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Tony Burton, Actor Who Trained Apollo Creed And Rocky Balboa In ‘Rocky’ Films, Has Died

By Joanna Jaguar
Published on: 03:24 PST, Feb 26, 2016

Actor Tony Burton, best known for his role as Tony “Duke” Evers in all six Rocky movies, has died. He was 78-years-old. Burton was one of only four actors to star in the first six movies films of the Rocky series — first as Apollo Creed’s trainer in Rocky and Rocky II, and then as Rocky’s manager in the subsequent four films.

Before becoming an actor, Tony Burton was a professional boxer, a career that likely helped him land the role of Apollo’s trainer in the original Rocky film. In 1955, and again in 1957, Burton won the Flint Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight championship, and, also in 1957, the State Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight championship, reports Metro.

Born in Flint, Michigan, in 1937, Tony Burton attended Flint Northern High School, where he found not only a love for boxing, but also for football. While a high school student, he was the Michigan Golden Gloves heavyweight champion, and also a two-time all-state football champ. After high school, his boxing career took off, but fizzled out a few years later, and he officially hung up his gloves in 1959, after being knocked out by Lamar Clark.

Tony Burton found himself in a bit of trouble after his boxing career came to an end, having had difficulty finding a job. He ended up going to prison for robbery and did three-and-a-half years at the California Institute for Men in Chino, California. It was a wrong turn down a bad life path that would actually prove useful to Burton in the long run. In a 1988 interview, Tony Burton revealed that had it not been for prison, he might never have become the man he did. During those three-and-a-half years, Burton was able to get his high school diploma, as well a university degree. He also learned a skilled trade that ultimately ended up helping Tony meet his wife, Rae — he learned TV repair while in prison, and met Rae when he made a house call to repair her TV.

“Prison for me was productive because I applied myself while I was there. I got my high school diploma and a degree from the University of California. But most important, I got myself together and found out who I was and how I could proceed without destroying myself.”

It was also while serving time that Tony Burton found his love of acting, after an acting partner of his had an “emotional breakthrough” that allowed Burton to see the therapeutic power of the theatre.

According to E! Online, Tony Burton’s cause of death is still unknown at this time, but his sister, Loretta Kelley, confirmed the news of his passing late Thursday night, saying that Tony had been “in and out of the hospital for the past year, but never received an official diagnosis.” Kelley also said that while Burton’s character from the Rocky franchise, Duke, is seen in a flashback, and a picture of him is on the wall of the restaurant, in Creed, the seventh movie in the series, Tony hadn’t had the chance to see it before he died.

“There’s a scene in the restaurant of that movie, where his picture is on the wall. We didn’t talk about [Rocky] a lot. I mean we were excited, but other people were more excited. Whenever he would come home, other people would just come over.”

Aside from the Rocky movies, Burton is also known for his role of Wells, one of the prisoners trapped in the police station in John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13, and Larry Durkin, the garage owner, in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

Tony Burton is survived by his wife, Rae. His son, Michael, passed away from a heart attack in 2014 at 43-years-old.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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