O.J. Simpson, the former football star turned actor who was cleared in a dramatic trial of killing his ex-wife and her friend, passed away from cancer, according to his family. He passed away at his Las Vegas residence on Wednesday at the age of 76.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” his family said on his official X account. His kids and grandkids were all around him. In this period of change, his family kindly requests that you honor their requests for discretion and dignity.
Simpson was held responsible in a civil claim filed by the relatives of the victims three years after his criminal trial, despite the fact that he was not found guilty of the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Orenthal James Simpson, who was born in San Francisco, played football professionally for the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers, setting records and winning the Heisman Trophy while at USC.
Before becoming pro as a football player, he began acting while still a student at USC, making appearances on “Medical Center.” While still playing in the NFL, he had appearances in television miniseries “Roots” and motion pictures including “The Towering Inferno,” “The Cassandra Crossing,” and “The Klansman.”
He played in three “Naked Gun” films and the comedy “Back to the Beach” after quitting football. When he was arrested, the NBC adventure series “Frogmen” abruptly ended after he had finished a two-hour pilot.
His ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were discovered dead outside their Brentwood condominium on June 12, 1994. As Simpson was thought to be a person of interest in the deaths, charges were brought against him. Simpson had entered a plea of not guilty to a domestic abuse case against Nicole Brown Simpson during their marriage. Rather than surrender, he tried to escape in his white Ford Bronco and the police pursued him at a leisurely pace, setting up a media frenzy. The June 17 televised pursuit attracted around 95 million viewers.
After the trial turned into a media circus, Simpson was acquitted of the two murders. However, when Goldman’s family filed a civil lawsuit against Simpson in 1997, he was judged accountable for both Nicole Brown Simpson’s abuse and Goldman’s tragic death. He was mandated to reimburse $33.5 million for losses.
He was freed in 2017 after spending almost nine years in jail for robbery, abduction, and other offenses related to a Las Vegas sports memorabilia conspiracy.
The infamous trial has been documented in a number of Hollywood movies and television shows, including the Oscar-winning “O.J.: Made in America” (2016), FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” (2016) starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Investigation Discovery’s “OJ: Trial of the Century” (2014), and Fox’s “The O.J. Simpson Story” (1995). In an uncomfortable but unforgettable interview, Sacha Baron Cohen—disguised as himself for his 2018 Showtime series “Who Is America?”—tried to coax a confession out of Simpson. Simpson received an early parole release in 2021 because to his exemplary conduct.
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