M&F: Before acting full time, you were an athlete.
DG: I kind of made the San Diego Chargers on the taxi squad for a while. Back in those days, they just kept you around as a tackling dummy. They paid you, like, $22,000 and just killed you every week. It was fun.
Coming out of school, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere and wasn’t going to do anything with sports. In college I played basketball; I was a good shooter, but in my sophomore year I had a bad car accident that gave me double vision. I don’t think anybody knew. I played fairly well for what I had to deal with.
How’d the accident happen?
A guy in the fraternity drove us home from practice, came over a hill, and didn’t stop at a red light. A truck came over another hill and hit us broadside. I was in the passenger seat and had a basal skull fracture. I was pretty messed up—they thought I was going to die. I never got rid of the scar on my face, though, and that worked in the movie business.
How’d you get into acting?
I broke in doing stunts. Then Revenge of the Nerds came up, and the stunt coordinator got me. He said, “They’re looking to fill the Ogre character, and you’d be perfect.” I landed the role. I found out I could be funny. From that point on, I just did straight acting.
How often do you see the guys from the Nerds movies?
Not that often. Back in the Revenge of the Nerds days, Robert Carradine was kind of crazy—he liked to drive fast cars, and he’d get in trouble. But he’s a great guy.
Can you really burp like Ogre?
[Laughs] No. Though I do remember them telling me they had 26 different sounds mixed together to get that burp just right.
In addition to playing Ogre in Revenge of the Nerds, Don Gibb is known for starring as Ray Jackson in Bloodsport; he also played a viking in the Capital One commercials.
