Weathers, Carl

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    Morris, Alligator of ‘Happy Gilmore’ Fame, Dies at 80 (or More)

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    The 640-pound, 11-foot gator memorably played a golf-ball-stealing, hand-chomping terror in the 1996 Adam Sandler film.Morris, an alligator who appeared in numerous films and television shows, most notably in the movie “Happy Gilmore,” died on Monday in Mosca, Colo. He was at least 80.The cause was old age, according to the Colorado Gator Farm, which announced his death.“His exact age was unknown, but he was nine feet long in 1975, and by his growth rate and tooth loss, we can estimate his age at over 80 years,” the farm said.“He started acting strange about a week ago; he wasn’t lunging at us and he wasn’t taking food,” Jay Young, the farm’s operator, said in a video accompanying the announcement. Tearfully stroking the gator’s head, he said, “I know it’s strange to people that we get so attached.”Morris was 10 feet 11 inches long and weighed 640 pounds at the time of his death.He was discovered in Los Angeles, but not at Schwab’s Pharmacy like so many actors of yore. Rather, he was found in a backyard, where he was being kept as an illegal pet. His acting career began in 1975 and ended in 2006, when he retired to the farm.His most memorable onscreen role came in the rollicking 1996 comedy “Happy Gilmore,” with Adam Sandler in the title role as a failed hockey player who becomes an unlikely sensation on the professional golf circuit.Morris’s big scene comes when he grabs a golf ball, leading Happy to confront him with an iron. Happy notices that the gator has one eye, recognizing it as the same one that had bitten off the hand of his mentor, Chubbs, played by Carl Weathers. (“Damned alligator just popped up, cut me down in my prime,” Chubbs says in one of the film’s many beloved quotes.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Oscars’ In Memoriam: Academy Honors Aleksei Navalny and Andrea Bocelli Performs

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      The in memoriam segment at the Academy Awards opened not with a Hollywood star, but with a clip of Aleksei A. Navalny from “Navalny,” the Oscar-winning 2022 documentary about the Russian opposition leader who died last month in a Russian prison.“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing,” read a quote of Navalny’s on the screen.Taking a moment to recognize those in the film industry who have died since the previous Oscars ceremony, the telecast also paid tribute to stars such as Harry Belafonte, the barrier-breaking performer and activist, and Chita Rivera, the Broadway star who also appeared in films, as well as filmmakers such as Norman Jewison, the lauded director behind “In the Heat of the Night,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Moonstruck.”To accompany the tributes, the superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli sang “Time to Say Goodbye” — with a new orchestration by Hans Zimmer — alongside his son, Matteo Bocelli.Chita Rivera, the Broadway star who also appeared in films, was honored in the Oscars’ in memoriam segment.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesHere are some of figures the Academy honored:Alan Arkin, the acclaimed actor who won an Oscar for his role in “Little Miss Sunshine”Andre Braugher, a film, TV and theater actor who had roles in Spike Lee and Edward Zwick filmsMichael Gambon, the acclaimed Irish-born actor who played Albus Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” moviesWilliam Friedkin, director of the box office hits “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist”Bo Goldman, the admired Hollywood screenwriter who took home Oscars for his work on “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Melvin and Howard”Glenda Jackson, the two-time Oscar winner who turned to politics in her 50sPiper Laurie, a respected actress with three Oscar nominations, including for her role in “Carrie”Bill Lee, a jazz bassist and composer who scored the early films of his son Spike LeeRichard Lewis, the acerbic stand-up comic who became a regular in movies and TVRyan O’Neal, who became an instant movie star in the 1970 hit film “Love Story”Matthew Perry, the “Friends” star who had roles in movies such as “The Whole Nine Yards”Paul Reubens, the comic actor behind Pee-wee Herman who had scores of movie and TV creditsRichard Roundtree, one of the first Black action heroes who was catapulted to fame in the movie “Shaft”Ryuichi Sakamoto, one of Japan’s most prominent composers, who scored the films “The Last Emperor,” “The Sheltering Sky” and “The Revenant”Tina Turner, the pop sensation who appeared in films such as “Tommy” and “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”Carl Weathers, a former pro linebacker, who played Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies More

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      Carl Weathers, Who Played Apollo Creed in ‘Rocky’ Movies, Dies at 76

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      The onetime football player played a host of roles in an acting career that lasted more than four decades.Carl Weathers, the N.F.L. linebacker turned actor known for playing Apollo Creed in the first four “Rocky” movies in an acting career that spanned more than four decades, died on Thursday. He was 76.His family said Mr. Weathers had “died peacefully in his sleep.” No cause was given.As the boxer Apollo Creed, he fought Sylvester Stallone in the “Rocky” movies, the first of which, released in 1976, won the Academy Award for best picture of the year. He also notably played Chubbs Peterson in the golf comedy “Happy Gilmore,” starring Adam Sandler.Mr. Weathers displayed his range in several roles on film and television, including appearing in the 2019 science-fiction series “The Mandalorian” and in the drama series “Chicago Justice” (2017) and the long-running “Chicago P.D.”He was a linebacker for the Oakland Raiders from 1970 to 1971, and he later briefly played in the Canadian Football League. He took up acting in the 1970s after retiring from professional football.A full obituary will follow. More