Hello, everybody! It’s Samantha! From the secret behind his trademark snarl to his journey
from Hell’s Kitchen to Hollywood, this is Sylvester Stallone: The Extraordinary True
Life Story.
#12 Iconic Snarl & Slur Roles like Rocky Balboa, Rambo, and Judge
Dread have been eternalized in pop culture thanks in part to Sylvester Stallone’s trademark
expressions, mannerisms, and speech patterns. His look and slur aren’t just the product
of creative choice or happenstance, though. Complications during birth involving a pair
of forceps severed a facial nerve in an infantile Stallone, resulting in paralysis of the bottom
left side of his face. Regarding his looks, he’s been quoted as saying, “I’m not
handsome in the classical sense. The eyes droop, the mouth is crooked, the teeth aren’t
straight, the voice sounds like a Mafioso pallbearer, but somehow it all works.”
#11 Rough Beginnings Born in Hell’s Kitchen in 1946 as Michael
Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, the accomplished actor, writer and director has endured an
exceptional journey to reach his current Hollywood fame. His father, Frank Stallone Sr., worked
as a hairdresser and owned a chain of salons while his mother, Jackie Stallone, was a former
dancer, astrologer and women’s wrestling promoter. The parents fought often while a
young Sly was growing up, and he had to spend the majority of the first five years of his
life in foster homes until they could get their act together. He and his younger brother
Frank struggled with these early obstacles as they bounced from home to home. The actor
attributes his love for performing to these early, trying years when he was vying for
the attention and affection of strangers. Sylvester dealt with his troubles by dreaming
of being a superhero, going so far as to wear a costume under his school uniform and attempt
jumping from a window with an umbrella as a parachute...which resulted in breaking his
collarbone. Their parents eventually divorced before Stallone entered high school, but he
encountered issues their while living with his father, being expelled a supposed fourteen
times! When he was fifteen, Stallone moved to live with his mother and step-father and
began picking up positive habits and activities like fencing, football, weight-lifting and
discus. #10 Pre-Rocky
Before Sylvester Stallone hit the big time with Rocky, the actor struggled to make it
into the acting business. After landing an extra part in the Robert Redford film Downhill
Racer, Stallone took his first starring role...out of complete desperation to pay rent! Paying
just two hundred dollars for two days work, he played the lead in the steamy, adult feature
“The Party at Kitty and Stud’s” which would later be named “The Italian Stallion”
after the release of Rocky. Other ways he tried to make ends meet included working as
an usher at the Walter Reade cinemas, where he would sometimes pocket extra tickets to
scalp on the side. One such time, he accidentally tried to sell one to Walter Reade himself...which
didn’t exactly go over well with the owner. He also worked at the Central Park Zoo for
some time, where he would clean out lion cages, an activity which one time left him drenched
in lion urine! Eventually, his career began to lift off with roles in movies like The
Lords of Flatbush, Capone, and Death Race 2000.
#9 Dog Story One of the most telling stories of Sylvester
Stallone’s pre-fame poverty involves his late dog Butkus. When Stallone was at his
lowest in the 1970s, he sold the beloved bullmastiff for a mere fifty dollars to a man called Little
Jimmy in his neighborhood. Shortly after, though, Stallone wrote and sold, and inked
a deal to star in his film Rocky and his financial situation took a hairpin turn. With his sudden
stability, Stallone sought to retrieve his canine companion from Little Jimmy, but the
new owner claimed he and his family had grown too fond of it. In an interview, Stallone
explained what happened next: “I said, “You’ve only had him for a *BLEEP* week!” He wanted
to fight me and he said he was gonna kill me – he was a crazy little person! I couldn’t
fight him – they’d arrest me – so I offered to pay double.” In order to get
Butkus back, Stallone ended up paying three thousand dollars and giving Little Jimmy a
short speaking role in Rocky. #8 Writing Rocky
On a fateful night in 1975, Stallone went out to watch a boxing match between local
hero to Bayonne, New Jersey Chuck Wepner, nicknamed the Bayonne Bleeder, take on the
the widely regarded world’s greatest at the time, Muhammad Ali. As this was Ali’s
first fight since his famed Rumble in the Jungle match against George Foreman a year
earlier, the world was watching as this next match was heavily promoted. While Wepner didn’t
win, he lasted until the final round and managed to knock down Ali, a massive upset in itself.
For three days and 20 hours after that, Stallone stayed up writing a the script that would
eventually become Rocky, much of which was inspired by the fight and the events surrounding
its build up. He shopped the script around to different studios, at one point eliciting
an offer for 350 thousand dollars. There was just one flaw with this offer...they didn’t
want to cast him as Rocky, thinking actors like Robert Redford or Burt Reynolds would
better fit the part! Stallone refused until he the studio could come to terms with him,
accepting a substantial budget cut to the film as a concession. To make up for the funding
lost, Rocky would go on to cast family and friends throughout the original film to cut
costs. The film would end up grossing millions of dollars in revenue, as well as earning
10 Oscar nominations of which it won three, including Best Picture, in 1977.
#7 Boxing Relationship Stallone’s love for the sport of boxing
extends beyond the Rocky series as his life has always been closely tied to the pugilist
world. Since the 1980s, Sylvester has been a licensed boxing promoter, having started
his own company called Tiger Eye Ltd. that signed champion fighters like Sean O’Grady
and Aaron Pryor. In 1982, Stallone had the opportunity to manage heavyweight boxer Lee
Canalito to his first victory in more than two years against Curtis Whitner, getting
his brother Frank in on the action too as Canalito’s corner man. Following the success
of his own boxing film franchise, Sly Stallone was recognized for his contributions to the
sport. The Boxing Writers Association of America celebrated him with their first ever award
for a lifetime cinematic achievement in boxing at their 81st awards dinner. Then in 2011,
Stallone was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame, drawing ire from some critics. Regardless
of opinions, however, this actor’s influence on the popularity of boxing by way of the
silver screen, and its influence on him, are undeniable.
