Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.
Born	Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone
Occupation(s)	Film actor, Director, Screenwriter
Years active	1970–present
Spouse(s)	Sasha Czack (1974–1985) Brigitte Nielsen (1985–1987) Jennifer Flavin (1997–present)
Website	http://www.sylvesterstallone.com

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (pronounced /stəˈloʊn/; born July 6, 1946), nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, director and screenwriter. One of the biggest box office draws in the world from the 1970s to the 1990s, Stallone is an icon of machismo and Hollywood action heroism. He has played two characters who have become a part of the American cultural lexicon: Robert "Rocky" Balboa, the boxer who overcame odds to fight for love and glory, and John James Rambo, a courageous but troubled soldier who specialized in violent rescue and revenge missions. During the 1980s and the better part of 1990s, he was one of the biggest movie stars in the world with the Rocky and Rambo franchises along with several other mega blockbuster hit films.

Stallone's film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry as well as having its film props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. Stallone's use of the front entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Rocky series led the area to be nicknamed the Rocky Steps. Philadelphia has a statue of his Rocky character placed permanently near the museum, on the right side before the steps.

Early life

Stallone was born in New York, New York, the son of Frank Stallone, Sr., a hairdresser, and Jackie Stallone (born Jacqueline Labofish), an astrologer, former dancer and promoter of women's wrestling. He is the brother of actor and musician Frank Stallone. Stallone's father was born in Castellammare del Golfo, in the region of Sicily, and immigrated to the United States as a child, while Stallone's mother was born in Washington, D.C. of French and Russian Jewish descent.

Complications his mother suffered during labor forced her obstetricians to use pairs of forcepses during his birth; these severed a nerve and caused paralysis in parts of Stallone's face, resulting in his signature slurred speech and drooping lower lip. Between the ages of two and five Stallone was boarded in Queens, seeing his parents only on weekends. In 1951 he returned to live with his parents in Silver Spring, Maryland where they operated a chain of beauty salons. In 1961 he was enrolled in Devereux Manor High School, a private school for problem children located in Berwyn, Pennsylvania and following graduation enrolled in a beauty school.

In the 1960s, Stallone dropped out of the beauty school after winning a scholarship for the American College of Switzerland in Leysin where he studied drama and was well received in school productions. Returning to America he enrolled in the Theater Arts Department at University of Miami for three years. He came within a few credit hours of graduation before he decided to drop out and pursue a career writing screenplays under the pen names Q. Moonblood and J.J. Deadlock (under neither of which names he sold any scripts) while at the same time taking bit parts in movies.

Career

Italian Stallion and Score

Stallone had his first starring role in the softcore pornography feature film The Party at Kitty and Stud's (1970), later re-released as Italian Stallion (the new title was taken from Stallone's nickname since Rocky and a line from the film). He was paid US$200 for two days' work. An "uncut" version of the film was released in 2007, purporting to show actual hardcore footage of Stallone, but according to trade journal AVN, the hardcore scenes were inserts not involving the actor. In 2008, scenes from Party at Kitty and Stud's surfaced in a German version of Roger Colmont's hardcore-film White Fire (1976).

Stallone also starred in the erotic off-Broadway stage play Score which ran for 23 performances at the Martinique Theatre from October 28 - November 15, 1971 and was later made into a film by Radley Metzger.

Early film roles, 1970–1975

In addition to The Party at Kitty and Stud's, in 1970 Stallone appeared in the film No Place to Hide, which was re-cut and retitled Rebel, the second version featuring Stallone as its star. After the style of Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily?, this film, in 1990, was re-edited from outtakes from the original movie and newly shot matching footage, then redubbed into an award-winning parody of itself titled A Man Called... Rainbo. Again starring Stallone, this self-parody was directed by David Casci and produced by Jeffrey Hilton. A Man Called...Rainbo won Silver Awards at the Chicago International Film Festival and Worldfest - Houston, and was featured on Entertainment Tonight along with its credited star, Sylvester Stallone. It received a Thumbs-Up on Siskel & Ebert, and was recommended by Michael Medved on the popular movie review show, Sneak Previews.

