The 5 Most Important Roles Of Carl Weathers

Carl Weathers, action icon and titan of the big screen, has passed away at the age of 76. Per a family statement reported by Deadline, Weathers "died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, February 1st, 2024." He leaves behind a legacy spanning decades and a collection of beloved characters.

Born in New Orleans, Weathers was a star athlete before he became a star actor. He played football at San Diego State University and even had a brief career in the NFL, playing for the Oakland Raiders (now the Las Vegas Raiders) in 1970 and 1971. After a couple more years playing in the Canadian Football League, Weathers started turning his occasional side gig as an on-screen extra into a full-blown acting career. The rest is history.

No matter what character Weathers was playing on the screen, he always left an indelible mark. And though his physical frame made him hard to miss, it was his picture-perfect delivery and persistent charisma that made him such a popular performer. In honor of Weathers' long and storied career, let's take a look back at some of his most important roles and the larger mark he left on pop culture.

There is no other place to begin a list of Carl Weathers' most iconic roles than with Apollo Creed, the character who launched him to stardom and remains his most famous to this day. Nobody could have anticipated the box office hit that "Rocky" became, nor the massive impact it still has on American pop culture. But even before anyone knew it was going to be a smash, capturing the character of Apollo was no small feat.

It's hardly a secret that Creed was partially based on Muhammad Ali, down to the pretty face, flair for performance, and quick wit in the media. Ali remains one of the most singular icons in the history of professional sports, and while no fictional character could ever measure up to him, Weathers' performance takes inspiration where necessary while constructing a unique persona all his own.

Over the course of the first four Rocky movies, Apollo goes from bitter rival to stalwart friend, only to be killed off brutally in "Rocky IV." It's a shame that Weathers was never given an opportunity to reprise the role in any of the modern-day Creed movies, which follow Apollo's son Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) on his own boxing journey. Still, the success of those films is in part a testament to the lasting appeal of Weathers' character. In a 2023 interview with The Detroit News, Weathers called the Creed franchise "a part of my legacy, in a sense."

Very few co-stars have ever been able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Arnold Schwarzenegger and not be dwarfed by either his imposing figure or his massive star power. Carl Weathers, however, is on that list. There may be no more iconic moment of action hero camaraderie than the heavily memed handshake-high-five-arm-wrestle greeting between Schwarzenegger's Dutch Schaefer and Weathers' Al Dillon at the start of "Predator." Though Dillon meets an unceremonious end later on in the movie, he still leaves a lasting impression.

To hear Weathers tell it, the making of "Predator" was almost as eventful as the film itself. "You know, there's a great line: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," Weathers joked in a 2020 interview with GQ. "What happened during 'Predator' stays in 'Predator.' But, yes, all is true. There were nightclubs. We were a bunch of young guys. We were all in our own way trying to one up each other." The actor explained that Schwarzenegger had an entire gym set up for use around filming, which prompted a lot of good-natured posturing between the various stars.

"Nobody wanted to look any weaker than the other guy," Weathers explained. "So, you know, it was competition constantly, competition in front of the camera, competition behind the camera, competition at night." Watching the film today, that kind of cast camaraderie clearly comes through in the finished product.

While he's probably still known best as a movie star, Carl Weathers had a lot of prominent TV roles over the course of his career. He starred in the brief detective series Fortune Dave, played Adam Beaudreaux for three years on "Street Justice," appeared as himself in a couple of hilarious cameos on "Arrested Development," and had a recurring role as Mark Jefferies in the One Chicago franchise.

Weathers' performance as Hampton Forbes on the '90s crime procedural "In the Heat of the Night" is one of his most famous on the small screen. Though he only appeared on the show for a small part of its seven-season run, he played a major part in that time as police chief Hampton Forbes. The role showed more of Weathers' immense versatility than he often got to explore in his film roles, and it established him after "Street Justice" as a TV star just as much as he was a movie star.

Typecasting can be hard to avoid in Hollywood, especially when you're a former NFL player turned action icon. It would have been easy for Carl Weathers to keep sliding into tough guy roles for the rest of his career after "Rocky" and "Predator," but he had much more to offer the world, as shown by his hilarious performance as Derick "Chubbs" Peterson in "Happy Gilmore."

Just as charming in silly comedies as in inspiring dramas, Weathers played the eponymous golfer's mentor with perfect timing and nonstop laughs. See, Chubbs could have been the next Arnold Palmer if that dang alligator hadn't taken his hand (though, of course, he got the gator's eyeball in return). It's a ridiculous character in one of Adam Sandler's most ridiculous movies, and it's impossible to imagine anyone other than Weathers taking it on. In the wake of his death, Chubbs' funny but touching piano performance of "We've Only Just Begun" takes on an added emotional layer.

In his later years, Carl Weathers added another iconic character to his roster in the form of Greef Karga, High Magistrate of Nevarro and former Bounty Hunters' Guild leader, on "The Mandalorian." Playing opposite Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin, Weathers brought all the charm, humor, and occasional tough guy clout he showcased throughout his career.

It's not a stretch to say that Greef has become one of the most popular supporting Star Wars characters of the Disney era. Future stories won't be the same without Weathers there to play him. He has a full arc over the course of the show's first three seasons, embodying the transformation of a war-torn galaxy into a place where people can thrive and build something good together once again. His bounty hunting turns to local administration, and it's rewarding to see Greef put himself in the service of his community instead of his pocketbook. Weathers even stepped behind the camera to direct two episodes of the show, continuing an impressive directing career that included episodes of "Law & Order," "Chicago Med," and "Hawaii Five-0."

For his part, Weathers enjoyed joining the Star Wars universe but also saw it as a big responsibility. "It's tough because you've got a lot to live up to," he said in a 2023 interview with Hypebeast. "For me, it was so exciting to be a part of it and such a challenge at the same time."