Burt Young

Gerald Tommaso DeLouise (born April 30, 1940), better known by his stage name Burt Young, is an American actor, painter and author. He is best known for his Academy Award-nominated role as Sylvester Stallone's character's brother-in-law and best friend Paulie Pennino in the Rocky film series.

Personal life

Young was born in Queens, New York, the son of Josephine and Michael, a high school shop teacher. He is of Italian descent. He was trained by Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Young is a widower and has one daughter, Anne Morea. He lives in Port Washington, New York. Young served a tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps from 1957-1959.

Career

Young made his name playing rough-edged working class Italian-American characters, the best-known example being his signature role as Sylvester Stallone's character's brother-in-law Paulie in Rocky (1976), for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He is one of four actors (the other three being Stallone, Stu Nahan and Tony Burton) who have appeared in all of the first six Rocky films (although Talia Shire also appears in the first five films and makes a flashback appearance in the sixth). Young did not reprise his role in the 2015 film Creed, with the character having died in 2012.