Rosey Grier Roosevelt " Rosey " Grier ( born July 14 , 1932 ) is an American actor , singer , Christian minister , and former professional American football player . He was a notable college football player for The Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective place in the National Collegiate Athletic Association 100th anniversary list of 100 most influential student athletes . As a professional player , Grier was a member of the New York Giants and the original Fearsome Foursome of the Los Angeles Rams . He played in the Pro Bowl twice . After Grier ' s professional sports career he worked as a bodyguard for Robert Kennedy during the 1968 presidential campaign and was guarding the senator ' s wife , Ethel Kennedy , during the Robert F . Kennedy assassination . Although unable to prevent that killing , Grier took control of the gun and subdued the shooter , Sirhan Sirhan . Grier ' s other activities have been colorful and varied . He hosted his own Los Angeles television show and made approximately 70 guest appearances on various shows during the 1960s and 1970s . As a singer , Grier first released singles on the A label in 1960 , and over the following twenty - five years he continued to record on various labels including Liberty , Ric , MGM and A & M . His recording of a tribute to Robert Kennedy , " People Make The World " ( written by Bobby Womack ) was his only chart single , peaking at # 128 in 1968 . Grier is known for his serious pursuit of hobbies not traditionally associated with men such as macrame and needlepoint . He has authored several books , including " Rosey Grier ' s Needlepoint for Men " in 1973 . Grier became an ordained Christian minister in 1983 and travels as an inspirational speaker . He founded American Neighborhood Enterprises , a nonprofit organization that serves inner city youth . Early life . Born in Cuthbert , Georgia as one of twelve children , Grier was named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt , who was governor of New York at the time of Grier ' s birth and was elected president later that year . He played high school football at Abraham Clark High School in Roselle , New Jersey . Professional career . After playing on the defensive line on the Penn State University football team , Grier was drafted as the 31st overall pick in the third round of the 1955 NFL Draft by the New York Giants . He played with the Giants from 1955 to 1962 , during which he led the team to a NFL Championship in 1956 and the Eastern Conference Championship in 1958 , 1959 , 1961 and 1962 . Grier was selected for the Pro Bowl in 1956 and 1960 , and was named All - Pro at the defensive tackle position in 1956 and 1958 – 1962 . Grier was then traded in July 1963 to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for defensive tackle John LoVetere and a high future draft pick . He was part of the " Fearsome Foursome " , along with Deacon Jones , Merlin Olsen , and Lamar Lundy , often considered one of the best defensive lines in football history , along with the Purple People Eaters of the Minnesota Vikings , the Steel Curtain of the Pittsburgh Steelers , and the Dallas Cowboys ' Doomsday Defense . His career ended in 1967 due to a torn Achilles tendon . Despite being the oldest member of the Fearsome Foursome , Grier is the last surviving member following the death of Deacon Jones on June 3 , 2013 . Sacks with Rams : 1963 ( 6 ) , 1964 ( 6 . 5 ) , 1965 ( 1 . 5 ) , 1966 ( 7 ) Post - football career . After his retirement , Grier hosted the " Rosey Grier Show " on KABC - TV , a weekly half - hour television show discussing community affairs in Los Angeles . Grier served as a bodyguard for his friend , United States senator and presidential candidate Robert F . Kennedy . He was guarding Ethel Kennedy , the Senator ' s wife , who was then expecting a child , the night that Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1968 . Grier and Olympic gold medal ist Rafer Johnson heard shots fired ahead of them . As Grier caught up he saw men wrestling with gunman Sirhan Sirhan . Grier jumped into the fray . Grier states , " So I see George Plimpton has the gun pointed at his face , and I ' m concerned that it is going to go off , so I put my hand under the trigger housing and I pulled back the hammer so it couldn ' t strike . I wrench the gun from Sirhan . I find the pin and I ripped it out and held it . Now I have the gun in my hand , so I shove it in my pocket . " Grier later said , " I grabbed the man ' s legs and dragged him onto a table . There was a guy angrily twisting the killer ' s legs and other angry faces coming towards him , as though they were going to tear him to pieces . I fought them off . I would not allow more violence . " Grier was well known in the 1970s for his hobbies of needlepoint and macrame , practices not normally associated with " macho " sports figures . Grier has a daughter from a previous relationship named Sherryl Brown - Tubbs . He later married Bernice Lewis , who had one child , Denise , whom he adopted before getting divorced . He then married Margie Grier and had a son , Roosevelt Kennedy Grier , in 1972 . He and Margie divorced in 1978 and remarried in 1980 . Margie Grier died on June 10 , 2011 . A nephew , Mike " Big Daddy " Grier , followed his uncle ' s career in sports when he enrolled as a student at Boston University , but he played ice hockey instead of football . Grier released his autobiography ' Rosey : The Gentle Giant ' in 1986 . Movies and television . Grier has appeared in a number of films and television shows . One of the first football stars to successfully transition to acting , he made about 70 television guest appearances , including a role as one of the security contingent in " The Brain Killer Affair " episode of " The Man from U . N . C . L . E . " ( 1964 ) as well as a cameo playing an athletic trainer in an episode of " I Dream of Jeannie " . He became a regular cast member starting in 1969 on the series " Daniel Boone " , " Make Room for Granddaddy " , and " The White Shadow " . In one " White Shadow " appearance , he donned his # 76 Los Angeles Rams jersey from his NFL playing days . Grier also sang the song " It ' s All Right to Cry " for the children ' s album and TV program " Free to Be … You and Me " . Grier appeared on the television game show " Match Game 74 " as a panelist . Grier starred in a handful of low - budget features , including " The Thing with Two Heads " ( 1972 ) and " The Glove " ( 1978 ) . Grier appeared in the 1974 - 1976 NBC TV series " Movin ' On " with Claude Akins , filmed in Grier ' s home state of Georgia . He appeared in a third season episode of Quincy , M . E . called Crib Job , in which he played himself as the director of a group called Giant Step , and 2 episodes of Kojak , one in the third season and one in the fourth season , as a bounty hunter called Salathiel Harms . He also appeared on an episode of " CHiPs " during the first season in 1977 , where he plays a distraught motorist who , during a routine traffic stop , proceeds to destroy his car in frustration by pulling it apart piece by piece . Grier also guest voiced in a 1999 episode of " The Simpsons " entitled " Sunday , Cruddy Sunday " . Community service . Grier has also written a number of books , and now travels the United States as an inspirational speaker . He is a cofounder of American Neighborhood Enterprises , an organization that works to help disadvantaged city dwellers buy homes and receive vocational training . Grier was ordained a Christian minister in 1983 , and the next year he founded his nonprofit resource center for inner - city teens , developing spiritual and educational programs for disadvantaged youths . Grier is a prominent member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity . He is also on the Milken Family Foundation board of trustees and serves as its program administrator of community affairs . He has been honored by Penn State as recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1974 , and the Alumni Fellow Award in 1991 . He was named to the NCAA ' s " List of the 100 Most Influential Student - Athletes ” published to commemorate the NCAA ' s 100th anniversary . In 1997 , he was inducted into the New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame .