George Plimpton in "The Paris Review". He also appeared in the 1996 documentary "When We Were Kings" about the "Rumble in the Jungle" 1974 Ali-Foreman Championship fight opposite Norman Mailer crediting Muhammad Ali as a poet who composed the world's shortest poem: "Me? Whee!!" Plimpton was a member of the cast of the A&E TV series "A Nero Wolfe Mystery" (2001–02). In 2013, the documentary "Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself", directed by Tom Bean and Luke Poling, was released. The film used archival audio and video of Plimpton lecturing and reading to create a posthumous narration. Plimpton was a demolitions expert
The Rumble in the Jungle sold at $20 (inflation-adjusted $), grossing $60million (inflation-adjusted $million) in the United States. The promoters and fighters received over half of the US closed-circuit revenue, generating an income of at least $30million for the promoters and fighters; Ali and Foreman were paid $5million each. In total, including closed-circuit and free television, the fight was watched by a record estimated television audience of 1billion viewers worldwide, about a quarter of the world's 4billion population in 1974. It was the world's most-watched live television broadcast at the time. In the United Kingdom, the fight was watched by 26million viewers on BBC One,