Rocky Balboa, the most beloved boxer on the planet, played by the exceptional, one of a kind Hollywood star, Sylvester Stallone, surely is one of the most popular characters in overall cinematic history. Stallone’s beginnings at the doorstep of Hollywood were quite tough, indeed, just as Rocky’s life on screen.
This living movie legend, an accomplished actor, producer, writer and director, who is now amongst the rich and famous, had really difficult and sad childhood. He was born under full name of Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, July 6th 1946, in an Italian emigrant family.
We all know him for his remarkable face. His trademark, a bit droopy visage, comes from a birth accident. An intern, who assisted the birth of this Hollywood star, accidentally cut off the nerve on the baby’s face. This resulted with a mild face paralysis, with slightly lowered eyelid and a part of his face, accompanied with speech difficulties. One could only imagine how many times this incredible man got rejected in the sparkling realm of movie industry. However, the universe had a big plan for Stallone. In time, his specific visage had made his one of the richest actors in the world.
Background of Stallone’s life was anything but sparkly and glamorous. He lived with his constantly arguing parents and his younger brother Frank. The constant tension between their parents resulted in a tough and family breaking divorce.
After that, Stallone had spent some time moving from one nurturing family to another, counting the day. He ended up living with his mom and stepfather in Philadelphia. Hostile surrounding and his specific look had made him quite a difficult and angry boy, so he was expelled from high school. Can you imagine this charming guy once went to social high school for problematic children?
Whatever his circumstances may have been, Stallone was always interested in an actor career. He enrolled drama section at college in Switzerland and then at the University in Miami. However, he didn’t graduate; instead, Stallone returned to New York, to work on his future acting career. He was ambitious in his desires. This multimillionaire had once been cleaning cages in New York Zoo, spent nights on benches and even played a role in porno movie, titled “A party at Kitty and Studs”. It was followed by series of low quality roles, but Stallone had never given up his dreams.
Besides his ambitions to become a movie star, Stallone loved to write. During his tough and dirty jobs days, he had finished the very first scenario about street fighter Rocky, who wished to become a boxing legend. As he has told later on, he was always astounded by the fact some people needed more than a decade to write something.
His Rocky scenario was quite amazing and Stallone got numerous offerings to sell it. However, he wanted to play in the movie, so he rejected all the offers, even if he had no money and a pregnant wife, waiting him at home. Finally, two movie producers agreed to let Stallone play the main role. He sold the scenario to the producers and Rocky went into legend. The first “Rocky”, published in 1976, developed into a series of movies about Rocky Balboa and his life.
The other notable movie achievement we know Stallone for is “Rambo”, a story of a Vietnam War veteran, John Rambo. This was another series that lifted Stallone on very high position in glamorous Hollywood realm. Besides his Rocky and Rambo roles and scenarios, Stallone has appeared in numerous macho character movies, such as “Cobra”, and “Over the top”, for example. Those met a mixed reception from his fans. As time passed by, Stallone’s action hero strengths started to fade away. He had numerous not so notable roles in action movies, but he shined in a comedy domain. One of the popular comedies Stallone played was “Tango and Cash”.
In 2000s, Stallone brought Rocky and Rambo back to life. The “Expendables” franchise, started in 2010, was a sort of revival of Stallone’s favorite genre. He wrote and co wrote most of the material for all three franchises and directed many of the movies.
Stallone also had turbulent love life. He was married thrice, currently to a former model Jennifer Flavin. He has three daughters and he had two sons. A few years ago, Stallone’s oldest son, Sage, was found dead in his LA apartment. Sage was also engaged with movie life; he accompanied his father in the fifth movie about Rocky and Daylight.
On his son’s death, Stallone said time would hopefully heal the loss, but that people need to get their life back and try to go through difficult reality of life. Stallone’s story is truly inspiring. From the dust and poverty he has made himself one of the richest celebrities in the world, with an estimated net worth of unimaginable $400 million.
Quick Summary
Full Name: Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone
Date of Birth: July 6th, 1946
Birth Place: New York City, New York, United States
Age: 70
Profession: Actor, director, screenwriter
Height: 5 ft 9½ in (1.77 m)
Weight: 103 kg
Net Worth: $400 million
Check out also net worth of: Bob Newhart and Anthony Hopkins.
