Sylvester Stallone: Biography, Personal Life, Career, Filmography:

Sylvester Stallone:

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, he won his first critical acclaim as an actor for his co-starring role as Stanley Rosiello in The Lords of Flatbush. Stallone subsequently found gradual work as an extra or side character in films with a sizable budget until he achieved his greatest critical and commercial success as an actor and screenwriter, starting in 1976 with his role as boxer Rocky Balboa, in the first film of the successful Rocky series (1976–present), for which he also wrote the screenplays. In the films, Rocky is portrayed as an underdog boxer who fights numerous brutal opponents, and wins the world heavyweight championship twice.

In 1977, Stallone was the third actor in cinema to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. Stallone’s film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry, and had its 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 the Rocky character placed permanently near the museum, and he was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Up until 1982, Stallone’s films were not big box-office successes unless they were Rocky sequels, and none received the critical acclaim achieved with the first Rocky. This changed with the successful action film First Blood in which he portrayed the PTSD-plagued soldier John Rambo.

Originally an adaptation of the eponymous novel by David Morell, First Blood’s script was significantly altered by Stallone during the film’s production. Stallone would play the role in a total of five Rambo films (1982–2019). From the mid-1980s through to the late 1990s, Stallone would go on to become one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors of that era by appearing in a slew of commercially successful action films which were however generally panned by critics. These include Cobra, Tango and Cash, Cliffhanger, the better received Demolition Man, and The Specialist. Stallone saw a decline in popularity in the early 2000s but rebounded back to prominence in 2006 with a sixth installment in the Rocky series and 2008 with a fourth in the Rambo series. In the 2010s, Stallone launched The Expendables films series (2010–present), in which he played the lead as the mercenary Barney Ross.

Early life:

Sylvester Stallone was born in the Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City on July 6, 1946, the elder son of Francesco “Frank” Stallone Sr., a hairdresser and beautician, and Jacqueline “Jackie” Stallone (née Labofish; 1921–2020), an astrologer, dancer, and promoter of women’s wrestling. His Italian father was born in Gioia del Colle, Apulia, Italy and moved to the U.S. in the 1930s, while his American mother is of French (Breton) and Ashkenazi Jewish descent. His younger brother is actor and musician Frank Stallone. Many biographies of Stallone indicate that his birth name is Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone. However, Stallone’s mother explained in an interview that she originally named him Tyrone because she admired the actor Tyrone Power, but Stallone’s father changed it to Sylvester. His nickname as a child was “Binky”, but after schoolmates began calling him “Stinky”, Stallone chose to go by the nickname of Mike/Michael.

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Film And Stage Career:

Until 1969, he appeared on the stage under the name Mike Stallone; in 1970, he started using the stage name Sylvester E. Stallone. While attending the University of Miami, Stallone had a role in the drama That Nice Boy (aka The Square Root), filmed in 1968. Stallone had his first starring role in the softcore pornography feature film The Party at Kitty and Stud’s (1970). He was paid US$200 for two days’ work. Stallone later explained that he had done the film out of desperation after being evicted from his apartment and finding himself homeless for several days. He has also said that he slept three weeks in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City prior to seeing a casting notice for the film. In the actor’s words, “it was either do that movie or rob someone, because I was at the end – the very end – of my rope”.

The film was released several years later as Italian Stallion, in order to cash in on Stallone’s newfound fame (the new title was taken from Stallone’s nickname since Rocky). Stallone also starred in the erotic off-Broadway stage play Score which ran for 23 performances at the Martinique Theatre from October 28 to November 15, 1971, and was later made into the 1974 film Score by Radley Metzger. Stallone happened to be acting in a play that a friend invited him to partake in, and an agent in attendance thought that Stallone fit the role of Stanley, a main character in The Lords of Flatbush, which had a start-stop schedule from 1972 to 1974 over budget issues. Stallone, around mid-1973, achieved his first proper starring role, in the independent film No Place to Hide, playing a man who is associated with a New York-based urban terrorist movement, with a jewelry-seller as his love interest.

Stallone’s other first few film roles were minor, and included brief uncredited appearances in MASH (1970), as a soldier sitting at a table; Pigeons (1970), as a party guest; 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 latter film, Jack Lemmon’s character chases, tackles, and mugs Stallone, thinking that Stallone’s character is a pickpocket. He had his second starring role in 1974, in The Lords of Flatbush. 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. He is also supposedly in Mandingo. It is often said that his scene was deleted.

