Entertainment

Carl Weathers, the actor known for playing boxer Apollo Creed in the Rocky films, has died, his manager said Friday. He was 76.

“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Carl Weathers,” his manager, Matt Luber, said in a statement, adding that the actor died peacefully in his sleep.

“Carl was an exceptional human being who lived an extraordinary life. Through his contributions to film, television, the arts and sports, he has left an indelible mark and is recognized worldwide and across generations. He was a beloved brother, father, grandfather, partner, and friend.”

In addition to the Rocky films, Weathers had memorable roles in films including Predator and Happy Gilmore. He also appeared on TV in the crime drama Street Justice and on the sitcom Arrested Development. In 2021, he was nominated for an Emmy for his recurring role in the Star Wars-inspired streaming series The Mandalorian.

Before his career as an actor, Weathers, a New Orleans native, was a football star at San Diego State University and later played in the NFL for the Raiders.

Weathers played in a total of eight regular NFL season games before turning his attention to acting in 1974, according to the Raiders website.

“I just remember being bitten by the [acting] bug when I was in grade school,” Weathers said in an interview with WGN Morning News last year. “The first play I did I was in fifth or sixth grade when I was in one of those pageant plays. And then the next time I did a play, the following year, was a scripted play that one of my teachers did. And there is nothing like standing on stage as a kid and suddenly hearing [applause].”

His first acting roles were small parts in the 1975 films Friday Foster and Bucktown.

The following year, he was cast in the first Rocky film as Apollo Creed, a character inspired by real-life boxing champion Muhammad Ali. Creed was the rival of Sylvester Stallone‘s Rocky Balboa in the first two Rocky films, then became one of the protagonists in Rocky III and in Rocky IV.

“I have no idea why it’s so enduring,” Weathers said about the legacy of Rocky in an interview with Red Carpet News TV in 2016. “About the best explanation for it is, it just happened to be the right movie at the right time with the right people in it.”

“Stallone wrote some great characters and a great story arc and character arc, and maybe just a lot of people related to it, and still do,” he added. “Because no matter which generation for people who’s seeing it for the first time after 40 years or who has seen it 40 times in the last 40 years, people still love the movie, so how fortunate it is to be in a movie like that.”

Weathers is survived by his two sons.

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Longtime Law & Order veteran Sam Waterston is leaving the show after 400 episodes playing District Attorney Jack McCoy, a role he’s filled since 1994.

On the show’s Instagram, the 83-year-old actor bade farewell to the NBC show’s fans in a posted statement to the “wonderful … backbone of Law & Order’s absolutely amazing audience.”

“The time has come for me to move on and take Jack McCoy with me,” Waterston said. “There’s sadness in leaving, but I’m just too curious about what’s next. An actor doesn’t want to let himself get too comfortable.”

He continued, “I’m more grateful to you than I can say. L&O’s continuing and amazing long run, along with its astounding come-back [sic], is all thanks to you and to [creator] Dick Wolf, but for whose vision, patience, perseverance, and unique combination of creative and business talents, none of this would have happened.”

“I feel very blessed. I hope to see you all on the flip side,” Waterston concluded.

The Massachusetts native played McCoy on the flagship crime series from 1994 until the show’s end in 2010. However, he reprised the role across other shows in the L&O universe and rejoined the series when its revival began on NBC in 2022.

Waterston’s last episode will air on Thursday, February 22.

On Friday, NBC also announced that Scandal veteran Tony Goldwyn will succeed Waterston as the show’s new district attorney.

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Former Home Alone franchise star and Schitt’s Creek Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara has been tapped to co-star in the second season of Max’s The Last of Us.

The streaming service broke the news on its Instagram Stories on Friday, but didn’t reveal who the performer will be playing in the Emmy-winning video game adaptation.

News that O’Hara was being courted by the series broke Thursday evening, when a fan videoing into Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live asked her about it. The star confirmed the rumor, before asking incredulously, “How do you know these things?!”

O’Hara, now in theaters in Argylle, also revealed that both of her sons work behind the scenes on the post-apocalyptic hit starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, which will return in 2025.

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Actor-and-ad man Ryan Reynolds has managed to secure a two-time Oscar winner for a Super Bowl spot.

The recently released commercial for STōK Cold Brew coffee shows Anthony Hopkins getting serious as he prepares for a role.

