'Rocky,' 'Mandalorian' star, director Carl Weathers dies at 76

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."

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.