Burt Young
Burt Young was a talented character actor who has remained consistently busy playing rough at the edge type characters, often on the wrong side of the law. He was born in New York City, the son of a high school shop teacher. He was of Italian descent and received his dramatic arts training under legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. He first gathered notice playing tough thugs in such films as The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, Across 110th Street, Chinatown, and The Gambler. Fiery director Sam Peckinpah cast him as the getaway driver/assassin, named Mac, in The Killer Elite, and he came to the attention of newcomer Sylvester Stallone, who cast him as future brother-in-law Paulie in the 1976 sleeper hit Rocky. The talented Burt Young was nominated for an Oscar, and has gone on to reprise the role in all five Rocky sequels to date. Peckinpah re-hired him to play renegade trucker Pigpen in the moderately successful Convoy. He has also appeared in numerous other major productions, including Once Upon a Time in America, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Mickey Blue Eyes, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Not only that, he did 4 movies in 4 consecutive years with James Caan, including Cinderella Liberty, The Gambler, The Killer Elite, and Harry and Walter Go To New York. These were some of his first roles, before famously playing Pauly in Rocky. .
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Rocky Overview
Rocky was focused on Rocky Balboa, who was a struggling boxer trying to make the big time, working as a debt collector for a pittance. When heavyweight champion Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, his managers want to set up an exhibition match between Creed and a struggling boxer, touting the fight as a chance for a nobody to become a somebody. The match was supposed to be easily won by Creed, but someone forgot to tell Rocky, who sees this as his only shot at the big time. Fun fact, during the big fight, the arena was clearly empty at times. This was because only 50 extras could be afforded for the scenes, and despite cinematographer James Crabe's best efforts to hide this fact, occasionally, if one looks hard enough, one can see most of the arena is empty.
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Dies At 83
Burt Young, the veteran character actor best known and Oscar-nominated for his role as Rocky Balboa’s best friend, Paulie, in the Rocky films, has died aged 83. According to the New York Times, his daughter, Anne Morea Steingieser, said that Burt Young passed away on 8 October in Los Angeles, but no cause of death was given. Born Gerald Tommaso DeLouise in New York City’s Queens borough, the burly performer served in the US Marine Corps in the 1950s and later studied at Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio. He went on to build a career playing mostly tough-guy and Italian-American characters on television and film.
Sylvester Stallone’s Tribute
On Wednesday, Sylvester Stallone paid tribute to his former co-star, Burt Young, remembering him as a dear friend. He wrote on Instagram, said that Burt Young was an incredible man and artist, he and the world will miss Burt Young very much. The role of Paulie, who was also the brother of Rocky’s painfully shy love interest and soon-to-be wife, Adrian, marries Balboa in Rocky II, earned Young an Academy award nomination for best supporting actor.
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Burt Young’s Legacy
Burt Young was best remembered for his role as Paulie Pennino in the 1976 film Rocky, playing the alcoholic butcher and pal to Sylvester Stallone’s lead character, Rocky Balboa, who made punching carcasses in the meat storage locker, where Paulie worked, part of his boxing training routine. The original Rocky, a motion picture sensation, amassed a total of 10 Oscar nominations and won three awards, including the prize for best picture, for its portrait of a small-time Philadelphia club boxer who gets an unlikely crack at the world heavyweight title. Burt Young reprised his role as Paulie in all six of the original Rocky sequels. His other film credits included Chinatown, The Pope of Greenwich Village and Once Upon a Time in America. He also made numerous guest appearances on television on such series as M*A*S*H, The Rockford Files, Baretta and Law & Order. In his later years, Young made a name as a painter, with his works displayed in galleries around the world.
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