Carl Weathers

Carl Weathers (born January 14, 1948) is an American actor and former professional American football player. Several of his best known roles are Apollo Creed in the first four Rocky films, George Dillon in Predator, Chubbs Peterson in Happy Gilmore and in Little Nicky, Detective Adam Beaudreaux in television series Street Justice, a fictionalized version of himself on the comedy series Arrested Development, and a recurring role as Greef Karga in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian.

Carl Weathers
Weathers at the New York Comic Con in October 2017
Born (1948-01-14) January 14, 1948
Alma mater
OccupationActor, American football player
Years active
  • 1973–present (actor)
  • 1970–1974 (football player)
Height6 ft 2 in (1.87 m)
Spouse(s)
  • Mary Ann Castle
    (m. 1973; div. 1983)
  • Rhona Unsell
    (m. 1984; div. 2006)
  • Jennifer Peterson
    (m. 2007; div. 2009)
Children2

Football career
No. 49, 55
Position:Linebacker
Career information
College:San Diego State
Undrafted:1970
Career history
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com

As a football player, Weathers played from 1970 to 1971 for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League and from 1971 to 1973 for the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League.

Early life

Weathers was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] His father was a day laborer. As an eighth-grade student, he earned an athletic scholarship to St. Augustine High School, a private school.[2] He was an all-around athlete, involved in boxing, football, gymnastics, judo, soccer, and wrestling. He graduated in 1966.

Football career

Weathers played football as a defensive end in college. He started his college career in 1966 at Long Beach City College,[2] where he did not play in 1966 due to an ankle injury suffered when he tripped over a curb surrounding the running track while warming up for practice with another linebacker, Paul Snow. He then transferred and played for San Diego State University, becoming a letterman for the San Diego State Aztecs in 1968 and 1969,[3] playing for head coach Don Coryell.

After he went undrafted, Weathers signed with the Oakland Raiders as a free agent in 1970. Now playing as a linebacker,[2] Weathers played seven games for the Raiders in 1970, helping them win the AFC West Division title, on their way to the first ever AFC Championship Game, and he played in one game in 1971. The Raiders released Weathers, and he signed with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League in 1971 and played until 1973,[4] playing 18 games in total. During the off-seasons, Weathers attended San Francisco State University and earned a bachelor's degree in drama in 1974. He retired from football in 1974, and began pursuing an acting career.[5]

Weathers narrated NFL Films' season recap of the 1999, 2000 and 2001 seasons.[6] During the 2017 NFL Draft, he appeared on NFL Network's pre-draft coverage.[7]

Acting career

Weathers began working as an extra while still playing football.[2] He had his first significant roles in two blaxploitation films directed by his longtime friend Arthur Marks: Bucktown (1975) and Friday Foster (1975). Weathers also appeared in an episode of the 1970s sitcom Good Times titled "The Nude", portraying an angry husband who suspected his wife of cheating on him with J.J. In 1975, he guest starred in an episode of Kung Fu titled "The Brothers Caine," and also appeared in an episode of "Cannon" titled "The Hero" in 1975. In 1976, he appeared as a loan shark in an episode of the crime-drama Starsky and Hutch. In 1976 he appeared on Barnaby Jones as escaped convict Jack Hopper, episode “The Bounty Hunter”.

While auditioning for the role of Apollo Creed alongside Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, Weathers criticized Stallone's acting, which led to him getting the role.[8] He reprised the role of Apollo Creed in the next three Rocky films in 1979, 1982, and 1985.

Weathers is briefly seen as an Army MP in one of the three released versions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (originally released in 1977). In 1978, Weathers portrayed Vince Sullivan in a TV movie, Not This Time. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Weathers starred in a number of action films for the small and big screen, including Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Predator (1987), Action Jackson (1988), and Hurricane Smith (1992). As a member of the cast of Predator, Weathers worked with future California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and future Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura. Many years later he appeared in a spoof segment on Saturday Night Live, announcing that he was running for political office and urging viewers to vote for him on the basis that "he was the black guy in Predator".[9]

He also appeared in Michael Jackson's "Liberian Girl" music video and co-starred in the Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore, as Chubbs, a golf legend teaching Happy how to play golf. He reprised the role nearly four years later in the Sandler comedy Little Nicky.

