in Hallmark Channel’s SnowComing as part of their Winterfest movies alongside Trevor Donovan and Lindy Booth. In speaking with Joe it’s easy to see why he was nicknamed Captain Bubbly during his award-winning career as a Washington Redskins’ quarterback. Both entertaining and enlightening, his years of accumulated knowledge make him at once engaging about life on and off the field. Our full interview with Joe will run in March, but in honor of the movie this weekend and the upcoming Super Bowl with one of his favorite teams, the New England Patriots, here’s a sneak peek at our exclusive interview with #7.

CM: Your first acting role was in the television show B.J. and the Bear…

Theismann: Actually the first movie role I did was with George Raft, The Man with Bogart’s Face. Guy by the name of Bob Sacchi was always in character whether he was in character or not. He wore the London Fog coat and looked like him, sounded like him, had the cigarettes like him. That was the first movie I did. I played George Raft’s bodyguard (Bob Sacchi played the lead character in the 1980 movie.)

CM: And how did you get into acting?

Theismann: I’d always been fascinated by the world of entertainment, even when I was playing football. So I had an agent out in California, and we managed to find that role and it worked out well. I’ve done different things since then both in television and on the silver screen, so it’s been fun. It’s enjoyable. I do a lot of motivational speaking, so I just enjoy being out in front of people. Being on a set is a different world. I had a chance to direct a commercial. We had a director who was doing a football ad for Cannon. And the director didn’t know anything about football, so I wound up directing the scene as part of it, and it was fun.

CM: How did you get involved with Hallmark Channel?

Theismann: Beth Grossbard, who is the producer of this movie (SnowComing), called me a couple years ago and we did Love on the Sidelines. I played the dad of a football player who got hurt, oddly enough. So this is a little bit of a different role, which I really liked, I love this role. I get to play an agent, a little bit of Jerry Maguire, a little bit of Dwayne Johnson in Ballers.

One of the ones I really enjoyed, I had a role in Cannonball Run II with Burt Reynolds. The ensemble of people in that movie was just phenomenal. It was on maybe six or seven months ago, I found it on one of the channels, and I started watching and laughing. I remember so many different parts. So many of the people who are in it, Richard Kiel, who has since passed, Jamie Farr, Charles Nelson Reilly, of course Burt Reynolds, Dom (DeLuise), Shirley MacLaine, Marilu Henner, Catherine Bach, it just goes on and on, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. I loved being around Sammy, Sammy was a ton of fun because he used to spin the six shooters. When we had a break he’d be entertaining us at lunch, great guy.

CM: You’ve been around so many famous people, did they influence you, did you learn things from them?

Theismann: I think you can always learn different things from people in all walks of life. Whether it’s in the world of politics, or in the world of business, whether it’s in acting or in being an athlete. Part of the quest I have in life is to learn something every day. I have a little saying in life, and I really love it, the day you stop learning is the day you stop living. I really believe that. I left football almost 33 years ago, and as I sit here I still have a lot of close friends in the business and I try to learn more about what I guess you could call a modern age football. The way guys play it now, the way coaches think now, the different types of players.

CM: What are the best parts and most challenging parts of acting for you?

Theismann: I’m a competition junkie. And that’s sort of a little bit what acting is.

It’s a challenge to memorize the script, to become a character, to own the character. That’s the biggie. Can you own the character? And as I watch movies or television I love to see people in different roles. I had the chance to spend a little time around Samuel L. Jackson, and it looks like Sam works every week, he’s always doing something. You watch different people over time, you look at the nuances, you look at the looks. Quite often it isn’t what you verbalize, it can be just the slightest look that helps a scene out. And I’ve worked with such great directors. We just finished doing SnowComing with Peter DeLuise, Dom’s son. Peter’s wonderful, he likes to move things right along. It’s funny, directors are like coaches. They have certain things and certain ways they want to see things. Some of them are very strict and they want it done their way only, others give you the freedom to understand the concept so you don’t have to go 100% word for word with the script. You learn a lot about how to work with different people. Working with different actors, how you work on the set, the looks you get and give, your body language. It’s really a lot like football, to be honest with you. Body language tells you a lot. You can tell if a guy is in trouble, if he’s doing well, you just have to look at a guy’s eyes. Ya know the eyes have always been the windows to the soul.

CM: Of all the different careers you’ve had, which one have you most enjoyed?

Theismann: (Laughs) Great question, that’s a loaded question, Cathy. The one I certainly enjoyed was professional football. There’s nothing like running out on that field. And having played in the big games, two World Championships, when you run out on that field it’s like going out on the stage. We played in front of 100,000 people in Pasedena. If you can’t get excited and get exhilarated with something like that, you’ve got no chance. (Laughs.) So football was the most exciting on a week to week basis, it always changes.

Each of the aspects I was involved in have brought joy to my life. The exhilaration of football, as I said I’m a competition junkie, so having the chance to play for many years as I did there’s lots of competition going on. Then from the speaking standpoint, the opportunity to share stories and hopefully influence people’s lives in a positive way. The acting gives me a chance to mentally challenge myself and really compete against myself to see how good I can be in a particular role. And then broadcasting gave me a chance to be a teacher. I spent 23 years broadcasting football. The way I pictured my role as a broadcaster was when a game was over I wanted somebody to turn to a friend, whether in a bar or a living room, and I wanted them to say “I learned something today that I did not know about the game of football.”

CM: That’s a very unique take on broadcasting…

Theismann: We don’t only explain the game, but we try to enlighten people. Make the game more enjoyable. If you understand something, you enjoy it. That’s really what Fantasy Football is for so many people who are just casual fans.

CM: Are you still a Redskins superfan, or do you have another favorite football team?

Theismann: I am a Redskins superfan, but I really love watching the New England Patriots work. Tom Brady (Quarterback for the New England Patriots) is an artist. I’ve known Coach Belichick for 30 years and he’s someone I love spending time around and learning from. If you want to learn about something, spend time around the people who are the best in the business. Not only what someone does, but why he or she does it. If you want to learn about something, football for example, study the people who are the best in the business. Be around the players. Tom’s a five time World Champion. There have only been 52 Super Bowls and Tom has played in eight of them. It is beyond impressive that year after year, in such a changing environment, you can be the one thing that is not only good, but great. Tom has been the one constant in New England. They’ve had 40-something different wide receiver combinations, 30-something running backs, goodness knows how many different offensive line configurations, how many guys on the defensive side of the ball – but you’ve had Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniels, who is the offensive coordinator, and Tom. They have been the three constants for 18 or 19 years. (William Stephen Belichick is the head coach of the New England Patriots as well as general manager. He has won a record five Super Bowls as head coach.)

CM: You remind me of Donny Osmond a little, his philosophies on life, the way you’ve reinvented your career…

Theismann: Now I have to tell you something, Marie has always been my…I mean every time I see her, I swoon as a guy. The two of them are unbelievable.

CM: What comes next for Joe Theismann?

Theismann: Well we have grandchildren. Watching them grow up, spending time with them. My wife and I have a place in Florida to take a little time to reload. We’ve done some remodeling, we’re doing some traveling. And the thing I want to try to do is give back more. I have a website, (joetheismann.com) and on my website I’ve asked people to make a donation to St. Jude if they want me to sign something. All I want to do is try to raise money for the kids. We live in Memphis also, and to me it’s unbelievable that no families pay for housing, treatments, anything. The Wounded Warriors is something else I try to support as much as I can.