#6 Action Icon The 80s and 90s era of cinema was a special
time for action movies and their stars as they were easily among the most popular of
film genres at the time. Stallone was one such star, starring in films like Cobra, Cliffhanger,
Demolition Man, and Judge Dread. Two franchises in particular fueled both his popularity and
his bank account: Rocky and Rambo. First Blood and the subsequent Rambo films enticed viewers
with its intense action scenes, garnering more than 727 million dollars worldwide. While
all 8 films of the Rocky franchise, including Creed and Creed 2, have brought in more than
792 million dollars domestically and nearly 1.3 billion dollars worldwide! During this
time, he contended with who he considered to be his biggest rival in Arnold Schwarzenegger,
who had their own multi-million dollar franchise with Terminator. Of their friendly competition,
Stallone has said: “I buy a pair of cowboy boots, he buys a pair. I buy a watch, he buys
a bigger watch. He always wins. One time I got a new car and – I swear – he went
and had a truck specially made in Germany that could drive over my car. It looked like
one of those moon exploration vehicles.” #5 Millennial Slump
As media moved into the 2000s, the way of the action film started to fade out of focus
with the sudden trend of futuristic sci-fi, superhero, and apocalyptic event films coming
more into the forefront. Stallone’s demand during this time dropped significantly, with
poor critical and box office reception to his work in movies like Get Carter, Driven,
Avenging Angelo and D-Tox. This string of silver screen flops didn’t slow down the
Italian Stallion, though, as Stallone would make a cameo in the box office hit Spy Kids
3-D: Game Over, as well as take on a highly-praised supporting role in the 2003 crime drama Shade.
He remained in the public eye through the mid-2000s with a co-presenter role alongside
Sugar Ray Leonard on the NBC reality boxing show The Contender. But in 2006, after a three
year break from filmmaking, it was time for Stallone to return to his roots with another
installment in the Rocky series, as Rocky Balboa drew 155.7 million dollars world wide
off of a budget of just 24 million dollars. Two years later, he brought back Rambo, fetching
more than 18 million dollars its opening weekend and 113 million dollars for a total worldwide
gross. Stallone was on the rise once more. #4 Expendable Resurgence
By 2010, Sylvester Stallone was ready to mount a comeback like no one expected. Assembling
a dream cast of action heroes from across the previous three decades of film, the visionary
writer and director created The Expendables. Starring names like Jason Statham, Jet Li,
Randy Couture, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, and even featuring cameos from
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, Stallone had done the unthinkable, crafting a every
action flick fan’s greatest fantasy. Sequels to the film upped the ante by adding the star
power of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson, Antonio Banderas, Harrison Ford,
and Chuck Norris. The popularity of this newest franchise opened more doors once more for
Stallone, who went on to develop the two Creed films to huge success, star in films like
Escape Plan, Grudge Match, and land a cameo in the mega-hit Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
Even Rambo is back on the table, with the fifth installment slated for a fall release
this year. #3 Physical Toll
Showing no reservations, Stallone often commits full throttle to his parts. And when you’re
an action star, that level of commitment can result in some fairly nasty injuries. For
example, in the 1981 film Escape to Victory, the Italian-American actor broke a finger
when attempting to block a goal from legendary soccer player Pele. While shooting a fight
scene for Rocky IV, Stallone reportedly asked co-star Dolph Lundgren to punch him as hard
as he could directly in the chest. The shot sent Sly directly to the hospital as Stallone
recalls “Next thing I know, I was in intensive care at St. John’s Hospital for four days.”
Then, on the set of The Expendables, an accident during a fight scene with wrestler and actor
Steve Austin, Stallone broke his neck! His recovery required the installation of a metal
plate. Perhaps his worst injury, though, occured during a random bench pressing contest with
former Mr. Universe Franco Columbo. Stallone endured a torn pectoral muscle, an injury
so gruesome, it required 160 stitches, a window cut into the bone of his shoulder, and a cable
laced around the damaged muscle to pull it back into place.
#2 Roles Untaken Parts come and go in the world of acting.
At the end of the day, not every role is going to be a homerun, so making that clutch decision
on which films you’re willing to make is an internal debate all actors must face. Throughout
his career, Stallone has undoubtedly turned down numerous roles, but a handful stand out
more than others...especially given how they turned out. Following the success of Rocky,
he was approached with an offer to play the role of Clark Kent in the 1978 film Superman.
He passed on the part, leaving Christopher Reeves to rise to prominence in his stead
as he released films F.I.S.T. and Paradise Alley. Then in the 1980s, he was the first
choice to play Axel Foley, but when he passed on that, Eddie Murphy seized the opportunity.
Beverly Hills Cop released in 1984 while Stallone’s film, Rhinestone co-starring Dolly Parton,
came out that summer. And then Richard Gere received a huge break when Sly showed no interest
in the lead role of Pretty Woman. #1 Inner Artist
Behind the muscles and the gruffness lies Sly Stallone’s creative side. In addition
to an obvious creativity that led to his writing of Rocky, the famed actor also enjoys painting.
For over 50 years, Stallone has created oil paintings, the likes of which garner tens
of thousands with a sale of two paintings selling for 90 thousand dollars! He idolizes
Leonardo Da Vinci, and his love of art can even be seen in Rocky as the iconic steps
he climbs are the front entrance to none other than the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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