Goodbye to Carl Weathers at the age of 76.
Weathers played two seasons with the Oakland Raiders in 1970 and 71 after playing for Hall of Fame coach Don Coryell at San Diego State before a knee injury forced him to the B.C.Lions of the CFL for three years to finish his career.
Weathers decided to try his hand at acting and appeared in a few films and television shows as a character performer before the biggest break of his career with the role of Apollo Creed in the first Rocky film in 1976.
The role of Creed (loosely based on Muhammad Ali) was intended for heavyweight contender Ken Norton, who accepted the role but pulled out in a decision that would make the break of Weathers's career.
It can be argued that Creed may have been the most versatile character in the first four Rocky films, serving as a boxer in the first two films (winning and losing), a color commentator and trainer in the third film before returning to the ring against Ivan Drago when he would be killed in the ring and exiting the series.
Weathers continued steady work in the decades since with notable roles in "Predator", "Action Jackson" and a voice role in "Toy Story 4" but he is remembered as "Chubbs Peterson" the golf mentor to "Happy Gilmore" in the Adam Sandler film of the same time.
Noted for his prosthetic hand that continually is damaged throughout the film after an alligator bit his hand off in a tournament, ending his golfing career, Peterson dies falling through a window after Happy Gilmore presents him with the head of the one-eyed gator that took his hand.
I may revisit more on Carl Weathers in a future post.
Goodbye to Gary Graham at the age of 73.
A long-time character actor, Graham is remembered for his starring role in the "Alien Nation" series that ran for two seasons but would also have several TV movies as part of the show's bible.
Graham would also appear in a few of the Star Trek series and as Tom Cruise's older brother in Cruise's 1983 football film based in Western Pennsylvania "All The Right Moves".
Goodbye to Charles Osgood at the age of 91.
The long-time anchor of the various CBS programs on Sunday mornings, Osgood joined CBS in 1971 and hosted the CBS News Sunday Morning show from 1994-2016 succeeding the then-longtime anchor Charles Kuralt.
Osgood was also a long-time presence on CBS Radio as the presenter of "The Osgood File", broadcast daily from 1971-2017, earning Osgood the tag of "Poet in Residence" for the network.
Goodbye to Don Murray at the age of 94.
Murray is remembered by most for his Oscar-nominated performance with Marilyn Monroe in the 1956 film Bus Stop as the cowboy character pursuing Monroe.
Murray also was one of the leading characters in the long-running nighttime soap Knots Landing as the husband of Michele Lee but left the show, and his character was killed off at the beginning of the third season.
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