Sadly, within the past week, we lost the irreplaceable and amazing Carl Weathers. I’ve been trying to do more posts from this series and I will try to do more in the future. In light of Carl Weather’s passing and given that it’s Black History Month, I think he is a good place to start in 2024. How much do you know about Carl Weathers?
He was born in New Orleans in 1948. Little is known about his parents; his father was a hard-working day laborer; even less is known about his mother. He was a very athletic person, playing numerous sports in high school.
He played defensive end in college where he also received a master’s in theater arts. In 1970 he was drafted as a linebacker for the Oakland Raiders under coach John Madden. He retired from football in 1974 to pursue his acting career.
Star Wars and Other Filmography
If you grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, like I did, he should be no stranger to you. If you didn’t know who Carl Weathers was, then you must have been living under a rock. He is most known as Apollo Creed from the Rocky franchise, Dillon from Predator, and “Chubbs” from Happy Gilmore. He also had an unnamed role in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Weathers is in a lot of one-off episodes of several popular television series including S.W.A.T. (1975), Starsky and Hutch (1976), ER, and Psych. He had a starring role in Street Justice and a recurring role in In the Heat of the Night.
His role as Greef Karga in The Mandalorian brought him into the Star Wars Universe. Fans adored him and he loved the fans.
He passed away, peacefully in his sleep, on February 1st. RIP. #BePeace
