Hailing from Lawernce, Kansas, John Willard Hadl might have been somewhat undersized at quarterback standing at 6'1, but he's been able to create quite the legacy for himself as an elite passer and athlete in pro-football. Prior to his AFL/NFL career, John Hadl played his collegiate football in his home state at the University of Kansas where he not only played quarterback, he played halfback and defense back as well. In 1960, Hadl was named All-American for his performance as a running back and All-American the following year for his performance as a quarterback. Hadl led the Jayhawks to victory in the Bluebonnet Bowl in 1961 and won MVP in the College All-Star Game that same year.
John Hadl was selected 10th overall in the 1962 NFL Draft and 24th overall in the third round of the 1962 AFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers where he played from 1962 to 1972. In 1963, Hadl helped lead the Chargers to an AFL Championship and was named a 4x AFL All-Star and 2x NFL Pro Bowler throughout his sixteen-season pro-football career. In 1971, Hadl led the league in passing yards and touchdowns. Prior to retiring in 1978, John Hadl also played for teams like the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, and Houston Oilers.
Celebrities are no strangers to changing their looks for a role. And in some instances, they have to get pretty extreme. From 500-calorie-a-day diets to drinking pints of ice cream, Actors and actresses know what it takes to change their bodies in preparation for a new film.
Charlize Theron is no stranger to gaining and losing weight for movie roles, as we remember her transformation in Monster. Charlize Theron gained close to 50 pounds for her role as Marlo in Tully. Theron said that “for the first time in my life I was eating so much processed foods and I drank way too much sugar. … I remember having to set my alarm in the middle of the night in order to just maintain the weight.”
You’re used Chris Hemsworth's hulk-like figure in Thor, but In the Heart of the Sea required a totally different diet. The movie required the cast members lose a ton of weight to make their stuck-at-sea plight more believable. Chris Hemsworth said there were days when all he ate was one boiled egg, a couple of crackers, and a celery stick.
Anne Hathaway wanted to get serious for her role in Les Misérables, as she was playing Fantine, a starving prostitute with tuberculosis. So Anne Hathaway went on a diet of “rabbit food” to drop 25 pounds. Hathaway explained her diet was essentially just starving herself, but she didn’t want to give details, as she doesn’t want to encourage anyone to copy her emaciated look. She did note that she “just had to stop eating for a total of 13 days shooting,” however. And at one point, her bones became so frail that she reportedly broke her arm.
Matthew McConaughey's portrayal of Ron Woodruff in Dallas Buyers Club, a man with HIV/AIDS, was spot-on, earning him the title of best actor at the Oscars. But it also required a serious physical transformation. Matthew McConaughey said he lost 38 pounds for the role. During filming, he said he lost a lot of energy from eating so little — and he hit plenty of plateaus along the way. Finally, with a strict diet, he got down to 143 pounds. And while he did cardio to help with the weight loss, he said it was 90% what he was eating and portion size.
Hilary Swank had to put on 23 pounds of pure muscle for her role as a boxer in Million Dollar Baby. The process doesn’t sound easy, however. “I started working out five hours a day — I had to eat 210 grams of protein a day,” Swank said. She also mentioned that she had to consume 60 egg whites per day, and when that proved too difficult, she had to drink them. And to keep the muscle on, she would get up and drink protein shakes in the middle of the night.