FANS of boxing smash hit Rocky are paying tribute to star Burt Young, who died at the age of 83. The actor played the underdog fighter’s brother-in-law and best friend Paulie Pennino in six of the iconic films, including one that earned him an Academy Award nomination.
Burt Young, who played Paulie Pennino, was one of four actors to star in all six Rocky filmsCredit: AP
Sylvester Stallone described Burt, who died aged 83, as an ‘incredible [man] and artist’Credit: Rex
Burt admitted he was initially skeptical about the Rocky role because “boxing movies weren’t fashionable” but signed up after reading the “beautifully and eloquently” written script.
The 1976 flick made Sylvester Stallone a household name and launched a film franchise that has endured to this day thanks to the spin-off series Creed, which stars Michael B Jordan.
Today, Sly, 77, paid tribute to Burt, describing him as an “incredible [man] and artist” and added: “I and the World will miss you very much… RIP.”
As fans and co-stars remember the late actor, we look at what happened to the rest of the cast from the early Rocky movies.
Read More Where Are They Now
Sylvester Stallone – Rocky Balboa
Stallone has aged wellCredit: Rex/Instagram
Boxing clever: Stallone in RockyCredit: Rex
Stallone wrote and starred in Rocky, which earned £125 million at the box office – a runaway smash hit in 1976.
It was nominated for 10 Oscars and won three, including Best Picture, but Stallone walked away with just his acting fee after failing to secure the rights.
It still remains a bone of contention with the actor, who recently blasted filmmaker Irwin Winkler, who has made a fortune from the franchise.
But the film catapulted Stallone into superstardom and he went on to win iconic roles in Rambo and Demolition Man.
Most read in Celebrity
Stallone’s love life has been rocky. His first marriage to photographer Sasha Czack in 1974 ended 11 years later.
He cheated on Sasha with American actress Susan Anton – despite having two children: Seargeoh, 44, who played Balboa’s baby in Rocky II, and Sage, who tragically died of heart disease aged 36 in 2012.
Seargeoh was diagnosed with autism aged three and Stallone and Czack have both worked with charities supporting children with the condition.
Ten months after splitting from Sasha he wed statuesque model Brigitte Nielson who reportedly introduced herself to him by sending a saucy pic of herself to his hotel room.
She starred with him in Rocky IV in 1985 and Creed II in 2018 but their marriage only lasted 19 months.
Stallone has been wed to model Jennifer Flavin since 1997 but their relationship has been rocky.
The couple, who met when she was 19 and he was in his early 40s, split for the first time in 1994 before they tied the knot – when he dumped her via a FedEx.
Jennifer later discovered she had been dumped over Stallone’s affair with supermodel Janice Dickinson. He was widely rumoured to be the father of her baby daughter but when a paternity test revealed he wasn’t, he dropped her.
Stallone and Jennifer reconciled and had a daughter, Sophia, in 1996, who runs the Favorite Book Club account with 1.5 million followers on Instagram.
Sistine Rose followed in 1998 and Scarlet in 2002.
Flavin, 55, filed for divorce from Stallone, 77, in August last year but the couple were back together by Christmas.
Brigitte Nielsen – Ludmilla Drago
Then and now: Brigitte still looks amazing todayCredit: Rex
Stallone and Nielsen rocked up at the film’s premiere togetherCredit: Rex
Brigitte was married to Stallone when she starred in Rocky IV as the cold-hearted Soviet wife of Ivan Drago.
She later described it as a “horrible marriage” and said it harmed her career.
Brigitte, 60, said: “After I left Sylvester I kind of felt like I was blacklisted for a long time. I am almost positive that had I not been in the public eye with this famous man, that would never have happened. But they always thought: after Stallone, who is going to be next?”
Brigitte, who also starred in Beverly Hills Cop II, has been married five times and has four sons and a daughter.
She once described how she slapped Madonna in a club after she was “rude” and “kept stepping on my feet” – then had revenge sex with the singer’s ex Sean Penn a few months later in France.
Brigitte has twice been in rehab for alcoholism and appeared drunk on reality show The Surreal Life in 2005.
Talia Shire – Adrian Balboa
Talia as Rocky’s love interest and nowCredit: Alamy/Rex
The sweet love story between Rocky and Adrian had fans in tearsCredit: Rex
One of Rocky’s most iconic moments comes when he yells “Yo Adrian, I did it’” after beating Apollo Creed in Rocky II.
Adrian was played by Talia Shire, who is the sister of producer Francis Ford Coppola and the aunt of actor Nicolas Cage and director Sophia Coppola.
Talia, now 77, also portrayed Don’s daughter Connie Corleone in The Godfather movies but one scene in the legendary movies led to a defamation lawsuit in America.
Paramount+ recently told the story of how the Godfather was made in a scripted series called ‘The Offer’, told from the perspective of producer Al Ruddy.
Al is being sued by actor Gianna Russo because his character in The Offer is shown going ‘off-script’ and actually hitting Talia for a domestic violence scene.
Gianna is suing Ruddy saying: “I never touched Talia with my hand.
“Talia’s parents were on the set. My own mother had been beaten and was institutionalised. And my grandchildren who heard this got upset.”