During the final two seasons of In the Heat of the Night, his character, Hampton Forbes, replaced Bill Gillespie as the chief of police. Another noted TV role was Sgt. Adam Beaudreaux on the cop show Street Justice. He also played as MACV-SOG Colonel Brewster in the CBS series Tour of Duty.[10]

In 2004, Weathers received a career revival as a comedic actor beginning with appearances in three episodes of the comedy series Arrested Development as a cheapskate caricature of himself, who serves as Tobias Fünke's acting coach. He was then cast in the comedies The Sasquatch Gang and The Comebacks. Weathers had a guest role in two episodes of The Shield as the former training officer of main character Vic Mackey.[11]

Weathers provided the voice for Colonel Samuel Garrett in the Pandemic Studios video game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. In 2005, he was a narrator on Conquest! The Price Of Victory - Witness The Journey of the Trojans!, an 18-part television show about USC athletics. Weathers is a principal of Red Tight Media, a film and video production company that specializes in tactical training films made for the United States armed forces.[12] He also appeared in one episode of ER as the father of an injured boxer during their 2008 finale season.

For the sixth film in the Rocky series, Rocky Balboa (2006), Stallone asked Weathers, Mr. T, and Dolph Lundgren for permission to use footage from their appearances in the earlier Rocky films. Mr. T and Lundgren agreed, but Weathers wanted an actual part in the movie, even though his character had died in Rocky IV.[13] Stallone refused, and Weathers decided not to allow Stallone to use his image for flashbacks from the previous films. They instead used footage of a fighter who looks similar to Weathers.[14] Weathers and Stallone patched up their differences and Weathers agreed to allow footage of him from previous films to be used throughout Creed.[13]

Weathers portrayed the father of Michael Strahan and Daryl "Chill" Mitchell's characters on the short-lived 2009 Fox sitcom Brothers. Weathers is currently acting as Brian "Gebo" Fitzgerald in advertising for Old Spice's sponsorship of NASCAR driver Tony Stewart. He also appears in an ongoing series of web-only advertisements for Credit Union of Washington, dispensing flowers and the advice that "change is beautiful" to puzzled-looking bystanders. He is also starring in a series of commercials for Bud Light, in which he introduces plays from the "Bud Light Playbook." At the conclusion of each commercial, Weathers can be seen bursting through the Bud Light Playbook and shouting "Here we go!"[15]

In 2019, Weathers appeared as Greef Karga in several episodes of the first season of the Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. He returned for the second season and also directed the episode "Chapter 12: The Siege". [16]

Personal life

Weathers and his ex-wife, Mary Ann, have two sons.[2]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1973Magnum ForceDemonstratorUncredited
1975Friday FosterYarbro
BucktownHambone
1976The Four DeucesTaxi Cab Driver
RockyApollo Creed
1977Close Encounters of the Third KindMP Officer
Semi-ToughDreamer Tatum
1978Force 10 from NavaroneSgt. Olen Weaver
1979Rocky IIApollo Creed
1981Death HuntGeorge Washington Lincoln "Sundog" Brown
1982Rocky IIIApollo Creed
1985Rocky IV
1987PredatorColonel Al Dillon
1988Action JacksonSgt. / Lt. Jericho "Action" JacksonNominated–NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
1992Hurricane SmithBilly "Hurricane" Smith
1996Happy GilmoreChubbs Peterson
2000Little Nicky
2002Eight Crazy NightsGNC Water BottleVoice
2004Balto III: Wings of ChangeKirbyVoice
2006The Sasquatch GangDr. Artimus Snodgrass
2007The ComebacksFreddie Wiseman / Narrator
2019Toy Story 4Combat CarlVoice

