Carl Weathers
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| Carl Weathers | |
| Born | January 14, 1948 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
|---|---|
Carl Weathers (born January 14, 1948) is an American actor, as well as former professional football player in the United States and Canada. He is well known for playing Apollo Creed in the Rocky series of films, as well as his role as Dillon in the first Predator movie.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Personal life
Weathers was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] He graduated from St. Augustine High School and then went to San Diego State University. Outside of acting, he is a member of both Big Brothers and the United States Olympic Committee. In April 2007, he married Jennifer Peterson, a documentary filmmaker.
[edit] Football career
Weathers played football both collegiately and professionally as a linebacker. He started his college career in 1966 at Long Beach City College. He then transferred and played for San Diego State University. This led to a brief professional career with the Oakland Raiders, where he played 7 games in 1970 and one game in 1971. He joined the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League in 1971 and played until 1973, 18 games in total. He retired in 1974 to become an actor.
In his football career, he played for hall-of-fame coaches Don Coryell (at San Diego State) and John Madden with the Oakland Raiders.
[edit] Acting career
Weathers had his first parts in two Arthur Marks directed 1970s blaxploitation films: Bucktown and Friday Foster, both in 1975. Weathers also appeared in an episode on the 70's sitcom Good Times as an angry husband who suspected his wife of cheating on him with J.J. Ironically, though his character was presumably supposed to be older, Carl is actually one year younger than Jimmie Walker. He noted that this was not the first time he worked with Arthur Marks; they had known each other since they were young.
In 1976, he starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in Rocky as Apollo Creed, a role he would reprise in the next three Rocky films in 1979, 1982, and 1985. For the final film in the Rocky series, Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone asked Weathers, Mr. T, and Dolph Lundgren for permission to use footage from their appearances in the earlier Rocky movies. Mr. T and Dolph Lundgren acquiesced, but Weathers wanted an actual part in the movie, even though his character died in Rocky IV. Stallone refused and Weathers decided not to allow Stallone to use his image for Rocky flashbacks from the previous movies. They instead used new footage of a fighter who looks similar to Weathers.[2]
In 1978, Carl portrayed misogynist Vince Sullivan in the TV movie, Not This Time. Weathers also 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), and is briefly seen as an Army MP in one of the three released versions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 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 played Chubbs in Happy Gilmore, teaching Happy how to play golf.
During the final season of In the Heat of the Night, his character of Hampton Forbes replaced Bill Gillespie as the chief of the Sparta, Mississippi police. He continued that role in the television movies based on the series. Another noted TV role was on the cop show Street Justice where he played Sgt. Adam Beaudreaux. 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 3 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.[3] 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.[citation needed]
He also appeared in one episode of ER as the father of an injured boxer during their 2008 finale season.
He 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.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Friday Foster | Yarbro | |
| Kung Fu | Bad Sam | "The Brothers Caine" episode | |
| See, Pop? | GlobaKett Industries employee #2 | Uncredited | |
| Bucktown | Hambone | ||
| 1976 | The Four Deuces | Taxi Cab Driver | |
| Rocky | Apollo Creed | ||
| 1977 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | MP | |
| 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 | |
| 1986 | Fortune Dane | Fortune Dane | TV series |
| 1987 | Predator | Major George Dillon | |
| 1988 | Action Jackson | Sgt./Lt. Jericho "Action" Jackson | |
| 1989-1990 | Tour Of Duty | Col. Brewster | TV series |
| 1990 | Dangerous Passion | Kyle | |
| 1991-1993 | Street Justice | Sgt. Adam Beaudreaux | TV series |
| 1992 | Hurricane Smith | Billy 'Hurricane' Smith | |
| 1993-1994 | In the Heat of the Night | Chief Hampton Forbes | TV series |
| 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 Guy | voice only |
| 2004 - 2005 | Arrested Development | Himself | TV series |
| 2005 | Alien Siege | General Skyler | |
| 2006 | Spawn: The Animation | Captain Edwards | TV series, voice only |
| The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang | Dr. Artimus Snodgrass | ||
| 2007 | The Comebacks | Freddie Wiseman/Narrator | |
| 2008 | Phoo Action | Police Chief Benjamin 'Ben' Benson | TV series |
[edit] References
- ^ Carl Weathers Biography (1948-)
- ^ stated by Stallone on Jimmy Kimmel Live Dec. 21, 2006
- ^ Internet Movie Database entry for Mercenaries (2005) video game
