Carl Weathers, 'Rocky' And 'The Mandalorian' Actor, Has Died At 76
The actor, who had a brief NFL career, also starred in films such as 'Predator' and 'Happy Gilmore', as well as three episodes of 'Arrested Development'
The light switch of life has turned off. Actor Carl Weathers, best known as Apollo Creed in the first four Rocky movies, and for starring in films such as Predator, Action Jackson, and Happy Gilmore, among other films and television series died Thursday, February 1 at the age of 76. His family and publicist confirmed it Friday.
His family’s statement read “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Carl Weathers. He died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, February 1st, 2024. … Carl was an exceptional human being who lived an extraordinary life. Through his contributions to film, television, the arts and sports, he has left an indelible mark and is recognized worldwide and across generations. He was a beloved brother, father, grandfather, partner and friend.”
Weathers was born on January 14, 1948, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Having played a variety of sports including boxing, football, soccer, wrestling and gymnastics, he narrowed to football at San Diego State University. As a defensive end, he helped the Aztecs win the 1969 Pasadena Bowl. There, he mastered in theater arts before signing with the Oakland Raiders in 1970 as an undrafted free agent. His NFL career was brief, as a linebacker playing 8 games across the 1970 and 1971 seasons before signing with the Canadian Football League’s BC Lions and playing 13 games with them until 1973. His early TV roles included Good Times, the original Kung Fu and S.W.A.T., The Six Million Dollar Man, Starsky and Hutch, and Cannon.
His breakout was as Apollo Creed in Rocky, initially the cocky world heavyweight champion whom Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa faced there and in the sequel’s rematch. Their kinship would grow as Apollo would train Rocky for his match against Clubber Lang in the third film, before being killed in the ring by Russian behemoth Ivan Drago in the fourth film. Stallone on Instagram said Friday "Today is an incredibly sad day for me," Stallone said in the video where he held back tears but frequently pounded the counter in front of him. "I’m so torn up I can’t even tell you. I’m just trying to hold it in because Carl Weathers was such an integral part of my life, my success, everything about it. I give him incredible credit and kudos, because when he walked into that room, and I saw him for the first time, I saw greatness, but I didn’t realize how great."
He played CIA operative Al Dillon in 1987’s Predator, who was a Vietnam War buddy of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer. The Predator not only rips his arm off but ends up impaling him. It is in this role that Weathers became enshrined in internet meme culture via the “Epic Handshake” or the “Predator Handshake”, where Schaefer and Dillon greet each other with an arm-wrestling handshake, and each arm is captioned representing two differing parties agreeing on some off-the-wall thing. After playing Sgt. / Lt. Jericho "Action" Jackson in Action Jackson, he would appear in the Adam Sandler film Happy Gilmore, playing Gilmore’s golf coach Derick "Chubbs" Peterson. He would reprise the role in Little Nicky and have a voice role in Eight Crazy Nights.
The ‘90s would bring Weathers some series regular roles in the two seasons of Street Justice and the last season and TV movies of In the Heat of the Night, and a couple of TV movies with Hulk Hogan. In the 2010s he would make his way into NBC’s Dick Wolf-created universes, starring on Chicago Justice as State Attorney Mark Jeffries, following the backdoor pilot on P.D. and would cross over onto Law & Order: SVU. He would also gain his most prominent voice roles, Omnitraxus Prime on Star vs. the Forces of Evil, credited in ten episodes as a new Combat Carl debuting in Toy Story of Terror! and appearing again in 2019’s Toy Story 4, which was ultimately his final film role. That same year, he began his acclaimed role as Greef Karga in The Mandalorian. Appearing in 10 episodes, he directed two, the twelfth and twentieth (episode four of seasons two and three). Co-stars Pedro Pascal, Ming-Na Wen, Ahmed Best and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee all posted tributes to him on their socials as well. As much as two Mandoverse movies, including The Mandalorian and Grogu, are in development. However with no details available, it’s impossible to tell how much this will impact them or the series itself going forward.
In the wake of Weathers’s death, his Super Bowl ad for FanDuel is being “adjusted” out of respect for his grieving family, according to the company, though no further detail was given. The setup for the ad, as part of the company’s “Kick of Destiny 2” campaign, Weathers shows up to motivate a despondent Rob Gronkowski and coach him towards a second chance at success, having missed the field goal that would’ve given bettors on FanDuel’s Sportsbook a chance to collectively win $10 million in the original campaign last year.
Weathers is survived by his ex-wife, Mary Ann, and their two sons.
