Carl Weathers, who has died aged 76, played Sylvester Stallone’s boxing rival Apollo Creed in the triple Oscar-winning film Rocky (1976); he also had a famous handshake with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator (1987), played the cheerful golf instructor Chubbs Peterson who had lost his hand in an alligator attack in the comedy Happy Gilmore (1996), and was the voice of Combat Carl in the Toy Story films.
The screen star, who was most famous for playing Rocky Balboa s adversary-turned boxing mentor Apollo Creed in four Rocky films, passed peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, his family announced.