Stallone's other first few film roles were minor, and included brief uncredited appearances in Woody Allen's Bananas (1971) as a subway thug, in the psychological thriller Klute (1971) as an extra dancing in a club, and in the Jack Lemmon film The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) as a youth. In the Lemmon film, Jack Lemmon chases, tackles and mugs Stallone, thinking that Stallone's character is a pickpocket. He had his second starring role in The Lords of Flatbush, in 1974, in whose script he had a hand in writing. In 1975, he played supporting roles in Farewell, My Lovely; Capone; and Death Race 2000. He made guest appearances on the TV series Police Story and Kojak.

Success with Rocky, 1976

Main article: Rocky

Stallone in 1978

Stallone gained worldwide fame with his starring role in the smash hit Rocky (1976). On March 24, 1975, Stallone saw the Muhammed Ali–Chuck Wepner fight, which inspired the foundation idea of Rocky. That night Stallone went home, and in three days he had written the script for Rocky. After that, he tried to sell the script with the intention of playing the lead role. Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler in particular liked the script. A highly entertaining story about how Rocky was made was widely circulated after the film was completed. As the story goes, a broke Stallone refused ever larger sums of money (that he desperately needed) to sell the highly valued script because he insisted--against studio wishes--that he play the lead role. The studio wanted a name star. According to the legend, the studio finally relented by paying Stallone a modest $18,000 for the script with the agreement that the film would be made on a shoestring budget. It was revealed years later that this story was largely made up, a marketing gimmick concocted by the studio to reinforce the underdog theme of the film. Rocky went through a development process that was much more mundane than this rags-to-riches fable would suggest. Rocky was nominated for ten Academy Awards in all, including Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay nominations for Stallone. Rocky won the Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Production (shared by Winkler&Chartoff) and Best Editing Academy Awards.

Rocky, Rambo and new film roles, 1978–1989

Stallone in 1983

The sequel Rocky II, which Stallone had also written and directed (replacing John G. Avildsen, who won an Academy Award for directing the first film) was released in 1979 and also became a major success, grossing US$200 million.

Apart from the Rocky films, Stallone did many other films in the late 1970s and early 1980s which were critically acclaimed but were not successful at the box office. He received critical praise for films such as F.I.S.T. (1978), a social, epic styled drama in which he plays a warehouse worker, very loosely modeled on James Hoffa, who becomes involved in the labor union leadership, and Paradise Alley (1978), a family drama in which he plays one of three brothers who is a con artist and who helps his other brother who is involved in wrestling. Stallone made his directorial debut directing Paradise Alley.

In the early 1980s, he starred alongside British veteran Michael Caine in Escape to Victory (1981), a sports drama in which he plays a prisoner of war involved in a Nazi propaganda football (soccer) tournament. Stallone then made the action thriller film Nighthawks (1981), in which he plays a New York city cop who plays a cat and mouse game with a foreign terrorist, played by Rutger Hauer.

Sylvester Stallone with Brigitte Nielsen, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan at the White House, 1985

Stallone had another major franchise success as Vietnam veteran John James Rambo, a former Green Beret, in the action-adventure film First Blood (1982). The first installment of Rambo was both a critical and box office success. The critics praised Stallone's performance, saying he made Rambo seem human, as opposed to the way he is portrayed in the book of the same name, First Blood and in the other films. Three Rambo sequels Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988) and Rambo followed. Although box office hits, they met with much less critical praise than the original. He also continued his box office success with the Rocky franchise and wrote, directed and starred in two more sequels to the series: Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985). Stallone has portrayed these two characters in a total of ten films.

It was during this time period that Stallone's work cultivated a strong overseas following. He also attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, roles in different genres when he co-wrote and starred in the comedy film Rhinestone (1984) where he played a wannabe country music singer and the drama film Over the Top (1987) where he played a truck driver who enters an arm wrestling competition to impress his estranged son. For the Rhinestone soundtrack, he performed a song. These films did not do well at the box office and were poorly received by critics. It was around 1985 that Stallone was signed to a remake of the 1939 James Cagney classic Angels With Dirty Faces. The film would form part of his multi-picture deal with Cannon Pictures and was to co-star Christopher Reeve and be directed by Menahem Golan. The re-making of such a beloved classic was met with disapproval by Variety Magazine and horror by top critic Roger Ebert and so Cannon opted to make Cobra instead. Cobra (1986) and Tango and Cash (1989) did solid business domestically but overseas they did blockbuster business grossing over $100 million in foreign markets and over $160 million worldwide. The Rocky and Rambo franchises at the end of the decade were billion dollar franchises internationally.

