Bradley Jay Lesley (September 11, 1958 – April 28, 2013) was an American actor, media personality and former professional baseball pitcher. Lesley was an especially imposing physical figure, standing and weighing . Nicknamed "The Animal", he was known for his aggressive style of self-motivation.

Early life

Bradley Lesley was born in Turlock, California, and he attended Turlock High School. Overall in his rookie season, he pitched 28 games (all in relief) with an 0-2 record but a fine 2.58 earned run average. The following season he appeared in only five games for the Reds, going 0-0 with a 2.16 ERA, and in 1984 he pitched in 16 Reds' games, going 0-1 with a 5.12 ERA. He participated in games such as Devil's Domain, Stuck Up, and his own game, Animal Bang. Takeshi's Castle would later be shown in the US on the cable network Spike TV as Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, later shortened to MXC.

Actor

Lesley appeared in several feature films, including Brother (2000) (as Moose), Big Monster on Campus (2000) (as Arnie), Buddy (1997) (as Ali Baba), A Boy Called Hate (1996) (as the Moving Truck Driver), Little Big League (1994) (as John 'Blackout' Gatling) and Mr. Baseball (1992) (as Niven).

Personal life

Lesley was married at one time to Chiho Svimonoff and they had one son, Kentaro (健太郎). They later divorced.

Death

By early 2013, Lesley had been suffering from kidney problems and had been living in a nursing home for many months, where he was receiving dialysis.

Celebrity entertainment show TMZ obtained Lesley's death certificate and reported that he died of a heart attack brought on by a case of coronary artery disease (not kidney failure, as previously reported).

References

, or Retrosheet

  • Japanese baseball cards and video clips of Brad Lesley