He was raised in Riverdale, California, in the San Joaquin Valley. He was a star player at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA before being drafted by the Green Bay Packers.


Under the name Carlos Brown, played for the National Football League's Green Bay Packers (1975-1976) and the Canadian Football League's British Columbia Lions (1978). His daughter Lauren Autry can be seen "In the Heat of the Night" (1988) episode "Every Man's Family" as the little girl in the park who comes up to Bubba (Autry) and says "Hey, mister, can we have our frisbee back?" She also appeared with him in The Legend of Jake Kincaid (2002) (TV). Originally said he wouldn't run for re-election as mayor of Freseno, CA, in 2004 when his term expired, but changed his mind and on March 2, 2004 easily won re-election with over 72% of the vote. He changed his mind about running again after the candidate he endorsed as his replacement dropped out of the race. His second term will expire in January 2009. His biological father was Carl Autry. His mother was Verna Brown. They divorced when he was around a year old. His mother married stepfather Joe Duty when he was six years old. He was appointed to the California State Film Commission by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. He became a born-again Christian in October 1986.