Imagine being a superstar basketball player for the most glamorous NBA franchise in the world. And now, imagine attracting the attention of Hollywood to such a level that you get offered more money to act, than an Oscar-winning Actor.
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Well, that is exactly how Bernard King lived it up.
King, was a superstar in the league during his time with the New York Knicks. The #7 pick from 1977 was a scoring forward who racked up 4 All-NBA nods for his career.
And then, while he was an All-NBA level star, with his popularity at its peak, King had Hollywood swooning. Kings Road Entertainment came looking for their King and seemed to find him at the Madison Square Garden.
They appeared to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse, too. The production house did not even hesitate to make King a better-paid actor than Al Pacino!
What did Bernard King reveal about the offer he received to act in Fast Break?
Fast Break was a 1979 American comedy film that revolved around a basketball-themed plot. The movie marked the acting debut of Bernard King and presented a different side of the NBA superstar to the fandom.
And it took quite the offer to obtain King’s services too. Payment akin to his status in New York lore indeed.
“$500 a week just to eat. Now this is 1978. How much money is that today? I’m driving a Mercedes-Benz convertible, which they paid for, and they paid me $25,000. What the hell? Now, I learned many years later, I made more than Al Pacino shooting ‘The Godfather’ first movie” narrated King about his luxurious acting experience.
The legendary Knicks forward also got placed in a Beverly Hills apartment for the duration of his shoot. Royal treatment worthy of the name indeed. Al Pacino surely amassed much more over his career. But no basketball player but King can claim to have earned more than an Oscar winner for an acting role.
Was this Bernard King’s only venture into the world of acting?
While this was King’s only appearance in a mainstream movie, it wasn’t the only piece of pop culture with King’s prints. The former Knicks forward also featured as a fictitious basketball player in Miami Vice.
In the 1986 episode, The Fix, Bernard King got into the limelight as Matt Ferguson of the Florida Sunblazers. And King wasn’t the only NBA superstar to make an appearance in the show.
As King’s father was Celtics royalty – Bill Russell. The late superstar featured as Judge Roger Ferguson in the show in the company of King.
Bernard King immortalized himself across two of the biggest fields of entertainment. Stardust followed the forward at The Mecca and Hollywood alike.
