Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown, an unstoppable running back who retired at the peak of his brilliant career to become an actor as well as a prominent civil rights advocate during the 1960s, has died. He was 87.

A spokeswoman for Brown’s family said he passed away peacefully in his Los Angeles home on Thursday night with his wife, Monique, by his side.

“To the world, he was an activist, actor, and football star,” Monique Brown wrote in an Instagram post. “To our family, he was a loving husband, father, and grandfather. Our hearts are broken.”

[Perhaps one of the greatest football players of all time; certainly the greatest running back of his era, and arguable any other era, given the emphasis on the run when Brown played. He had a number of film roles too, not necessarily all in top-drawer movies, but Brown always carried himself with unassailable dignity and grace. He will be missed. RIP. — Ed]