US actor Burt Young, a former boxer known for his performance in actor Sylvester Stallone's Rocky film series, has died. He was 83.
“Burt was an actor of tremendous emotional range. 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,” Lynda Bensky, Young’s manager, told CNN in a statement on Thursday (October 19, 2023).
He played Rocky Balboa's brother-in-law and best friend Paulie Pennino in the Rocky film series.
His performance in the first installment of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Young also appeared in such films as Chinatown (1974), The Gambler (1974), The Killer Elite (1975), Convoy (1978), Uncle Joe Shannon (1978), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), A Summer to Remember (1985), Back to School (1986), Last Exit to Brooklyn (1990), Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), Transamerica (2005), Win Win (2011), and Bottom of the 9th (2019).
Stallone described him as his 'dear friend' and said the world will miss him.
He wrote on Instagram: "To my Dear Friend, BURT YOUNG, you were an incredible man and artist, I and the World will miss you very much…RIP."
