Sylvester Stallone is paying tribute to his “Rocky” co-star Burt Young, who died at the age of 83, Young's manager confirmed to NBC News.
“To my Dear Friend, BURT YOUNG, you were an incredible man’s and artist, I and the World will miss you very much...RIP,” Stallone captioned a black-and-white photograph of them together.
Young played Rocky’s brother-in-law Paulie in all of the “Rocky” movies. Stallone, of course, has portrayed the title character in all six of the films, dating back to the original 1976 release.
A former Marine and professional boxer himself, Young earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in the first “Rocky,” along with Burgess Meredith, who played Rocky’s trainer, Mickey. Both men would lose to Jason Robards for “All the President’s Men.”
“Rocky,” however, won best picture and established Stallone as a bona fide Hollywood heavyweight.
Young, whose first on-screen credit dates back to a 1969 appearance on the daytime soap opera “The Doctors,” said he was the only person in “Rocky” who did not have to audition to be in it.
“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,’” he told The Sweet Science in 2009. “I wanted to do it right away, but wanted to twist their arms a little bit, not look too eager.”
Young's manager, Lynda Bensky, reflected on the actor's “tremendous emotional range” in a statement to NBC News.
“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,” Bensky said. “That’s where it came from.”
A veteran of scores of movies, Young also had a memorable role as Rodney Dangerfield’s tough guy driver in the 1986 comedy “Back to School.” In addition, he starred in “Chinatown,” “Once Upon a Time in America,” “The Pope of Greenwich Village,” “Mickey Blue Eyes” and “Transamerica.”
Young also had a decorated career on the small screen, appearing in such shows as “M*A*S*H,” “Baretta,” “Miami Vice,” “Law & Order,” “The Sopranos” and “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
His last on-screen credit was the 2021 movie “The Final Code,” according to IMDB.