Burt Young, the character actor who earned an Oscar nomination for ‘Rocky,’ has died at aged 83.
Burt Young died on October 8, in Los Angeles, his daughter, Anne Morea Steingieser, told the New York Times, which first reported his death Wednesday.
Who was Burt Young?
Born Gerald Tommaso DeLouise on April 30, 1940 in New York City’s Queens borough, the burly performer served in the US Marine Corps in the 1950s and later studied at Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio.
Burt Young, who adopted the name Burt Young when he began acting, starred in over 160 movies and television shows. During his prolific career, he became a reliable character actor who could play tough guys in mobs or working men just trying to make it.
One of those working men characters was Paulie, Rocky Balboa’s best friend and the brother of his wife Adrian. Young’s performance in the first Rocky movie earned him an Oscar nomination and he would go on to reprise the role in every Rocky movie through Rocky Balboa in 2006.
In 2009, Young told The Sweet Science he was the only actor cast in Rocky who didn’t have to audition. Stallone saw him on the MGM lot and told the former U.S. Marine that he had to be in the movie, Young recalled.
“I thought the script had the cleanest street prose I’d ever read,” Young said of Stallone’s Oscar-nominated script in 2009. “Stallone is not only a workaholic, he’s a genius who is always looking three years ahead. He has a real eyeball for what’s going on in the world.”
How did Burt Young die?
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The actor, who was also briefly a professional boxer before he studied acting under Lee Strasberg, started his film and television career in 1969.
Before Rocky, he starred alongside James Caan in Cinderella Liberty, The Gambler and The Killer Elite.
Outside of the Rocky movies, Burt Young also starred in Once Upon a Time in America and episodes of M*A*S*H, Beretta, Miami Vice, Columbo, The Sopranos and Russian Doll.
“For different reasons there are different movies that I like,” Young told Media Mikes in 2011 when asked about his favorite movie to make. “Location is always a factor as well as the individuals involved.
The creativity of the script is important along with the depth of the character and how far I am allowed to take that character. I really liked some of the work that I have written. I of course love the first Rocky film. I also enjoyed some of the episodes from way back of Baretta that won Emmys and helped get that show renewed.”
What did Burt Young die from?
hbo/getty
Outside of acting, Burt Young had a passion for painting that developed when he was 11 and won a New York City Parks contest, he told the Long Island Pulse in 2012. He found painting to be liberating since there was no censorship compared to movies.
“With so many movies, my work ends up on the cutting room floor—every actor has that,” he said in 2012. “With my paintings, what are they going to do?”
Burt Young is survived by his daughter, a brother, and a grandson, reports the Times. His wife Gloria died in 1974.
Burt Young cause of death
Burt Young’s cause of death was not immediately known. According to the New York Times, Young died on Oct. 8 in Los Angeles.
“Burt was an actor of tremendous emotional range,” his manager Lynda Bensky said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “He could make you cry and he could scare you to death.”
Bensky added, “But the real pathos that I experienced was the poignancy of his soul. That’s where it came from.”
Stallone paid tribute to his former co-star after learning of his passing last night, 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.”
Burt Young 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.
