Key events in OJ Simpson's fall from sports hero, movie star

A beloved football hero in the 1960s and '70s, he transitioned effortlessly to movie star, sports commentator and TV pitchman in the years that followed.

Here's a timeline of major events in the life of Simpson, now 70, who has been imprisoned in Nevada for armed robbery and on Thursday was granted parole.

Simpson wins the Heisman Trophy, college football's top honor.

Simpson retires, having rushed for 11,236 yards, second most in NFL history at the time.

Simpson, who had been appearing in TV shows and commercials since the late 1960s, co-stars in the first of the "Naked Gun" crime comedies, perhaps his most popular role.

After a trial in a civil suit filed by the victims' families, a jury finds Simpson liable for the deaths and orders he pay survivors $33.5 million.

— July 2007: A federal bankruptcy judge awards the rights to a book by Simpson, in which he discusses how he could have committed the killings, to Goldman's family as partial payment of the judgment.

— Oct. 3, 2008: A jury finds Simpson and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart guilty of kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and conspiracy charges.