Burt Young, who played Paulie in six of the “Rocky” movies starring Sylvester Stallone, drawing an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1976 original, had died, according to his daughter Anne Morea Steingieser. He was 83. His cause of death was not immediately known. According to the New York Times, Young died on Oct. 8 in Los Angeles.
In a statement, his manager, Lynda Bensky, said, “Burt was an actor of tremendous emotional range. He could make you cry, and he could scare you to death.” She added, “But the real pathos that I experienced was the poignancy of his soul. That’s where it came from.” Young had over 160 credits to his name but was best known for playing Sylvester Stallone’s brother-in-law, Paulie, in six “Rocky” movies.
After learning of his passing, Stallone paid tribute to his former co-star, taking to Instagram to write, “To my Dear Friend, BURT YOUNG, you were an incredible man and artist; I and the World will miss you very much…RIP.” He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the first film and was one of three actors to reprise roles throughout the franchise, including Stallone and Tony Burton.
Young was born in Queens, New York, to Italian heritage parents. In a 1978 article, People Magazine said Young was mysterious about numerous details of his past, including his family’s original last name. When he was 15, he dropped out of school to join the Marines, serving from 1957 to 1959. Lee Strasberg trained him at the Actors Studio. The actor made his uncredited screen debut as a bartender in an “The Doctors” episode in 1969.
The following year, he made his big-screen debut in the horror film “Carnival of Blood.” He had a small part as a hood in Ivan Passer’s “Born to Win,” which starred George Segal and Paula Prentiss and featured a young Robert De Niro and appeared in the crime comedy “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” starring Jerry Orbach, with De Niro again in a supporting role, and the well-regarded crime drama “Across 110th Street.” Young also appeared in TV movies and guested on “Tales From the Crypt,” “Columbo,” “The Outer Limits,” “Russian Doll” and even “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
More fittingly, he appeared in a 2001 episode of “The Sopranos” as the father of Steve Schirripa’s Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri. Tony mentions to Bobby “Bacala” that it was odd that he’d never whacked anyone, considering his father, who fronted as a barber, was “the Terminator in that respect.” Young was also known for working alongside Jack Nicholson in “Chinatown” and with Rodney Dangerfield in “Back to School.”
He worked with fellow Queens, New York, native, the late James Caan, in a handful of films in the 1970s, including “Cinderella Liberty,” “The Gambler,” “The Killer Elite,” and “Harry and Walter Go to New York.” In addition to acting, Young painted and had artwork in galleries worldwide. Young’s wife, Gloria, died in 1974. He is survived by a daughter, Anne Morea.