Tommy Lee Jones – Best Ivy League Game Ever
The crowds are cheering their heads off, as the favored college football team Yale, accumulates an unsurmountable 22 -0 lead over its underdog opponent, Harvard. Both teams were Invictus during the season with 8-0 records and are now playing the final game at Harvard’s stadium.
With only 42 seconds remaining in the game, the score is still a shameful home score, 29 -13. Yet, the ball is moveable they say, and Harvard is not throwing in the towel. What follows is a TV-style miracle. Harvard scored 16 points to tie the game! In 42 seconds, movie or reality?
Reality! This is the recount of the 1968 Ivy League Final between Harvard and Yale, in which Tommy Lee Jones was Harvard’s Guard.
Who is Tommy Lee Jones
Jones was born on September 15, 1946, and is an American actor and director. He was a roommate to former vice president, Al Gore. From 1965 – 1968, he was a member of the Harvard Ivy League football team and was a selected member of the Harvard undefeated Ivy League selection.
A documentary based on the game has been released in which he was interviewed for the film.
Tommy Lee Jones Moves to the Screen
In 1969 Jones relocated to New York to pursue an acting career. He made his onstage debut that same year, in the theatrical A Patriot for Me in several supporting roles. He would continue playing small roles during the 1970s, except for the TV movie The Amazing Howard Hughes, where he played the lead role.
In 1983 Jones made acclaimed popularity when he won the Emmy for Best Actor for the TV movie The executioner’s Song. That same year he appeared as the pirate, Bully Hayes, in one of my favorite Jones movies, Nate and Hayes.
Six years later, he won another Emmy for his role in The Lonesome Dove. Fame was now at his doorstep and he would go on to win large lead roles and now on the big screen. Such movies included JFK, The fugitive, Volcano, Men in Black, and Batman Forever.
His performance as Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive received broad acclaim and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a sequel. When he accepted his Oscar, his head was shaved for his role in the film Cobb, which he made light of in his speech: “The only thing a man can say at a time like this is ‘I am not really bald’. Actually, I’m lucky to be working”. Wikipedia
Director Jones
In 2005 Jones moved forward into acting, becoming a director. His first film, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, was released at the Cannes Film Festival and won him an award for Best Actor.
In 2007 Jones landed an OSCAR and Academy Award nomination for Bes Actor for the movie No Country for Old Men.
Tommy Lee Jones has been one of my favorite actors over the years, and although he has taken a rest from the big screen, we still await the next sensation that will include him.
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