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1975Good TimesCalvin BrooksEpisode: "The Nude"
1975 Cannon Dan Daily Chronicle reporter Episode: "The Hero"
1975The Six Million Dollar ManStolarEpisode: "One of Our Running Backs Is Missing"
1975Kung FuBad SamEpisode: "The Brothers Caine"
1976Starsky & HutchAl MartinEpisode: "Nightmare"
1976Barnaby JonesJack HopperEpisode: "The Bounty Hunter"
1977Quinn Martin's Tales of the UnexpectedHank DalbyEpisode: "A Hand For Sonny Blue"[17]
1978 The Bermuda Depths Eric Television film
1985 Braker Lt. Harry Braker
1986 The Defiant Ones Cullen Monroe
Fortune DaneFortune DaneMain role, 5 episodes
1989–90Tour of DutyColonel Carl BrewsterRecurring role, 9 episodes
1990 Dangerous Passion Kyle Western Television film
1991–1993Street JusticeAdam BeaudreauxMain role, 44 episodes
1993–1995In the Heat of the NightPolice Chief Hampton ForbesMain role, 28 episodes
1995 OP Center Gen. Mike Rodgers Television film
1997 Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island Roy Brown
1999 Shadow Warriors 2: Hunt for the Death Merchant
2003; 2007The ShieldJoe ClarkEpisodes: "Haunts", "Partners"
2004; 2013Arrested DevelopmentCarl Weathers4 episodes
2005 Alien Siege Gen. Skyler Television film
2008Phoo ActionChief Benjamin BensonTV pilot
ERLouie TaylorEpisode: "Oh, Brother"
2010PsychBooneEpisode: "Viagra Falls"
2011; 2013Regular ShowGod of BasketballVoice; Episodes: "Slam Dunk", "Bank Shot"
2012 American Warships General McKraken Television film
2013Toy Story of Terror!Combat Carl and JrVoice; TV special
2016ColonyBolton "Beau" MillerRecurring role, 9 episodes
Chicago P.D.State's Attorney Mark JefferiesEpisodes: "Justice"; "Favor, Action, Malice or Ill-Will"
2017Chicago JusticeMain role, 13 episodes
2017–2019Star vs. the Forces of EvilOmnitraxus PrimeVoice; Recurring role, 10 episodes
2018Law & Order: Special Victims UnitState's Attorney Mark JefferiesEpisode: "Zero Tolerance"
Magnum P.I.Dan SawyerEpisode: "From the Head Down"
2019Pinky MalinkyThe ApologizerVoice
2019–presentThe MandalorianGreef Karga7 episodes; Director: "Chapter 12: The Siege"

Video games

Year Title Voice role Notes
2005Mercenaries: Playground of DestructionCol. Samuel Garrett
2015Mortal Kombat XJax BriggsDLC; likeness

References

  1. "Carl Weathers Biography (1948–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  2. Arnold, Gary (June 25, 1979). "Carl Weathers of 'Rocky II,' in Search of Something Cerebral". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  3. "IT WAS 'BU WHO?' : Aztecs Saw Their Hopes of 'Big Time' Go Awry - latimes". Articles.latimes.com. December 28, 1986. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  4. Hoglund, Andy (June 5, 1968). "When to Turn Your Football Career Into an Acting Career". Newsweek.com. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  5. Peters, Ida. "The Afro American". Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  6. "Catching up with Carl Weathers: ROCKY'S Apollo Creed". Silver Screen Artists. Archived from the original on April 14, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  7. Apollo Creed lives again: Carl Weathers joins NFL Draft coverage on 'Rocky' steps
  8. Parker, Ryan (December 3, 2015). "Carl Weathers Looks Back on Creed: Sparring With Ali, Slighting Stallone and Passing the Torch". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  9. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0694513
  10. "Thanks for the Memories". Tour of Duty Info. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  11. Norden, Martin F. (2007). The Changing Face of Evil in Film and Television. Rodopi. p. 116. ISBN 978-9042023246.
  12. "Red Tight Media". Red Tight Media. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  13. Mitchell, Aric (November 24, 2015). "Carl Weathers, Sylvester Stallone May Have Mended Their Differences Over 'Creed'". Inquisitr. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  14. stated by Stallone on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (December 21, 2006).
  15. "Bud Light Airraid: Carl Weathers and Bud Light steal Norm Chow's (and Bruce Eien's) playbook". Smart Football. October 23, 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  16. "https://twitter.com/thecarlweathers/status/1329649955192008704". Twitter. External link in |title= (help)
  17. "Classic Television Archive: Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (1977)". Ctva.biz. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
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