*Actor Fred “The Hammer” Williamson rose to prominence as one of the first African-American male action stars of the “blaxploitation” genre of the early 1970s. He has since had a long and illustrious career as an actor, director, writer, and now he and the Queen of the blaxploitation era, Pam Grier, serve as the official ambassadors of a new streaming app called Brown Sugar.
This one-of-a-kind library offers the biggest collection of the baddest African-American movies of all-time — which are licensed from all the top Hollywood studios. The app is now available in the Google Play Store and iTunes App Store and at www.BrownSugar.com, for a retail price of $3.99/month. There is a free initial trial period for subscribers.
Williamson is a former professional football defensive back who played during the 1960s, and earned himself the nickname “The Hammer” for his aggressive style during the game. After an eight season pro football career, he left the AFL in 1967 with 497 yards and two touchdowns.
During a recent media teleconference with Williamson, he explained why he doesn’t see the same strength and fearless in today’s athletes — qualities that he and his colleagues proudly personified during his heyday.
“They make so much money that they don’t feel they have to identity with anybody,” he says. “I mean, here’s a kid coming out of the ghetto, coming out of college and already he’s a millionaire. He hasn’t done anything to prove it — signs a big deal contract for five or six million dollars and he’s king of the mountain. But that doesn’t make you the king of the mountain. How deep your pockets are does not really judge the kind of character you are.
Fred added, “The athletes today, they don’t care about each other. They don’t party together. They don’t socialize together. Maybe it was different when I played cause we didn’t make any money. All we had was camaraderie. That camaraderie is what made the games so big back in the day. Now it’s all about money. A guy comes off the filed holding his hand because his little finger is broke. Back in the day they’d tape the little finger to the finger next to it and slap you in the fanny and say, ‘Get back in there!’ That’s the way we played the game.”
After his retirement in the late 60’s, Williamson didn’t wait for Hollywood to come knocking on his door. He decided to make the transition from footballer to leading man after he saw Diahann Carroll on the scripted television series “Julia.”
“That’s not in my personality… waiting for people to find me — that’s not how I do things, even in football I had a plan. I wore white shoes to stand out. I created the name The Hammer to stand out, so that when they go to the game they know that guy with the white shoes is called The Hammer. The league fined me $100 a game for white shoes, and $100 a game for advocating violence cause on my arm I had some pads with little hammers drawn on them, and that was the way I used to tackle. So when I decided that I was going to come into the movie business, I was gonna bring the same persona that I had.”
Fred says that during the off-season he worked as an architect, and once he retired from football he went full-time with the gig. But after several months on the job, he realized he couldn’t fully make the transition.
“My life had been too free, so the walls started to close in on me. I learned the 9-to-5 did not fit my personality,” he says. “One night I’m watching television and I see Diahann Carroll has this new show called Julia — first black woman has a television series. I notice that each week the guest star has a new boyfriend. I said to myself, ‘I’m better looking than any of those guys. I’m going to Hollywood to be Diane Carroll’s boyfriend on the Julia show.’ I got the name of the producer of the show, Harold Kanter. I drove to Hollywood — drove to the gate at 20th Century-Fox I said, ‘I’m here to see Mr. Harold Kanter.’
They said, ‘Do you have a pass? Do you have an appointment?’
I says, ‘No.’
‘Then you can’t come on.’
I says, ‘Okay, fine. Thank You.’
I drove around the block… to the phone booth, called back to the gate and said, ‘This is Mr. Harold Kanter’s office, we’re expecting Mr. Williamson, please let him on.’
Hung up the phone, drove back around to the gate and they go, ‘Oh, yeah… we just got a call from Mr. Kanter’s office. He’s down at the third bungalow on the right.’
So I go to the front desk. I tell the girl I’m here to see Mr. Harold Kanter. She says, ‘Do you have an appointment?’ “.
I says, ‘No.’
So she gets on the squawk box — back in those days they had this little box.
‘Mr. Kanter, there’s a Mr. Hammer here.’
I says, ‘No, not Mr. Hammer. THE Hammer.’
Two seconds of silence.
‘The ball player?’
I says, ‘Yeah, The Hammer.’
He says come on in. I went in, we talked. After about five minutes of football, he says, ‘Why are you here?’
I says, ‘I’m watching your show with Diahann Carroll. She’s got a new boyfriend each week, that makes her a very lose-moral kind of woman you got on your show. What you need is a regular boyfriend, and I’m it!’
He says, ‘Have you ever acted before?’
‘I did five years of Raising in the Sun,’…. If he had asked me what character, I would have been dead in the water.
He said, ‘Perfect. We’ll write a show for you called Dancer in the Dark. Football player — retired.
Me and Diane Carroll fall in love (in the episode). I did the show for three years. Two weeks after that, they signed me to a three-year contract.
Williamson also recalled another fond memory from his early days in Hollywood. “I was sitting in the commissary at 20th Century-Fox, guy walks by and says, ‘You’re The Hammer, right?’
I says, ‘Yeah’….
‘We’re doing a movie. I got a football scene in it, would you direct all the football… bring all the football players together?’
I said, ‘Yeah.’
“That was Robert Altman. The name of the movie was “M*A*S*H.” I played Spearchucker,” Williamson added.
Many would agree that Fred’s tale about his transition to Hollywood is worthy of its own biopic.
You can stream his classic film titles and more on the Brown Sugar app.
Check out the advert below for the new Brown Sugar app, featuring Williamson, Pam Grier and fan of the blaxploitation era, rapper Rick Ross.
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