Carl Weathers was an unknown actor auditioning for a movie when he was introduced to the screenwriter — also a struggling nobody — and told to do the scene with him. The writer mumbled his way through the lines and then Weathers, nervous about blowing his shot, said, "If you get me a real actor, I can do a lot better."
The Stallone Tribute to the "Brilliant" Carl Weathers
It turned out that the writer was the actor. But fortunately Sylvester Stallone was not offended and Weathers got the role of Apollo Creed, which changed the history of cinema and his life forever.
"He came at the last minute with all the attributes: the body, the skill, the soul and the acting ability," Stallone said in a video tribute after Weathers' death in February at age 76. "I could never 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 undoubtedly part of what 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 comedic actor (“Happy Gilmore”) and director (“Mandalorian”). And Weathers continued to expand his world by co-writing his first television drama.