“To act is to deceive,” the legendary performer begins in voiceover. “And to deceive, one must forget oneself.”

“Every metamorphosis is demanding, but to become this beast requires an extra kick,” the big screen’s Hannibal Lecter says.

“Now: Hear me roar!” Hopkins thunders before donning the head of a sports mascot — specifically Wrex, the Red Dragon of Wrexham AFC, which Reynolds not coincidentally co-owns.

While “Ode to Joy” plays triumphantly, the mascot tears onto Wrexham’s home pitch in Wales, psyching up a throng of screaming footy fans.

Hopkins is later shown in a locker room taking a break over an ice coffee. “Ironically, it is the cold brew that births the fire-breathing dragon,” he intones before taking a pull.

He’s then reminded by an offscreen voice that the second half of the game is about to start.

“We picked up a key player in the transfer window, Sir @anthonyhopkins,” Reynolds commented on Instagram about the new ad from his Maximum Effort production company.

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Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here’s a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week:

Big Brother (CBS)
Janelle Pierzina is giving up her Big Brother key for good. The iconic houseguest, who has participated in four seasons, placed third twice and holds the record for most competition wins in a single season for a player who was not voted back into the house, told Entertainment Weekly she’s retiring from the reality competition show. “I really don’t want to play Big Brother anymore,” Pierzina said. “As much as I love the show and I’m respectful of what it’s given me in my life and what it’s done for me, I really don’t want to do that.”

Vanderpump Rules (Bravo)
Fans got a glimpse of life after Scandoval in the season 11 premiere this week. In the episode, Ariana Madix, whose longtime partner Tom Sandoval cheated on her with her close friend Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, made an emotional return to her ex’s restaurant TomTom. Meanwhile, Lala Kent found herself sympathizing with the shunned Raquel and attempted to reach out. In other Vanderpump news, Ariana made her Broadway debut in Chicago this week, and Lala revealed she’s conceiving her second child through intrauterine insemination (IUI).

The Bachelor (ABC)
In the second episode of the season Monday, Joey Graziadei went on his first dates with the ladies. This episode ended with Lauren — whose sister Allison is also competing for Joey’s affection on the show — deciding to leave the show following a wedding-themed date that made her confront the grief of losing her father. She marked her departure in dramatic fashion — by throwing a cake. Joey ended up sending three more women home: Erika, Taylor and Marlena.

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As part of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s ongoing Conversations chats with this year’s Oscar nominees, Best Supporting Actors Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer), Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction) and Willem Dafoe (Poor Things) shared their thoughts on their craft via video chat — and got a chance to fanboy over each others’ work.

Brown “had to ask” about “one of his favorite performances”: Downey’s previously Oscar-nominated turn in the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder, in which he played Australian actor Kirk Lazarus, who underwent a pigment surgery to play Lincoln Osiris, a Black soldier in the Vietnam War.

“How were you not scared out of your blanking mind doing it?” Brown asked.

“My mother called me and said, ‘Bobby … Do not destroy your career,'” Downey replied, cracking up his fellow actors.

He also likened it to All in the Family, which used humor to poke fun at bigotry.

“I knew that we were just about to exit the age of rationality for what intent was,” Downey said. “But I also, I couldn’t resist the possibility of being black for a summer,” Downey said, causing Brown to nearly fall out of his chair laughing — though he was on mute.

Downey called the role “a mask,” noting, “The mask was so freeing. I just finished shooting Iron Man and …I just needed to wear a mask and make fun of the Emperor.”

He continued, “I just needed to clown the underserved area of actors are so f****** stupid. How can we send ourselves up to be free to say, ‘It ain’t that deep, brother.'”

For his part, Brown said he and his wife often quote Osiris around the home, which Downey called “a glowing endorsement.”

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Former WWE executive and personality Vince McMahon is under a federal investigation as he grapples with sex trafficking allegations by an ex-employee, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The investigation stems from sexual misconduct accusations a number of women made against McMahon.

McMahon received a grand jury subpoena “sometime in the summer,” the sources said.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York is leading the investigation, the existence of which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office declined to comment.

The nature of the investigation was not immediately clear, but it could be financial after the paper reported in 2022 that McMahon agreed to pay more than $12 million in the past two decades to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct.

