Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies, dies aged 76

Actor Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies, joined forces with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator and taught golf in Happy Gilmore, has died aged 76.

His manager Matt Luber said Weathers died on Thursday. His family issued a statement saying he died "peacefully in his sleep."

Weathers was perhaps most closely associated with Creed, who made his first appearance as the cocky, undisputed heavyweight world champion in 1976’s Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone.

He later added a false wooden hand to play a golf pro for the 1996 comedy classic Happy Gilmore opposite Adam Sandler.

A true great man. Great dad. Great actor. Great athlete. So much fun to be around always. Smart as hell. Loyal as hell. Funny as hell. Loved his sons more than anything. What a guy!! Everyone loved him. My wife and I had the best times with him every time we saw him. Love to… pic.twitter.com/Gi2lPWFTgt

— Adam Sandler (@AdamSandler) February 2, 2024

Sandler has paid tribute to Weathers as a great dad, actor and athlete.

"So much fun to be around always," he said.

"Smart as hell. Loyal as hell. Funny as hell. Loved his sons more than anything. Love to his entire family and Carl will always be known as a true legend."

Weathers was as comfortable flexing his muscles on the big screen in Action Jackson as he was joking around on the small screen in such shows as Arrested Development,

"It [Rocky] puts you on the map and makes your career, so to speak. But that’s a one-off, so you’ve got to follow it up with something," he told The Daily Beast in 2017.

"Fortunately those movies kept coming, and Apollo Creed became more and more in people’s consciousness and welcome in their lives, and it was just the right guy at the right time."

Most recently, Weathers starred in the Disney+ hit The Mandalorian, appearing in all three seasons, for which he earned an Emmy nomination in 2021.

He appeared in the first four Rocky movies before his character died in the ring of 1984’s Rocky IV, going toe-to-toe with Soviet Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren.

A bloodied Creed collapses in the ring after taking a vicious beating, twitches and is cradled by Rocky as he dies, inevitably setting up a fight between Drago and Rocky.

Weathers went on to 1987’s Predator, where he flexed his pecs alongside Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura and a host of others.

He also starred in 1988’s nouveau blaxploitation flick Action Jackson, where he trains his flamethrower on a bad guy and asks, “How do you like your ribs?” before broiling him.

He also voiced Combat Carl in the Toy Story franchise.

Weathers grew up admiring actors such as Woody Strode, whose combination of physique and acting prowess in Spartacus made an early impression.

Others he idolised included actors Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte and athletes Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali.

"There are so many people that came before me who I admired and whose success I wanted to emulate, and just kind of hit the benchmarks they hit in terms of success, who created a pathway that I’ve been able to walk and find success as a result. And hopefully I can inspire someone else to do good work as well," he told the Detroit News last year.

"I guess I’m just a lucky guy."

Growing up in New Orleans, Weathers started performing in plays as early as grade school. In high school, athletics took him down another path but he would reunite with his first love later in life.

Weathers played college football at San Diego State University — he majored in theatre — and went on to play for one season in the NFL, for the Oakland Raiders, in 1970.

"When I found football, it was a completely different outlet," says Weathers told the Detroit News. "It was more about the physicality, although one does feed the other. You needed some smarts because there were playbooks to study and film to study, to learn about the opposition on any given week."

Weathers is survived by two sons.

Story By: AP

Original Story link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-03/rocky-apollo-creed-actor-carl-weathers-dies/103423024