Tony Burton in a still from Rocky
Los Angeles:
Tony Burton, best known for his role as Apollo Creed's trainer 'Duke' in the
Rocky series, died in California on Thursday, his sister Loretta Kelley confirmed in an interview to the website
Michigan Live. He was 78.
Mr Burton, who had been in and out of hospital in the last one year, reportedly died after a long illness.
Carl Weathers, who played Apollo in the
Rocky series, tweeted:
Mr Burton, who appeared in the first six
Rocky films, played Tony 'Duke' Evers - a no-nonsense trainer who in the first two films supported Apollo Creed, Balboa's opponent.
In the later films played trainer to Sylvester Stallone's Balboa, helping him defeat foes such as Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago.
A native of Flint, Michigan, the actor won Flint Golden Gloves light heavyweight titles in 1955 and again in 1957, before fighting professionally for a brief while.
He also featured in films like
The Shining and
Stir Crazy.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)