1990–2002

With the then recent success of Lock Up and Tango and Cash, at the start of the 1990s Stallone starred in the fifth installment of the Rocky franchise Rocky V which was considered a box office disappointment and was also disliked by fans as an unworthy entry in the series. It was intended to have been the last installment in the franchise at the time.

After starring in the critical and commercial disasters Oscar (1991) and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) (which he claimed was the worst film he appeared in) during the early 90s, he made a comeback in 1993 with the hit Cliffhanger which was a moderate success in the U.S. but more successful worldwide, grossing over US$255 million. Later that year he had a hit with the futuristic action film Demolition Man which grossed in excess of $158 million worldwide. His string of hits continued with 1994's The Specialist (over $170 million worldwide gross).

In 1995, he played the comic book based title character Judge Joseph Dredd, who was taken from the British comic book 2000 AD in the film of the same name. His overseas box office appeal saved the domestic box office disappointment of Judge Dredd with a worldwide tally of $113 million. He also appeared in the thriller Assassins (1995) with co stars Julianne Moore and Antonio Banderas. In 1996, he starred in the disaster film Daylight which made only $33 million in the U.S but was a major hit overseas taking in over $126 million, totalling $159,212,469 worldwide.

That same year Stallone, along with an all-star cast of celebrities, appeared in the Trey Parker and Matt Stone short comedy film Your Studio and You commissioned by the Seagram Company for a party celebrating their acquisition of Universal Studios and the MCA Corporation. Stallone speaks in his Rocky Balboa voice with subtitles translating what he was saying. At one point, Stallone starts yelling about how can they use his Balboa character, that he left it in the past; the narrator calms him with a wine cooler and calling him, "brainiac." In response, Stallone says, "Thank you very much." He then looks at the wine cooler and exclaims, "Stupid cheap studio!"

Following his breakthrough performance in Rocky, critic Roger Ebert had once said Stallone could become the next Marlon Brando, though he never quite recaptured the critical acclaim achieved with Rocky. Stallone did, however, go on to receive much acclaim for his role in the crime drama Cop Land (1997) in which he starred alongside Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta, but the film was only a minor success at the box office. His performance led him to win the Stockholm International Film Festival Best Actor Award. In 1998 he did voice-over work for the computer-animated film Antz, which grossed over $90 million domestically.

As the new millennium began, Stallone starred in the thriller Get Carter — a remake of the 1971 British Michael Caine film of the same name—but the film was poorly received by both critics and audiences. Stallone's career declined considerably after his subsequent films Driven (2001), Avenging Angelo (2002) and D-Tox (2002) also underachieved expectations to do well at the box office and were poorly received by critics.

In 2000, Stallone received a special "Worst Actor of the Century" Razzie award, citing "95% of Everything He's Ever Done" rather than an individual movie. By 2000, Stallone had been awarded four Worst Actor Razzie awards for individual movies, a "Worst Screen Couple" Razzie, and a "Worst Actor of the Decade" Razzie for the 1980s. He had been nominated for the Worst Actor award for nine consecutive years from 1984 to 1992.

2003–2005

In 2003, he played a villainous role in the third installment of the Spy Kids trilogy Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over which was a huge box office success (almost $200 million worldwide). Stallone also had a cameo appearance in the 2003 French film Taxi 3 as a passenger.

Following several poorly reviewed box office flops, Stallone started to regain prominence for his supporting role in the neo-noir crime drama Shade (2003) which was only released in a limited fashion but was praised by critics. He was also attached to star and direct a film tentatively titled Rampart Scandal, which was to be about the murder of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. and the surrounding Los Angeles Police Department corruption scandal. It was later titled Notorious but was shelved.

In 2005, he was the co-presenter, alongside Sugar Ray Leonard, of the NBC Reality television boxing series The Contender. That same year he also made a guest appearance in two episodes of the television series Las Vegas. In 2005, Stallone also inducted wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, who appeared in Rocky III as a wrestler named Thunderlips, into the WWE Hall of Fame; Stallone was also the person who offered Hogan the cameo in Rocky III.

