Carl Weathers

Carl Weathers

Carl Weathers at the Calgary Expo 2015
Born (1948-01-14) January 14, 1948
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Occupation Actor, professional football player
Years active 1973–present (actor)
1970–74 (football player)
Spouse(s) Mary Ann Castle (m. 1973; div. 1983)
Rhona Unsell (m. 1984; div. 2006)
Jennifer Peterson (m. 2007; div. 2009)
Children 2

Football career

No. #49, #55
Position: Linebacker
Career information
College:

San Diego State

San Francisco State University
Undrafted: 1970
Career history
Career NFL statistics
Sacks: None
NFL Games Played: 8 games, 1970–71
Total Games Played: 18: 8 in NFL, 10 in CFL
Player stats at NFL.com

Carl Weathers (born January 14, 1948) is an American actor and former professional football player. He is best known for portraying Apollo Creed in the Rocky series of films. He also portrayed Jericho "Action" Jackson in Action Jackson, Dillon in Predator, Chubbs Peterson in Happy Gilmore and Little Nicky, and a fictionalized version of himself on the comedy series Arrested Development.

Early life

Weathers was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] He graduated from St. Augustine High School - New Orleans in 1966 and then attended Long Beach City College and San Diego State University. During high-school he was an all around athlete, involved in boxing, football, gymnastics, judo, soccer, and wrestling. He earned his B.A. in Drama from San Francisco State University in 1974.

Football career

Weathers played football as a linebacker both in college and professionally with Steven Diaz. He started his college career in 1966 at Long Beach City College, 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 in 1968 and 1969.

Weathers had a brief professional career with the Oakland Raiders; he played seven games in 1970 and one in 1971. He joined the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League in 1971 and played until 1973, 18 games in total. During the off-seasons, Weathers attended San Francisco State University and finished his B.A. in Drama in 1974. He retired from football in 1974, and began pursuing an acting career. [2] In his professional football career, he played for Hall of Fame coaches Don Coryell (at San Diego State) and John Madden with the Oakland Raiders.

He was chosen to narrate NFL Films' season recap of the 2001 Oakland Raiders season.

Acting career

Weathers had his first parts 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 entitled "The Nude", portraying an angry husband who suspected his wife of cheating on him with main character J.J. In 1975, he guest starred in an episode of Kung Fu entitled "The Brothers Caine".

In 1976, he appeared as a loan shark in an episode of the crime-drama Starsky and Hutch while also landing the role alongside Sylvester Stallone in Rocky as Apollo Creed, a role he reprised in the next three Rocky films in 1979, 1982, and 1985. For the penultimate 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 movies. Mr. T and Lundgren agreed, but Weathers wanted an actual part in the movie, even though his character had died in Rocky IV. Stallone refused, and Weathers decided not to allow Stallone to use his image for flashbacks from the previous Rocky movies. They instead used footage of a fighter who looks similar to Weathers.[3]

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 misogynist 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".

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.

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.

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.[4] He also appeared in one episode of ER as the father of an injured boxer during their 2008 finale season.

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!".

Personal life

Outside of acting, Weathers is a member of both Big Brothers and the United States Olympic Committee. In February 1973, he married Mary Ann Castle, with whom he has two sons, Jason and Matthew. They were divorced in July 1983. In February 1984, he married Rhona Unsell. He married Jennifer Peterson, his third wife, in 2007. They divorced in 2009.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1973 Magnum Force Demonstrator Uncredited
1975 Friday Foster Yarbro
1975 Bucktown Hambone
1976 The Four Deuces Taxi Cab Driver
1976 Rocky Apollo Creed
1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind MP
1977 Semi-Tough Dreamer Tatum
1978 The Bermuda Depths Eric
1978 Force 10 from Navarone Sgt. Weaver
1979 Rocky II Apollo Creed
1981 Death Hunt Sundog / George Washington Lincoln Brown
1982 Rocky III Apollo Creed
1985 Rocky IV Apollo Creed
1985 Braker Lieutenant Harry Braker
1986 The Defiant Ones Cullen Monroe
1987 Predator Agent George Dillon
1988 Action Jackson Sgt. / Lt. Jericho "Action" Jackson
1990 Dangerous Passion Kyle
1992 Hurricane Smith Billy "Hurricane" Smith
1995 Op Center Gen. Mike Rodgers Uncredited
1996 Happy Gilmore Chubbs Peterson
1997 Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island Roy Brown
1999 Shadow Warriors 2: Hunt for the Death Merchant Roy Brown
2000 Little Nicky Chubbs Peterson
2002 Eight Crazy Nights GNC Water Bottle Voice
2004 Balto III: Wings of Change Kirby Voice
2005 Alien Siege General Skyler
2006 The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang Dr. Artimus Snodgrass
2007 The Comebacks Freddie Wiseman / Narrator
2012 American Warships General McKraken

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1975 Good Times Calvin Brooks Episode: "The Nude"
1975 Kung Fu Bad Sam Episode: "The Brothers Caine"
1976 Starsky and Hutch Al Martin Episode: "Nightmare"
1977 Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected Hank Dalby Episode: "A Hand For Sonny Blue"[5]
1987 Fortune Dane Fortune Dane
1989–90 Tour of Duty Colonel Carl Brewster Recurring role, 9 episodes
1991–93 Street Justice Adam Beaudreaux Main role
1993 In the Heat of the Night Police Chief Hampton Forbes
2003–07 The Shield Joe Clark Episodes: "Haunts", "Partners"
2004–13 Arrested Development Carl Weathers 4 episodes
2010 Psych Boone Episode: "Viagra Falls"
2011–13 Regular Show God of Basketball Voice role; episodes: "Slam Dunk", "Bank Shot"
2013 Toy Story of Terror Combat Carl Voice
2016 Colony Beau Recurring role

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2015 Mortal Kombat X Jax Briggs DLC; voice and likeness

References

  1. ↑ Carl Weathers Biography (1948–)
  2. ↑ Peters, Ida. "The Afro American". Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  3. ↑ stated by Stallone on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (Dec. 21, 2006).
  4. ↑ Red Tight Media
  5. ↑ Classic Television Archive: Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (1977)

External links


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