Harold Bradley

He later starred in over 25 Italian films as an actor and opened an art and music studio in Rome.

• Name — Harold Bradley Jr. • Position — Guard • Born — 13 October 1929 • Birthplace — Chicago, Illinois, U.S. • Died — 13 April 2021 • Place of death — Rome, Italy • Height Ft — 6 • Height In — 2 • Weight Lb — 230 • High School — Englewood (IL) • College — Iowa • Undraftedyear — 1951 • Pastteams — * Cleveland Browns (1954–1956) • Philadelphia Eagles (1958) • Pfr — BradHa22

Harold Bradley Jr. was born in Chicago, and grew up in the West Woodlawn neighborhood on Chicago's south side. His father, Harold Bradley Sr., was one of 13 African-Americans to participate in the NFL before World War II, playing for the Chicago Cardinals in 1928. Like his father before him, Harold Bradley Jr. played football at Englewood High School in Chicago and enrolled at the University of Iowa after graduation.

By joining the Hawkeyes football team, Harold Bradley Jr. completed the first African-American father-son combination to play football for the University of Iowa; his father played for the Hawkeyes in 1926. Bradley Jr. was one of five African-Americans to play for the Hawkeye football team in 1950, when the team finished the season with a road game at the University of Miami. Bradley and his four African-American teammates, nicknamed the "Orange Bowl Five", became the first African-Americans to play at the historic Orange Bowl stadium, a contest won by Miami, 14-6. Bradley capped his Hawkeye football career by being named team MVP of the 1950 Iowa football team. He graduated from Iowa in 1951 with a degree in fine arts.

After leaving Iowa, Bradley served for three years in the U.S. Marines. He played football for a team called the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego Devil Dogs from 1951–1953, where he was discovered by a coach for the Cleveland Browns. Bradley then played three seasons for the Cleveland Browns from 1954–1956, winning NFL championships with the team in 1954 and 1955. He finished his pro football career with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1958. By playing four seasons of pro football in the 1950s, Bradley joined with his father to complete the first African-American father-son combination to ever play in the NFL.

Bradley earned a scholarship in 1959 to study at the University for Foreigners of Perugia in Italy. He then opened an art studio in Rome named Folkstudio in 1962. During the day, Bradley used the studio to display his paintings while turning it into a jazz club in the evenings. Several prominent musicians, including Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, would go on to perform at Folkstudio. Bradley also broke into acting in 1960, landing a role the following year in the film Barabbas. He would star in more than a dozen Italian films over the next seven years, mostly in the sword-and-sandal genre. Bradley's cinematic work during this time included notable roles in two 1965 films: Tucos in Sette contro tutti (Seven Rebel Gladiators) and George Harris in La capanna dello zio Tom (Uncle Tom's Cabin). In 1968, Bradley moved back to the United States after accepting a job as a curator for the Illinois Arts Council, in Chicago. He went on to teach history of education at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and work with the university's Center for Upgrading Education Services (CUES) in its extension projects with local Champaign schools. Later, he took on a posting at the Illinois State Board of Education, in Springfield, producing instructional and educational television. During the 18 years he spent commuting between Champaign, Illinois and Springfield, Illinois he produced and hosted three prime-time public-affairs shows – Soul Side, Close-Up for the CBS affiliate and "People Beat" for the NBC affiliate. Race and intercultural issues were the main focus of his interviews. During the next two decades, Bradley also made occasional appearances in movies and on television. Bradley visited Italy in 1987 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Folkstudio, and he soon decided to take up permanent residence there. After returning to Italy, Bradley made a few more film appearances, mostly in Italian films but also a small role in the movie Daylight, starring Sylvester Stallone. He also appeared on six albums of spiritual- and folk-inspired music.

Bradley resided in Rome, Italy. He and his wife Hannelore have two daughters, Michaela and Lea, and a son, Oliver.

Lionel Hampton, Pete Seeger, Totò Torquati, Luca Casagrande, Annette Meriweather, Jho Jenkins, Tony Scott, Juliette Gréco, Gianni Morandi, Nanni Loy, Gordon Scott, Pina Cei, Mark Forest, Thomas Fritsch, John Kitzmiller, Alfredo Kraus, Eduardo Sola-Franco, Géza von Radványi, Anthony Quinn, Jack Palance, Elizabeth Taylor

• McGraw Hill. • Illinois Arts Council. Curator. 1968 • University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign / CUES • Illinois Sesquicentennial Commission. 1968 • Illinois State Board of Education. Superintendent for Public Instruction, Educational and Instructional Television Department. Producer

• La tragica notte di Assisi, (1960) • Barabbas, (1961) • Io, Semiramide, servo di Semiramide (1962) • Maciste il gladiatore più forte del mondo, (1962) • Il gladiatore di Roma, (1962) • Cleopatra, (1963) • Maciste l'eroe più grande del mondo, (1963) • L'eroe di Babilonia, (1963) • Jason and the Argonauts, (1963) • Tarzak contro gli uomini leopardo, (1964) • Maciste nell'inferno di Gengis Khan, (1964) • La caduta dell'impero romano, (1964) • La capanna dello zio Tom, Harris (1965) • Sette contro tutti, uno dei sette gladiatori (1965) • Missione apocalisse, King Joe (1966) • Per amore... per magia..., Genio Hassan (1967) • Troppo per vivere... poco per morire, (1967) • I giorni della violenza, Nathan (1967) • Sing Sing chiama Wall Street, (1987) • Pacco, doppio pacco e contropaccotto, (1993) • Daylight – Trappola nel tunnel, Police Chief (1996) • Memsaab, (1996) • Solo x te, Angelo del Supermercato (film TV) (1998) • Gangs of New York, menestrello (2002) • In ascolto, esaminatore del poligrafo (2006) • The Same Love – l'Amore è Uguale Per Tutti, (2010) • Habemus Papam, Cardinale (2011) • Miss Wolf and the Lamb, (cortometraggio) (2011) • YouTube Playlist: Harold Bradley – Cinema. Compiled by Oliver Bradley

• La donna di fiori, barman parts 1, 4, 5, 6, (1965) • La fiera della vanità, Sambo nella part #1.1, (1967) • The Chisholms, servant parts 1, 2, 3, 4, (1979) • Valeria medico legale, with C.Koll 2nd season, 1st part Bentornata Valeria, (2002) • Questa Sera parla Mark Twain with P. Stoppa • Il grande coltello with M. Girotti

• Tango (1966–67) • L'avvenimento (1966–67) • Shakespeare in Harlem, by Langston Hughes • Mister Jazz, by L. Hughes • The Dutchman, by LeRoi Jones. Directed by S. Zacharias • La Putain Respectuese, by Jean-Paul Sartre • Arriva l'uomo del Ghiaccio. Directed by L. Squarzina • Il Volpone, by Ben Jonson • Purlie. Musical. Directed by G. Romans • A Spasso con Daisy (Driving with Miss Daisy). Co-protagonist with Pina Cei • Se non ci fosse la Luna. Musical • La città di Dio. Directed by M.Prosperi

• 1= Close-Up – WCIA – Channel 3 (CBS) 1969–1975 • 1= Soul Side WCIA – Channel 3 (CBS) 1970–1975 • People Beat – WICD – Channel 15 (NBC) 1975–1980

• Folkstudio: Harold Bradley. Claudio Villa Notti Romane RAI TV 1965

• NsBDGRiOj6w Carrera occhiali (2011)