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“We’d been doing it all along,” Mike says. “It would be just him and me. I must have one of the hardest heads of all of mankind. I don’t think he ever hurt me.” As brothers, they were a perfect match: Michael seemed to have the head to endure a serious pounding, and Henry had the hands to deliver the pounding. “He’s got catcher’s mitts for hands,” Michael says. “He’s got hydraulic strength in his hands.”
FROM HERO TO DE NIRO
Former co-manager John Riley says it is “hard to believe pound-for-pound anyone ever hit harder than Henry.”
“Goldman Sachs was and still is a great outfit,” Milligan says. “I loved learning, met a lot of great people, but it turns out selling just isn’t one of my strengths.” In the early ‘90s, Henry’s friendly outlook and past boxing experiences helped him snag another key job. He had done some modeling and commercial work over the previous few years, and an old pal in the talent industry called about a film role, thinking Milligan would be perfect for the part. It turned out to be the opportunity of a lifetime: a scene opposite Robert De Niro in the 1992 film Night and the City. Milligan plays a role close to his heart—an up-and-coming boxer—while De Niro portrays a con man turned promoter. “Being on that set was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done for money and probably the most invigorating two days of my life,” Milligan says. “It’s one of those things I can always say I did.” It may come as no surprise that Milligan still harbors hopes of working more as a professional actor. As a teacher and successful athlete, his desire to be center stage and perform must be hardwired into his system. It’s also not lost on him how lucky he is that his one screen credit happens to be opposite De Niro. Nor is that lost on other notable actors in the area. “It’s a big deal,” says Lee Murphy, a longtime friend of Milligan’s and a Wilmington actor who recently played the secretary of defense in House of Cards, which stars Kevin Spacey. “I remember the movie and seeing him in it. That was pretty cool.” “I’m still waiting for Henry to win an Academy Award,” he adds with a laugh. It’s a laugh that acknowledges the fact that Milligan’s resume is so diverse it borders on the ridiculous. Like the fantastic character at the center of the Dos Equis campaign, Milligan certainly could be The Most Intriguing Man in Milligan plays a young boxer named “Cotton” in a scene with Robert De Niro in 1992’s Night and the City. Delaware, at least.
Those hands helped give Henry an edge in other sports as well. In 1977, as a senior at A. I. duPont High School, he was named Delaware’s “Athlete of the Year,” making all-state in football, wrestling and baseball. At Princeton, he received a school record 10 varsity letters in the same three sports, all while earning an engineering degree (He might have earned 12 letters if Ivy League schools allowed freshmen to participate in football and baseball). “He’s a very modest guy and obviously a smart guy,” says Bob Schwinger, Milligan’s freshman roommate and longtime friend. “Henry is the [least] self-impressed athlete I ever met. He was always more concerned with how other people felt.” Perhaps it’s Milligan’s mixture of drive and humility that helps him attract people and opportunities. He was elected president of the student body while earning an MBA at NYU’s Stern Business School in the late-‘80s. Shortly afterward he landed a job as an investment broker at Goldman Sachs on Wall Street.
20 JUNE 2014 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
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Photos provided by Henry Milligan
5/23/14 9:08 AM