Burt Young, the Academy Award-nominated actor best known for playing Paulie in the Rocky franchise has died. He was 83 years old. The cause of death was not announced, but Young’s daughter, Anne Morea Steingieser, told the New York Times on Wednesday that her father died on Oct. 8 in Los Angeles.
Young appeared in all six Rocky films. His character was the brother-in-law and best friend to Rocky, whom Sylvester Stallone played. Young’s work in the first Rocky film was so strong that he earned an Oscar notation for Best Supporting Actor in 1976.
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On Wednesday, Stallone went to Instagram to react to the death of Young. “To my Dear Friend, BURT YOUNG,” Stallone, 77, wrote. “You were an incredible man and artist, I and the World will miss you very much…RIP.” Young’s manager, Lynda Bensky, issued a statement to PEOPLE on Wednesday.
“Burt was an actor of tremendous emotional range. He could make you cry and he could scare you to death,” the statement read. “But the real pathos that I experienced was the poignancy of his soul. That’s where it came from.” Along with the Rocky films, Youngstarredr in notable movies, including Chinatown (1974), The Gambler (1974), Once Upon a Time In America (1984), Back to School (1886), Last Exit to Brooklyn (1990), and Transamerica (2005), among others.
Young, born Gerald Tommaso DeLouise, was raised in Corona, Queens, New York, and served in the military from 1957 to 1959. He also was a professional boxer and carpet layer before taking up acting, studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. In 2009, Young spoke to The Sweet Science about how he was the only actor who didn’t have to audition for Rocky.
“I was on the MGM lot when Sly Stallone came over and introduced himself to me, told me he wrote Rocky and said ‘you gotta do it,’” Young said. “I wanted to do it right away, but wanted to twist their arms a little bit, not look too eager.” You also said that the script “had the cleanest street prose I’d ever read,” and that Stallone was “a genius who is always looking three years ahead.”
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