Revisiting Rocky and Rambo, 2006–2008

Sylvester Stallone Hollywood Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

After a few years hiatus from films, Stallone made a comeback in 2006 with the sixth installment of his successful Rocky series, Rocky Balboa, which was a critical and commercial hit. After the critical and box office failure of the previous and presumed last installment Rocky V, Stallone had decided to end the series with a sixth installment which would be a more appropriate climax to the series. The total domestic box office came to $70.3 million (and $155.3 million worldwide). The budget of the movie was only $24 million. His performance in Rocky Balboa has been praised and garnered mostly positive reviews.

Stallone's newest release was the fourth installment of his other successful movie franchise, Rambo, with the sequel being titled simply Rambo. The film opened in 2,751 theaters on January 25, 2008, grossing $6,490,000 on its opening day and $18,200,000 over its opening weekend. Its current box office stands at $42,653,401 in the US and $112,481,829 worldwide.

Asked in February 2008 which of the icons he would rather be remembered for, Stallone said "it's a tough one, but Rocky is my first baby, so Rocky."

Upcoming films

Currently, Stallone is working on a film titled The Expendables, for which he will star, write and direct. Joining him in the film will be Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Randy Couture, Robert Knepper, Eric Roberts, David Zayas, and Stone Cold Steve Austin, Danny Trejo, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis. Stallone will also provide the voice of a lion in Kevin James's planned comedy The Zookeeper. Stallone has also mentioned that he would like to adapt a Nelson DeMille novel, The Lion's Game. In addition, Stallone has continued to express his passion in directing a film on Edgar Allan Poe's life, a script he has been preparing for years. The movie, called Poe, is to be produced by Avi Lerner and will feature Robert Downey Jr. Stallone will also be making a fifth Rambo film after the success of the fourth one in 2008. In July 2009, he appeared in a cameo in the Bollywood movie Kambakkht Ishq where he played himself, for which he has been nominated by the Indian version of Razzies, Golden Kela Awards.

Other film work

Stallone's debut as a director came in 1978 with Paradise Alley, which he also wrote and starred in. In addition, he directed Staying Alive (the sequel to Saturday Night Fever), along with Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky Balboa, and Rambo. In August 2005, Stallone released his book Sly Moves which claimed to be a guide to fitness and nutrition as well as a candid insight into his life and works from his own perspective. The book also contained many photographs of Stallone throughout the years as well as pictures of him performing exercises. In addition to writing all six Rocky films, Stallone also wrote Cobra, Driven, and Rambo. He has co-written several other films, such as F.I.S.T., Rhinestone, Over the Top, and the first three Rambo films. His last major success as a co-writer came with 1993's Cliffhanger.

Filmography

Main article: Sylvester Stallone filmography

Personal life

Handprints of Sylvester Stallone

Stallone has been married three times. At age 28, on December 28, 1974, he married Sasha Czack. The couple had two sons, Sage Moonblood (b. 5 May 1976) and Seargeoh (b. 1979). His younger son was diagnosed with autism at an early age. The couple divorced on February 14, 1985. The same year his divorce finalized, he married model and actress, Brigitte Nielsen, on December 15, 1985, in Beverly Hills, California. His second marriage only lasted two years. In May 1997, Stallone married Jennifer Flavin, with whom he shares three daughters: Sophia Rose (b. 27 August 1996), Sistine Rose (b. 27 June 1998), and Scarlet Rose (b. 25 May 2002).

Stallone has repeatedly used human growth hormone for its reputation of being anti-aging. In 2007, he was caught in Australia with 48 vials of the synthetic human growth hormone Jintropin; this led to concerns that the resulting publicity would increase usage of the drug.

After Stallone's request that his acting and life experiences be accepted in exchange for his remaining credits, he was granted a Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) degree by the President of the University of Miami in 1999.

Stallone grew up Catholic and stopped going to church as his acting career progressed. He began to rediscover his childhood faith when his daughter was born ill in 1996, and is now a churchgoing Catholic.

Stallone supports The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and is featured prominently on that organization's website along with other celebrities.

Injury

On January 6, 2010, Sylvester Stallone noted in an interview with FHM magazine that he broke his neck while filming his new movie, The Expendables. Stallone, now 63 years old, was filming a fight scene with former wrestling legend and co-star Stone Cold Steve Austin, but it all got so realistic that Stallone ended up with a hairline fracture in his neck.

"I'm not joking," he said. "I haven't told anyone this, but I had to have a very serious operation afterwards. I now have a metal plate in my neck."

External links

• Official website