Sad news on the passing of Carl Weathers, this week. The actor passed away on February 1st, aged 76. His family released a statement through his agent to announce that he died “peacefully in his sleep”.Carl appeared with Lee Majors in one of his acting roles, on the 3rd season The Six Million Dollar Man episode ‘One of Our Running Backs Is Missing’, which Lee also directed. Some 15 years later they appeared together again in the hit show Tour of Duty, about the lives of a U.S Army platoon during the Vietnam War. Lee appeared on-screen with Carl in two 3rd season episodes, ‘War Is a Contact Sport’ and ‘The Raid’
Carl in one of his first acting roles on The Six Million Dollar Man episode ‘One of our Running Backs is Missing
Carl was well know for numerous film roles, including 4 of the Rocky films, with Sylvester Stallone. as well as Dillon in the hit 1987 actioner Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Carl was not a stranger to TV roles appearing in TV series such as Street Justice (1991-1993), In the heat of the Night (1993-1995) and Chicago Justice (2017).
He is probably most well know to modern TV audiences for his role as Greef Karga on the hit Disney Star Wars show The Mandalorian.
Carl Weathers in TOUR OF DUTY with Lee Majors.
Tributes soon pooured in for the star, as news of his passing spread.
”Carl Weathers was such an integral part of my life, my success… When he walked into that room and I saw him for the first time, I saw greatness, but I didn’t realised how great,” said Stallone.
DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter hailed ”a great hero to the DGA and the entertainment industry and ”an exceptionally dedicated leader of the Guild for the past 20 years”. She added, ”His service to the DGA was as broad and as deep as his wonderful booming voice – bringing his heart and soul to every volunteer effort.”
Links:
Carl’s IMDB page
The Guardian reports on Carl’s passing.
Wikipedia page on Carl