Carl Weathers became famous in the role of “Rocky” boxer Apollo Creed. Now the US actor and former professional athlete has died at the age of 76. Hollywood stars such as Sylvester Stallone (77) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (76) expressed their sadness and paid tribute to their colleague. Manager Matt Luber announced Weathers’ death on Friday (local time). According to his family, the actor died “peacefully” in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday.
As the boxer Apollo Creed, Weathers appeared alongside Stallone in four “Rocky” films (1976 to 1985). In 1987 he filmed the action film “Predator” with Schwarzenegger. Before his acting career, Weathers was a professional football athlete.
This is an incredibly sad day, Stallone said in an emotional video message on Instagram. Weathers was such an important part of his life and his “Rocky” success. Stallone regretted the loss of a “legend”. Over the course of the “Rocky” series, the characters Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa (Stallone) were initially arch enemies in the boxing ring, but then friends. In “Rocky IV,” Creed was fatally injured in a boxing match with the giant Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren).
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“Carl Weathers will always remain a legend,” Schwarzenegger wrote on Instagram on Friday about a photo together on the set of “Predator.” He was an “extraordinary athlete, a fantastic actor and a great person”. In John McTiernan’s 1987 sci-fi action thriller “Predator,” they played Vietnam veterans fighting alien creatures in a jungle.
Actors Adam Sandler (57), Dane Cook (51) and director Robert Rodriguez (55) also paid tribute to Weathers.
Weathers also appeared in numerous television productions, including the crime series “The Law of the Street” and the role of a prosecutor in “Chicago Justice.” Most recently, he portrayed the character Greef Karga in the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian.”
