Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Actor Carl Weathers died Tuesday at age 76. Deadline confirmed the news via a statement from Weathers' family Friday and Variety with Weather's manager.
The family stated that Weathers "died peacefully in his sleep."
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1 of 5 | Carl Weathers has died at age 76. File Photo by Chris Chew/UPI | License Photo
Weathers appeared in the first four Rocky movies as Apollo Creed. Apollo was Rocky's (Sylvester Stallone) opponent in the first two, trainer in the third and his death at the hands of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) motivated Rocky's fourth bout.
The Creed films follow Apollo's son, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan). The Drago family challenged Adonis in Creed II.
A diverse career spanned action movies like Predator and Action Jackson, comedies like Happy Gilmore and drama in TV's Chicago Justice.
Weathers recently appeared in and directed episodes of The Mandalorian. Weathers also voiced Combat Carl in the Toy Story franchise.
His movie career began with an uncredited appearance in the 1973 Dirty Harry sequel Magnum Force. He began directing with a 1995 episode of Renegade.
Roman Gabriel
Roman Gabriel, the NFL's first first Filipino-American quarterback who played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1962 through 1972, takes a snap against the Green Bay Packers. Gabriel died at the age of 83 on April 20. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Rams