Carl Weathers – Apollo Creed
Carl, shown in Rocky, is still acting at the age of 75Credit: Rex
Apollo was sure he could beat Balboa in RockyCredit: Rex
Carl played Rocky’s rival and later his friend in the first four Rocky films.
But acting was not his first love.
Carl, 75, played professional football for the Oakland Raiders in California and started working as a film extra. He got a role in Starsky & Hutch and quit football to pursue Hollywood in 1975.
He landed the role of Apollo after criticising Stallone’s acting.
Weathers read through his lines with Stallone then, unaware he was dealing with the main star, told him: “It would be better if you got me a real actor to work with.”
Stallone felt the jab was something like the character Apollo would say – and Weathers landed the gig.
He also starred in Michael Jackson’s Liberian Girl music video which attracted a plethora of celebrities including Richard Dreyfuss, John Travolta, Whoopi Goldberg and Jacko’s pet monkey, Bubbles.
Carl’s career has gone from strength to strength, appearing in CBS show Tour of Duty, Street Justice and, more recently, Disney’s hugely successful The Mandalorian.
Burgess Meredith – Mickey Goldmill
Meredith also played The Penguin in BatmanCredit: BBC
Burgess was an established actor when he played Rocky’s trainer in the first three movies.
With roles in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in 1939 and The Day of the Locust in 1975, Meredith already had Bafta and Golden Globe nominations and was a well-known face for playing the Penguin in the 1960s Batman TV series.
In the 1950s he had been blacklisted as a ‘communist’ at the height of McCarthyism when America was in the grip of anti-radical hysteria and feared a Bolshevik revolution.
He later told how he lost friends and jobs as a result.
Meredith, who suffered from a form of bipolar, was married four times. His first wife Helen Derby Merrien Burgess, the daughter of an American chemical boss, killed herself aged 33, five years after their divorce.
The dad-of-two, who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, died in 1997, aged 89. Friend Adam West, who played Batman, spoke at his memorial service.
Dolph Lundgren – Ivan Drago
Dolph was Rocky’s Soviet enemy Ivan Drago and still looks fit todayCredit: Rex
Dolph once went out with singer Grace JonesCredit: Rex Features
Action movie man Dolph is Rocky IV’s central Soviet-born baddie.
He kills Apollo Creed in a fight early in Rocky IV and later appears in Creed II, training his boxer son Vikto.
Dolph has starred in more than 80 action movies including The Expendables, Red Scorpion, Aquaman and the titular role in He-Man, Masters of the Universe.
A karate champion in real-life, he dated singer Grace Jones after becoming her lover in 1981.
He famously told how the pair engaged in sex orgies as they partied at the famous New York Club Studio 54.
He later said the orgies involved “at the most, four or five girls”, adding: “It’s great in theory but when you have to get up and fight Sylvester Stallone in the morning it’s not such a good thing.”
Most of his movies went straight to video post Rocky and his marriage to Swedish jewellery designer Anette Qviberg, in 1994, collapsed in 2011.
He started drinking heavily and says he drifted apart from his two daughters Ida and Greta but they have since reconciled.
His film fortunes changed again when he and Stallone joined forces for The Expendables in 2010 which was a resounding hit and in June 2020 he got engaged to Norwegian personal trainer Emma Krodal. He is 65 while she is 27.
While married to Anette, masked raiders broke into the star’s home in Marbella, Spain, and tied up his wife. They threatened her with knives before spotting Lundgren in pictures and fleeing.
Joe Spinell – Tony Gazzo
Joe Spinell was a loan shark with a soft spot for RockyCredit: United Artists
Rocky was employed as muscle by loan shark Tony Gazzo, depicted by Stallone’s close pal Joe Spinell.
Character actor Joe also played tough guys in The Godfather and Taxi Driver after securing his first role as Mafiosa member Willi Cicci.
But his life took a downward spiral when he developed a drink and then drug problem.
He was godfather to Stallone’s son Sage but they had a falling out in 1981 which ‘Sly’ blamed on Joe’s addictions.
Joe, who wrote the 1980 slasher film Maniac, was married to adult film star Jean Jennings for two years from 1977. The couple had a daughter before they divorced and Jean went on to remarry and become a nurse.
Spinell suffered from hemophilia, which causes problems with blood-clotting, and was found dead in his New York apartment in 1989 after apparently slipping in the bath and cutting himself on the shower stall door. Instead of getting help, he fell asleep on his couch.
Burt Young – Paulie Pennino
Burt was actually a boxer in real lifeCredit: Rex
The daughter of Burt Young, who played Rocky’s best pal Paulie Pennino, recently confirmed the actor died on October 8, in Los Angeles.
In real life, Burt was also a boxer. He won 32 of 34 bouts while serving in the US Marine Corps from 1957 to 1959.
He was one of four actors – also including Stallone, Stu Nahan and Tony Burton – to appear in all of the six Rocky films.
Burt, who starred in hits such as Once Upon a Time in America, Chinatown, Win Win and Last Exit to Brooklyn, was also a painter.
Read More on The Sun
His work has been displayed in galleries around the world and some pieces were shown in a scene in 2006’s Rocky Balboa when Paulie gets fired from a meat-packing plant.
Burt, who also owned a restaurant in the Bronx, appeared in the American comedy-drama Russian Doll, in which a game developer dies over and over again in Groundhog Day style. More
