O.J. Simpson, the decorated football superstar and Hollywood actor who was acquitted of charges he killed his ex wife and her friend but later found liable in a separate civil trial, has died. He was 76.
Orenthal James Simpson was a beloved college football star in the late 1960s when he played for the University of Southern California, helping the team win the national championship his first year there. A year later in 1968, he won the Heisman Trophy.
Simpson went on to play 11 NFL seasons, nine of them with the Buffalo Bills, where he became known as “The Juice” on an offensive line known as “The Electric Company.”
While Simpson earned fame, fortune and adulation through football and show business — starring in several Hollywood movies and commercials — his legacy was forever tainted by the slaying of his second wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles in 1994.
A jury found him not guilty of murder in the "trial of the century," but a separate civil trial jury found him liable for the deaths and he was ordered to pay the families of Brown and Goldman $33.5 million.
A decade later, still plagued by legal woes, Simpson was convicted of armed robbery and other felonies when he led a group of armed men to confront two sports memorabilia dealers in a cramped Las Vegas hotel room. He served nine year in prison before being released on parole in October 2017.
Simpson is survived by five children: sons Jason and Aaren and daughter Arnelle from his first marriage; and son Justin and daughter Sydney from his marriage to Nicole Brown Simpson.
11 photos
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Bettmann via Getty Images
O.J. Simpson, USC’s running back, gives the victory sign as he is carried off the field by hundreds of cheering fans on Nov. 18, 1967.
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Photo by George Rizer/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Buffalo Bills player O.J. Simpson goes right as New England Patriots' Kevin Reilly lunges for him during a game at Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. on Dec. 14, 1975.
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Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images
Comedians Dan Akroyd (left), Garret Morris (second left), and John Belushi (right), along with former professional football player and actor O.J. Simpson, rehearse a skit on "Saturday Night Live" in New York on Feb. 24, 1978.
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Focus on Sport/Getty Images
Running back O.J. Simpson, #32 of the San Francisco 49ers, carries the ball against the Seattle Seahawks during an NFL football game on Oct. 7, 1979 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
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Photo by Ross Lewis/Getty Images
O.J. Simpson, professional football player with the Buffalo Bills, is inducted into the Wall of Fame in Rich Stadium on Sept. 14, 1980. (Photo by Ross Lewis/Getty Images)
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Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images
O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson pose at the premiere of “Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult” in which O.J. starred, on March 16, 1994 in Los Angeles, California.
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Photo by Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
California Highway Patrol chase O.J. Simpson, who was hiding in rear of a white Bronco driven by friend Al Cowlings on the 91 Freeway, just west of the 5 freeway in California June 17, 1994.
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Myung J. Chun-/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Murder defendant O.J. Simpson (C) listens to the not guilty verdict with his attorneys F. Lee Bailey (L) and Johnnie Cochran Jr. (R).
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Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
O.J. Simpson leaves the Santa Monica Courthouse after a day of testifying in his civil trial for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
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O.J. Simpson appears for the opening day of his trial at Clark County Regional Justice Center on Sept. 15, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Jason Bean / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
O.J. Simpson looks on during a parole hearing at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada on July 20, 2017.
