Karl Weathers is an American actor, producer, director and professional footballer. Best known for her role as Appolo Creed in the Rocky series. He starred in the cult action movie "Predator", the comedy "Lucky Gilmore" and the sitcom "Slow Development". During his career, he participated in more than seventy films and series.
Childhood and youth
Carl Weathers was born on January 14, 1948 in New Orleans, Louisiana. A native of a working family, thanks to sports talents in the eighth grade, was able to get a place in a prestigious private school.
Throughout high school, Karl has been involved in many sports, including boxing, wrestling, judo, football and gymnastics. As a result, after graduation, he was able to get a sports scholarship at Long Beach College. He played for the local football team as a defender.
Sports career
A few years later, Karl Weathers transferred to the University of San Diego, where he began to play in a more attacking position. In 1970, he was not selected based on the annual draft of the players, so he joined the Auckland Raiders club as a free agent.
For two seasons in the National Football League, Karl Weathers had only a few matches and soon the contract with him was terminated. He soon joined the British Columbia Lions and spent several seasons in the Canadian Football League. In 1974, he began to study acting at the University of San Francisco, where he received a bachelor's degree. In the same year, Karl officially ended his sports career.
Most Notable Roles
In the mid-seventies, the actor appeared in several low-budget films. Carl Weathers also played a small role in the popular TV series Starsky and Hutch. In 1976 he auditioned for the role of Appolo Creed in the sports drama Rocky.
The film, based on the script of Sylvester Stallone, became a hit of the box office and won the Academy Award in the category "Best Film". Weathers appeared in three more sequels of the picture.
In 1987, another legendary role appeared in the filmography of Karl Weathers. He appeared in the film "Predator" - a genre mixture of action and horror films. The film became a hit movie and later became a cult, marking the beginning of a series of paintings.
In 1996, Carl appeared in the comedy "Lucky Gilmore" starring Adam Sandler. He later appeared in Sandler’s other film, Nikki the Devil Jr., in a cameo, repeating his role from Lucky Gilmore.
Other projects
In 2004, Karl Weathers appeared in the comedy series Slow Development, playing a fictional version of himself, a famous actor in the past, who is a teacher in one of the main characters of the sitcom Tobias, constantly extorting money from him.
In 2006, a new picture about Rocky Balboa was released. The film's director and screenwriter Sylvester Stallone requested permission to use video from the previous parts of the series from Weathers, Mr. T and Dolph Lundgren. Carl demanded a full-fledged role in the drama, despite the fact that the character of Apollo Creed died in the fourth part of the franchise. When Stallone refused, Weathers did not grant the right to use his image in the film.
Karl Weathers continues to work actively, participates in advertising campaigns of world famous brands and appears in small roles in popular television series and Hollywood films. Since the nineties, he has been trying himself as a director: Karl directed many episodes of television series and worked on a feature film that did not go on sale and was immediately released on home media. Sometimes the actor voices the characters of computer games.
Personal life
Karl Weathers was married three times, currently divorced. From her first marriage with Mary Ann Castle, there are two sons - Jason and Matthew.