Sylvester Stallone

From New York to the first script

Sylvester Stallone was born on 6 July 1946 in New York City. After two years at the American College of Switzerland, he studied drama at the University of Miami from 1967 to 1969 without graduating. Back in New York he took small parts, including The Lords of Flatbush (1974) and Machine Gun Joe Viterbo in Death Race 2000 (1975).

On 24 March 1975 he watched Muhammad Ali defend the heavyweight title against Chuck Wepner, a New Jersey journeyman who lasted into the fifteenth round. He wrote the first draft of Rocky in three days.

Rocky, the actor who boxed

Producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff agreed to make Rocky with Stallone in the lead, on a budget of about $1 million and a 28-day shoot directed by John G. Avildsen. Stallone trained daily for about five months with Jimmy Gambina, a boxing trainer and the film's technical adviser. He is credited as boxing choreographer: he and Carl Weathers rehearsed the final fight for four weeks while Avildsen filmed them on Super 8. Rocky won three Oscars, including Best Picture, and Stallone was nominated for acting and writing.

He made his directing debut with Paradise Alley (1978), about three brothers in New York wrestling, then directed Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985). His fights are staged for spectacle: little defence, long exchanges of hooks, training told through music montages. In the 1980s he also ran a boxing promotion company, Tiger Eye Productions.

Rambo and action cinema

First Blood (1982) introduced John Rambo, whom he played in five films through 2019. Then came Cobra (1986), Lock Up (1989), Tango & Cash (1989), Cliffhanger (1993), Demolition Man (1993) and Cop Land (1997). In 2010 he wrote, directed and starred in The Expendables, mixing action stars with fighters such as Jet Li and Randy Couture.

Rocky returns

Sixteen years after Rocky V, he wrote and directed Rocky Balboa (2006). In 2013 Grudge Match paired him with Raging Bull's Robert De Niro as two old boxers. In Ryan Coogler's Creed (2015), Rocky trains Apollo Creed's son Adonis: Stallone won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and earned his third Oscar nomination. He returned in Creed II (2018).

Legacy

The International Boxing Hall of Fame inducted him in 2010 as a non-participant. The Rocky statue stands at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and runners still climb the steps. Since 2022 he has led the series Tulsa King. For amateur boxers his films are not technical manuals, but they defined the image of preparation: dawn runs, the heavy bag and the steps.