Tag: Billy Dee Williams

James Caan remembers Gale Sayers, Brian Piccolo, ‘Brian’s Song’

Actor James Caan says he gets emotional every time he watches “Brian’s Song,” the legendary movie.

The 1971 telemovie “Brian’s Song” came to the forefront again last week with the death of Chicago Bears legendary running back Gale Sayers.

The Boston Globe’s Tara Sullivan reached out to actor James Caan, who played the role of Brian Piccolo in the movie that chronicled the friendship between the Bears’ running backs and the tragic death of Piccolo, who suffered from cancer.

Caan said he still cries when he watches the movie, almost 50 years later.

“He was a blessing to the planet Earth,” Caan told the Globe about Sayers, who died after a years-long battle with dementia. “Everybody cries when they see it. I cry every time I see it.

“I grew up with really strong relationships and my friends were real friends and still are. Friends were the only things we had, and their relationship was pretty genuine, and pretty great.

One fascinating note: Billy Dee Williams almost did not have the role of Sayers in the movie. It was originally cast for Louis Gossett Jr, The actor tore his Achilles before filming and Williams was given the role and the rest is history.

To read the entire piece, click here.

 

Billy Dee Williams, James Caan express sadness over death of Gale Sayers

The stars of “Brian’s Song” expressed sadness at the death of Gale Sayers at 77.

Billy Dee Williams famously played Gale Sayers in “Brian’s Song,” the television movie about the friendship between Chicago Bears running backs Sayers and Brian Piccolo.

The actor was close friends with the “Kansas Comet” through the years and tweeted his sadness Wednesday over the running back’s death at 77.

James Caan played the role of Piccolo, who died at a young age of cancer. He offered his condolences.

Brian’s Song is the ultimate tearjerker. An incredible movie.