OK – I knew that one, but other Brimley facts I didn’t know…

He was a farmer and rodeo rider who, after gaining weight, became a blacksmith and then a film actor.

He is a controversial activist; he paid from his own funds for ads to have Utah allow horse-race gambling, and he was actively opposed to the banning of cockfighting. He has campaigned in Arizona and New Mexico against laws banning cockfighting.

He is a big fan of the late Republican President William Howard Taft — so much so that he altered his appearance to look more like him.

Source: IMDB