Tony Burton, the actor who played Apollo Creed’s trainer Tony “Duke” Evers in the Rocky series, has passed away, Michigan Live has confirmed.
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Burton, who was from Flint, Michigan, appeared briefly in a flashback cameo in last year’s hit Creed, for which Rocky creator Sylvester Stallone is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In that film, Wood Harris played the character of Tony “Little Duke” Evers, Duke’s son.
Burton was one of the only characters — along with Rocky, Paulie and sportscaster Stu Nathan — to have been featured in all six Rocky films. With his cameo in Creed, it’s only Burton and Sylvester Stallone whose faces appear in all seven films.
During his decades-long career, Burton also appeared in a number of TV series and films, including Twin Peaks, Airwolf and TV’s In the Heat of the Night. Even before Rocky, he appeared in Kojak, Baretta and Good Times. Film roles included Stir Crazy and The Shining.
In 1993, Burton was inducted into the Greater Flint Afro-American Sports Hall of Fame.
