Burt Young, a onetime prizefighter from New York City known for playing tough guys in dozens of movies and TV shows — who became a fixture of the Rocky franchise with his Oscar-nominated portrayal of trainer Paulie Pennino — died at 83 on Oct. 8 in L.A. of unspecified causes.
Born Gerald Tommaso DeLouise on April 30, 1940, in Queens, Young dropped out of school at age 15 and joined the Marines. A true boxing aficionado, Young also appeared in 14 professional boxing matches, all of which he won. He also boxed with legend Muhammad Ali for charity (the two became good friends).
Young began his acting career taking dramatic arts training under the legendary Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Initially Young reached out to Strasberg in an attempt to impress a young woman. Years later in an interview with the New York Observer, Strasberg called him an “emotional library.”
Young had a knack for making subtle, unexpected choices, where oftentimes his eyes did most of the talking. “He has the guts, which very few people have,” said the late James Caan, his co-star in films including Cinderella Liberty (1973) and The Killer Elite (1975).
“Burt was an actor of tremendous emotional range,” his manager, Lynda Bensky, said in a statement. “He could make you cry and he could scare you to death. But the real pathos that I experienced was the poignancy of his soul. That’s where it came from.”
As Paulie, Young was “defeated and resentful, loyal and bitter, caring about people enough to hurt them just to draw attention to his grief,” wrote the late film critic Roger Ebert. But in Rocky IV, his emotions are laid bare in what is perhaps his best scene in the pugilistic franchise:
In the wake of Young’s passing, Sylvester Stallone wrote: “To my Dear Friend, BURT YOUNG, you were an incredible man and artist, I and the World will miss you very much…RIP.”
In his later years, Young made a name as a painter, with his works displayed in galleries around the world.
Young is survived by his daughter, Anne Morea Steingieser.
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