Tony Burton and Sylvester Stallone during “Rocky Balboa” World Premiere in 2006 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, United States.
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Kelley added that Burton was in and out of hospice care over the previous year but had not been officially diagnosed.
Upon hearing the news on Twitter, Weathers wrote, “Sad news”. “His intensity and talent helped make the Rocky movies successful”, Weathers said. Due to his ongoing health issues, he was unable to see Rocky spinoff Creed, which came out a year ago.
His career also included roles in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”, the Golden Globe nominated comedy series “Frank’s Place”, 1990 mystery drama “Twin Peaks”, Steven Spielberg’s “Hook”, another boxing movie called “Knockout” and William A. Baker’s 2003 horror “Exorcism”. Evers is said to be the only actor besides Burt Young, and Stallone himself, to appear in all of the first six “Rocky” movies.
Burton, who is absent in “Creed”, the latest, and possibly final instalment of the Rocky saga, would likely have appeared in the Rocky spin-off had he been well enough to have worked.
“Tony Burton who played the character of Duke brilliantly in all six Rocky movies…”
– Pound for pound, though, the best Duke scene comes in “II”, when he’s trying to talk Apollo out of a rematch with Rocky. Often, its the big movie stars that we remember most. Unfortunately, he just missed his chance to watch the film on DVD or Blu-ray; Creed’s home release is this Tuesday, five days after Tony Burton’s untimely passing.
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The Flint, Michigan, native died Thursday in California, his sister Loretta Kelley told Michigan news site MLive. His son, Michael, passed away from a heart attack in 2014, at 43-years-old.
