Missing Man

Former All-Pro running back/sometime actor Jim Brown is fourth-billed in “The Running Man” behind Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso and Yaphet Kotto. But Brown’s on screen only a brief few minutes, playing the formidable Fireball, a Schwarzenegger nemesis who attacks with flames from a thrower strapped to his back. Could director Paul-Michael Glaser have cut Brown down to size in the editing room?

Not at all, said Brown, 51: “It was not a much larger role than it turned out to be. There was just one scene--an eerie shot without dialogue--that I would have liked to see get in. But very few actors get everything in.”

Brown called his high billing “kind of surprising.” He’s not “actively seeking roles” these days, he said, but is more interested in producing “low-budget, quality films” through his recently formed Ocean Productions.