Today at “Ain’t We Lucky We Got ‘Em,” I’m paying tribute to actor Carl Weathers, who guested on “The Nude,” the 16th episode of Season 2. In this episode, J.J. is commissioned to paint a portrait of a resident of their housing complex, Charlene Brooks (Betty Bridges), also known as “The Wiggler.” As it turns out, Charlene wants J.J. to paint her in the nude (hence the episode’s title) as a birthday surprise for her husband, Calvin – played by Weathers – but a compromise is reached and J.J. paints her in a bathing suit. Nonetheless, when Calvin shows up at the Evans apartment, he misunderstands the situation and he’s not too happy, to say the least.

The episode, interestingly enough, first aired on January 14, 1975 – Carl Weathers’s 27th birthday – 50 years ago today.

A native of New Orleans, Lousiana, Weathers moved to California with his family when he was a high school student; as a teen, he demonstrated his interest in acting by performing in school plays, and he excelled in sports, including football, boxing, and wrestling. He attended San Diego State University, helping the football team win the 1969 Pasadena Bowl, and played professional football with the Oakland Raiders and the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League. While he wasn’t busy on the football field, Weathers landed acting jobs as an extra and earned his Bachelor’s degree in drama from San Francisco State University.

Weathers’s appearance on Good Times was his first acting credit, but he was a standout from the start and it didn’t take long for the handsome, muscular performer to begin racking up the gigs. His films included two 1975 blaxploitation films featuring Pam Grier and directed by Arthur Marks, Bucktown and Friday Foster. “My first love was acting,” Weathers said years later. “I went to Sidney Poitier films as a kid. I sat in the theater and dreamed of being an actor.”

The following year, he hit the jackpot when he was considered for the part of boxer Apollo Creed in Rocky (1976), written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. According to Weathers, he auditioned opposite Stallone, but after he finished, he said, “Wait a minute – if you can get me a real actor to read with, I can do this a lot better.” Amazingly, Weathers got the part, and he would go on to play Apollo Creed in Rocky as well as its three sequels.

In later years, Weathers appeared in such well-known features as Predator (1987) with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Happy Gilmore (1996) starring Adam Sandler; in the latter, he played “Chubbs” Peterson, a golf pro who was forced to retire after his hand was bitten off by an alligator. He also starred in the title role of the action-comedy film, Action Jackson (1988), as an police detective in Detroit. His wide range of television roles over the years included appearances on shows from Kung Fu and Cannon, to Arrested Development and Chicago Justice, where he played the recurring role of State’s Attorney Mark Jefferies.

In 2021, Weathers received an Emmy nomination for Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian (he lost to Courtney B. Vance in Lovecraft Country). He also did voiceover work on several video games including Mortal Kombat, and beginning in 1995, went behind the camera to serve as director on numerous television series such as Silk Stalkings, Chicago Med, Hawaii Five-O, and The Mandalorian.

Weathers died in his sleep on February 2, 2024, from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; he was 76 years old. After his death, his Happy Gilmore co-star Adam Sandler lauded him on Instagram, writing that Weathers was “a true great man. Great dad. Great actor. Great athlete. So much fun to be around always. Smart as hell. Loyal as hell. Funny as hell. Loved his sons more than anything. What a guy!! Everyone loved him.”

Later that year, in August of 2024, Weathers was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star was sponsored by his former football team, the Raiders (now housed in Las Vegas), and several family members were on hand, including his two sons, Matthew and Jason; his brother, Emanuel Weathers, III; and his longtime partner, Christine Kludjian. Other attendees included Bryce Dallas Howard, Ted Lange, and LeVar Burton, who told the crowd, “When you met Carl, you knew you were in the presence of somebody special.”

In honor of his birthday, we celebrate and honor Mr. Weathers today!