Did you know that actor Burt Young, who has just passed away at the age of 83, was paid more than Sylvester Stallone for the first film “Rocky”?
Burt Young, unforgettable Paulie from the Rocky saga, has just passed away at the age of 83. The opportunity to return to an astonishing anecdote: for the first film in the franchise, he was better paid than Sylvester Stallone!
The first time the two met was in the mid-’70s, a time when Young was more well-known than “Sly.” “I’m the only actor who didn’t audition for the first Rockyand I was the highest paid on this film.”he declared in 2017, not a little proud, at the microphone of the site The Rumpus.
Burt Young then recounts how Stallone put a nice little pressure on him to star in the first film of the saga. “He knelt down next to me.”remembers the actor.
“He said to me, ‘Mr. Young, I’m Sylvester Stallone. I wrote Rocky. You have to make the film, please.” By telling me that, he was trying to twist my arm.” Let’s hope for his sake that he used the metaphor!
The rest, in any case, we know: Burt Young will get the role of Paulie, Rocky’s irascible and touching brother-in-law. A role adored by the public, inseparable from the famous boxer, which he played in six films in the franchise and for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Role.
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“The first Rocky movie wasn’t about a boxing match, it was a love story about someone fighting to live. Not even about someone winning, just someone ‘one who fights to live’declared Burt Young in 2006 at the microphone of Bright Lights Film Journal.
“As for my character Paulie, I made him a tough but sensitive guy. He’s really a teddy bear, even if he shouts a lot.”
Have you noticed the little hidden details of “Rocky”?