THE ANGEL. Burt Young, the Oscar-nominated actor who played Paulie, Sylvester Stallone’s gruff best friend, cornerman and brother-in-law, in the “Rocky” franchise, has died.
Young died on October 8 in Los Angeles, but his daughter Anne Morea Steingieser did not make the announcement until Wednesday, The New York Times revealed. The cause of death was not specified. He was 83 years old.
Young has had roles in acclaimed films and television series such as “Chinatown,” “Once Upon a Time in America” and “The Sopranos.”
However, he was always best known for his role as Paulie Pennino in six Rocky films. He was young, short, chubby and bald and always seemed to be playing someone middle-aged.
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When Paulie first appears in Rocky (1976), he is an angry, foul-mouthed meatpacker who abuses his sister Adrian (Talia Shire), with whom he shares a small apartment in Philadelphia. He berates the shy and meek Adrian for initially refusing to go on a Thanksgiving date with his friend and colleague Rocky Balboa, and destroys a turkey she has in the oven.
The film became a phenomenon, reaching number one at the box office that year and making a star of lead actor and screenwriter Stallone, who paid tribute to Young on Instagram on Wednesday night.
Along with a photo of the two of them on the set of the first film, Stallone wrote: “You were an incredible man and artist, I and the world will miss you very much.”
“Rocky” was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best supporting actor for Young. It won three awards, including best picture. Young and his co-star Burgess Meredith, who was also nominated, lost to Jason Robards in “All the President’s Men.”
As the films progressed, Young’s Paulie softened, as did the sequels themselves, and he became comic relief. In 1985’s “Rocky IV,” he reprograms a robot Rocky gives him to turn it into a sexy-voiced servant who idolizes him.
Paulie was also an eternal pessimist, constantly convinced that Rocky would be beaten by his increasingly formidable opponents. His surprise at Rocky’s resistance made him laugh out loud.
“It’s been a great journey and it’s exposed me to the public in a great way,” Young said in a 2020 interview with Celebrity Parents magazine. “I made him a tough guy with sensitivity. “He’s actually a marshmallow, even if he screams a lot.”
Born and raised in Queens, New York, Young served in the Marine Corps, was a professional boxer and worked as a carpet fitter before turning to acting and studying with legendary teacher Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.
In theater, film and television he often played tough little guys or unlucky workers.
In a brief but memorable scene in “Chinatown” (1974), he plays a fisherman who becomes angry when private investigator Jake Gittes, played by Jack Nicholson, shows him photos that prove his wife is cheating on him.
Young also appeared in director Sergio Leone’s 1984 gangster epic “Once Upon a Time in America” with Robert De Niro, the 1986 comedy “Back to School” with Rodney Dangerfield and the gritty 1989 drama “Last Exit to Brooklyn” with Jennifer Jason Leigh on .
In a surprise appearance on the third season of “The Sopranos” in 2001, he played Bobby Baccalieri Sr., an elderly gangster with lung cancer who delivers one final blow before a coughing fit leads to his death in a car accident.
He has guest starred on many other television series, including “MASH,” “Miami Vice,” and “The Equalizer.”
He later concentrated on theater roles and painting, an activity that led him to exhibit in galleries and sell his works.
His wife of 13 years, Gloria, died in 1974.
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a grandson and a brother, Robert.