Carl Weathers was an unknown actor on a cattle call audition for a movie when he was introduced to the screenwriter — also a struggling nobody — and was told to do the scene with him. The writer mumbled his way through the lines and afterwards, Weathers, nervous that he blew his shot, blurted out, “If you get me a real actor, I could do a lot better.”
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Turns out the writer was the actor. But fortunately, Sylvester Stallone was not insulted, and Weathers got the role of Apollo Creed, changing movie history, and his life, forever.
“He showed up at the eleventh hour with all the attributes: the body, the skill, the soul and the acting chops,” Stallone said in a video tribute after Weathers’ death in February at the age of 76. “I never could have accomplished what we did with ‘Rocky’ without him. He was magic.”
Weathers was, and always will be, Apollo Creed, a towering figure in the quintessential American film franchise; and his work in the first four “Rocky” films is undeniably part of what has led to Weathers being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Aug. 29. But Weathers was much more than Apollo Creed — ambitious and curious, he became an action star (“Predator”), then proved himself as a comic actor (“Happy Gilmore”) and a director (“Mandalorian”). And Weathers continued to expand his world, co-writing his first television drama.
Weathers is not only remembered by fans for his acting but also by those who knew him for his demeanor when the cameras weren’t rolling. “He was a cool dude, and there’s nothing Hollywood about him at all,” says David Cross, who worked with him when Weathers played an extremely cheap and greedy version of himself on “Arrested Development.”
“Carl always had command of the room but was very humble about it,” says CCH Pounder, who played his wife on the sitcom “Brothers.”
“Everyone looked toward him and he set the tone on the set,” adds Michael Strahan, who played Weathers’ son in that show. “He didn’t have an ego and could take a joke, which loosened everyone else up. He wanted the challenge as actor, but he was there to play. He always came in with joy.”
Weathers’ success came from his determination and ambition — let’s just call it the eye of the tiger — but also from his “uncanny ability to be hyperfocused, to be so quiet in the mind while he focused on what was in front of him,” says Christine Kludjian, his partner for the last decade.
She noticed this about Weathers, whom she recalls as loving and generous, on their five-hour first date. “He was truly present, giving you his attention,” she says, adding that this trait, along with his emphasis of both humor and trust, were why she fell in love with him but also were strongly connected to his career success. “You see the gleam in his eye in ‘Rocky’ and it’s the same thing — he’s so interested in the other person and the truth of the moment.”
Weathers was also always interested in his evolution. Born in New Orleans, he grew up in the segregated South as a sensitive kid drawn to acting and singing. But then he discovered football and flourished, earning a scholarship to a prestigious Catholic school, then eventually earning a full ride at San Diego State University, where he starred as a defensive end. After the team went undefeated in 1969, Weathers went undrafted in the NFL but went on to earn a spot as linebacker with the Oakland Raiders. He appeared in eight games before bouncing to the Canadian Football League.
Sports remained central in his life, Kludjian says but, most importantly, he was always true to himself. “He had zero apologies about his size, his intelligence, his ethnicity and the tone and tenor of his voice,” she says. “He owned it all.”
Meanwhile, Weathers kept studying his true love, acting. He scored a couple of appearances as an extra while still playing and then landed his first speaking part as an angry husband on an episode of
“Good Times.”
“What impressed me was that he was versatile and well-prepared,” says John Amos, one of the stars of that show. “He was a consummate professional.”
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Fellow “Good Times” actor Jimmie Walker adds that Weathers remained down-to-earth, even when hanging out with stars like Dennis Hopper and James Caan. “He was a friend from the gym, not a showbiz friend,” Walker recalls. “We didn’t talk about work, we talked about food or his sons. And then he’d read the L.A. Times front to back while riding on the stationary bike. He was a great guy.”
A year after that bit part, Weathers was world famous from “Rocky.” But he never really changed, even after Creed led to a role opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator” and the title role in “Action Jackson.”
“He was humble and really enjoyed the craft,” remembers his son Matt. “He was proud of his accomplishments, but he was not in it for the glitz and glamour.” (And while Matt was thrilled to be on hand when his father filmed the training and racing scene in “Rocky III,” he says their conversations were “loving father-son talks — he was direct but he cared about what you were going through and provided intelligent perspective, compassion and love.”)
By the 1990s, Weathers was ready for new challenges. He shifted gears and began tackling comedic roles. In a tribute video, Adam Sandler said of his “Happy Gilmore” co-star, “he was built like a truck, cool as hell and handsome as hell,” but he added that Weathers was “so sweet to us and helped us relax immediately.”
Cross notes that while Weathers could be funny, he succeeded at comedy for the opposite reason. “I’ve seen other dramatic actors try to be funny and it’s uncomfortable and awkward,” he says. “This role was probably harder than playing Apollo Creed. He came on to the crazy and silly show and didn’t try to be funny, he knew it already was over-the-top and funny so he played his role with subtlety.”
Around the same time Weathers began doing comedy, he also slipped comfortably into a new role: director. He helmed episodes of “Silk Stalkings,” “The Last O.G.,” “Chicago Med” and “The Mandalorian.” (On that show, he also earned his first acting Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Greef Karga.)
Kludjian says directing had become as important to him as acting and that he was flourishing because he understood what his actors needed, which came from his own approach to acting. “He did three Masters Classes at the studio where I teach acting and told my students that you have to be as present as a cat watching a fish in a bowl so you can be open to your impulses,” she says. “He also believed you have to have the contained energy of a hummingbird.”
Weathers loved acting and directing but he was still expanding his horizons. A chance coffee shop meeting with TV writer Jason Wilborn led to a friendship (Weathers even was the officiant at Wilborn’s wedding) and ultimately collaboration. Wilborn brought him an idea about a Black FBI agent, who is transferred to a rural outpost in the Pacific Northwest, and the two began developing it into a series. “He had a lot of things he wanted to say about being Black in America and about patriotism and legacy,” Wilborn says.
Four days before Weathers’ death, they reached an agreement with “Insecure” showrunner Prentice Penny to produce it. Wilborn says they’re still moving forward with the show. “It would be a fitting tribute, keeping his voice alive.”
Kludjian says, at home, the couple constantly challenged each other’s ideas about acting, directing and writing. “I lost a romantic partner and life adventurer but also an artistic collaborator,” she says. “The loss is profound.”
It was also a shock, especially since he was so vibrant and busy. One thing that Kludjian is glad about is that the night before Weathers died, they had a conversation about his receiving the Walk of Fame star. “Carl was someone who liked to stay even-keeled,” she says. “But he was genuinely over the moon about this honor.”
Tipsheet
WHAT: Carl Weathers receives a star on teh Hollywood Walk of Fame
WHEN: Aug. 29, 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: 7076 Hollywood Blvd.
WEB: walkoffame.com
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