Family life
On June 24, 1967 Simpson married Marguerite L. Whitley. Together they had three
children: Arnelle L. Simpson (born December 4, 1968), Jason L. Simpson (born
April 21, 1970) and Aaren Lashone Simpson (born September 24, 1977). In 1979,
Aaren drowned in the family's swimming pool a month before her second birthday.
That same year Simpson and Marguerite were divorced.
On February 2, 1985, Simpson married Nicole Brown. They had two children, Sydney
Brooke Simpson (born October 17, 1985) and Justin Ryan Simpson (born August 6,
1988), and were divorced in 1992. O.J. Simpson was found liable for the wrongful
deaths of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman in a civil case in 1997, but was
acquitted of all criminal charges in a now infamous court case.
Acting
After his retirement from football and in the NFL, Simpson went on to a
successful film career with parts in films such as the television mini-series
Roots, and the dramatic motion pictures The Cassandra Crossing, Capricorn One,
The Klansman, The Towering Inferno, and the comedic Back to the Beach and The
Naked Gun trilogy. In 1979, he started his own film production company Orenthal
Productions, which dealt mostly in made-for-TV fare such as the family-oriented
Goldie and the Boxer films and Cocaine and Blue Eyes, the pilot for a proposed
detective series on NBC. Simpson was considered for the lead role in The
Terminator, before it was decided audiences might not accept him as a relentless
villain, due to his "nice guy" image.
Simpson's amiable persona and natural charisma landed him numerous endorsement
deals. He was a spokesman for the Hertz rental car company. He would often be
shown running through airports, as if to suggest he was back on the football
field. Simpson was also a longtime spokesman for Pioneer Chicken and owned two
franchises, one of which was destroyed during the LA riots, as well as
Honeybaked Hams, the pX Corporation, the Calistoga Water Company's line of Napa
Naturals soft drinks, and he appeared in comic book ads for Dingo shoes.
Besides his acting career, Simpson had stints as a commentator for Monday Night
Football and The NFL on NBC. He also hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live,
but he was the only host not invited to attend the program's 25th anniversary
celebration special in 1999.