Once the face of the organization, McMahon resigned from the WWE last week after former employee Janel Grant accused him of inflicting “psychological torture and physical violence” while making “depraved sexual demands” in exchange for her continued employment.

The lawsuit accused McMahon of trafficking Grant to other WWE employees and included graphic descriptions of alleged encounters along with explicit text messages. McMahon has denied Grant’s allegations.

An attorney for McMahon and a spokesman for WWE did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

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Maddie Ziegler is a teenager unexpectedly diagnosed with MRKH syndrome in Molly McGlynn’s coming-of-age film Fitting In.

Ziegler told ABC Audio she was honored to play Lindy, a character who brings representation about the lesser-known reproductive condition to the screen.

“It’s surreal. I feel so lucky to be a part of it,” Ziegler said. “I think [people with MRKH] were just so happy to have representation finally, and for this to be brought to the forefront of the conversations. And I’m very lucky to be a face for that.”

Those with MRKH syndrome have an underdeveloped vagina and uterus. McGlynn’s semi-autobiographical film tackles hard questions like: What is sex? What is gender? If she can’t bleed, be penetrated or carry a baby, what else makes a woman?

Emily Hampshire also stars in the film as Lindy’s mother, Rita. She had not heard of MRKH before reading the script.

“I didn’t know about MRKH before this,” Hampshire said. “To bring something to light that no one has spoken about is just an honor in a way that you can make something less taboo and just easier out there in the world.”

Ziegler pointed out that the condition itself, despite only affecting those with reproductive organs, is named after four cisgender men.

“MRKH in itself is literally named after the four male doctors who created it,” Ziegler said. “It’s wild that that’s even the reality of the situation. But to see so many powerful people and women sharing their stories [because of the film] is really cool.”

And, while Fitting In asks more questions than it answers, Ziegler says it’s true to life.

“I think it’s really beautiful that you don’t need to have an answer all the time,” Ziegler said. “You can just live in the moment.” 

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Marvel’s Emmy-winning animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur premieres Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Disney Channel and Disney XD, and the next day on Disney+.

Diamond White stars as the young lead, Lunella Lafeyette, the supergenius who becomes the superheroine Moon Girl after she befriends a red T-Rex.

White explains to ABC Audio that she was thrilled to pick things up in the second season, after the finale revealed her grandmother Mimi was also a supergenius who went by the Moon Girl moniker.

“I’m so excited for season two,” she enthuses. “I mean, seeing the finale was one of my like, favorite episodes … learning about Mimi and her background and that whole thing really had me excited for the next season. So I’m excited for people to see what we go through.”

She adds, “it’s going to be good.”

The show is executive produced by, and features the voice of, Laurence Fishburne, who is a lifelong fan. He’s such a huge fan, he never misses a Comic Con — sometimes by proxy, White reveals.

“He had his daughter running around [a comic con] grabbing all … the comics that he wanted. Because being Laurence Fishburne, he can’t walk through … you know, without being stopped,” she says. “So he had his daughter running around grabbing all of the things that he wanted and reporting back to him.”

She adds, “He’s very passionate about the comics, and I love that, because having a producer that’s genuinely excited about working on a show that he’s executive producing … and the fact that he’s voicing The Beyonder — like he genuinely loves doing it, so it makes it all that much better.” 

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Netflix has eradicated the action comedy series Obliterated from its roster after one season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series, from Cobra Kai creators Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald, follows a special forces team that celebrates thwarting a deadly terrorist threat to Las Vegas with a night on the town, only to realize that the bomb they disarmed was a dummy. They must work through their hangovers to find the real bomb. Obliterated was scrapped by TBS when the cable channel cut back on its scripted shows and was picked up by Netflix …

Emmy-winning Succession star Matthew Macfadyen has been cast in the Netflix drama Death by Lightning, opposite Man of Steel‘s Michael Shannon, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series, from Game of Thrones producers David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Bernie Caulfield, “brings to life the epic and stranger-than-fiction true story of James Garfield, reluctant 20th president of the United States, and his greatest admirer Charles Guiteau — the man who would come to kill him,” Netflix teases …

Starz has dropped the trailer for Mary & George, the British historical drama based on Benjamin Woolley‘s 2017 book The King’s Assassin. The seven-part limited series is inspired by the scandalous true story of a treacherous mother and son — played respectively by Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine — who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England and the bed of King James I. Mary & George premieres April 5 … 

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