In 1982, Stallone starred as Vietnam veteran John Rambo, a former Green Beret, in the action film First Blood, which was both a critical and box-office success. 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. It launched the Rambo franchise. That year Rocky III was released in which Stallone wrote, directed, and starred. The third sequel became a box-office success. In preparation for these roles, Stallone embarked upon a vigorous training regimen, which often meant six days a week in the gym and further sit-ups in the evenings. Stallone claims to have reduced his body fat percentage to his all-time low of 2.8% for Rocky III.

In 1993, he made a comeback with Renny Harlin’s action thriller Cliffhanger. which was a success in the US, grossing US$84 million, and worldwide, grossing US$171 million. Later that year, he starred in the futuristic action film Demolition Man directed by Marco Brambilla, co-starring Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 60% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 5.43/10. The site’s consensus reads: “A better-than-average sci-fi shoot-em-up with a satirical undercurrent, Demolition Man is bolstered by strong performances by Stallone, Snipes, and Bullock.” The film debuted at No. 1 at the box office. Demolition Man grossed $58,055,768 by the end of its box-office run in North America and $159,055,768 worldwide.

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Personal life:

Marriages and children:

Stallone has been married three times. He has two sons from his first marriage and three daughters from his third marriage. At age 28, on December 28, 1974, he married Sasha Czack. They had two sons, Sage Moonblood Stallone (1976–2012), who died of heart disease at age 36, and Seargeoh (born 1979), who was diagnosed with autism at an early age. The couple divorced on February 14, 1985. Stallone married model and actress Brigitte Nielsen on December 15, 1985, in Beverly Hills, California. Their marriage (which lasted two years) and their subsequent divorce were highly publicized by the tabloid press. In 1988 Stallone met model Jennifer Flavin and they were in a relationship until 1994, when Stallone told her he was having a child with model Janice Dickinson.

After the February 1994 birth, DNA tests confirmed he was not the father and Stallone ended his engagement to Dickinson. After a brief 1995 engagement with model Angie Everhart, he and Flavin rekindled their relationship. In May 1997, Stallone and Jennifer Flavin married. The couple has three daughters, Sophia, Sistine, and Scarlet. His daughters were chosen to share the role of Golden Globe Ambassador at the 74th Golden Globe Awards. In August 19, 2022, Palm Beach County records showed that after 25 years of marriage, Jennifer Flavin had filed for “dissolution of marriage and other relief.” On September 23, 2022, the couple reconciled.

Family and friends:

Stallone maintains a relationship with his brother Frank who contributed the theme songs to Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Staying Alive. In 1983, Frank’s song “Far from Over”, for Staying Alive, reached the #10 U.S. hit. Frank appears in minor roles, bit parts, and provides music in many films starring Sylvester, most notably in the Rocky films, where Frank played a street corner singer and contributed songs. Stallone’s 48-year-old half-sister, Toni Ann Filiti, died of lung cancer on August 26, 2012. She died at their mother’s Santa Monica home after choosing to leave UCLA’s hospital. He was a close friend of Joe Spinell. They had a falling out during the shooting of their final collaboration Nighthawks (1982).

Injuries:

Known for physically demanding roles and his willingness to do the majority of his own stunts, Stallone has suffered various injuries during his acting career. During the filming of Escape to Victory, he broke a finger trying to save a penalty kick from Pelé. For a scene in Rocky IV, he told Dolph Lundgren, “Punch me as hard as you can in the chest.” He later said, “Next thing I know, I was in intensive care at St. John’s Hospital for four days. While filming a fight scene with Steve Austin for The Expendables, he broke his neck, which required the insertion of a metal plate.

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Filmography:

1969 The Square Root
1969 Downhill Racer
1970 M*A*S*H
1970 The Party at Kitty and Stud’s
1970 Lovers and Other Strangers
1970 The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker
1971 Bananas
1971 Klute
1972 What’s Up, Doc?
1973 No Place to Hide
1974 The Lords of Flatbush
1975 The Prisoner of Second Avenue
1976 Rocky choreographer
1978 F.I.S.T.
1978 Paradise Alley
1979 Rocky II choreographer
1981 Nighthawks
1981 Escape to Victory
1982 Rocky III
1982 First Blood

1985 Rambo: First Blood Part II
1985 Rocky IV
1986 Cobra
1987 Over the Top
1988 Rambo III
1989 Lock Up
1989 Tango & Cash
1990 Rocky V
1991 Oscar

1993 Cliffhanger
1993 Demolition Man
1994 The Specialist

1995 Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd
1995 Assassins Robert Rath / Joseph Rath
1996 Daylight Chief Kit Latura
1997 Men in Black
1997 Cop Land

2006 Rocky Balboa boxing choreographer
2008 Rambo John
2009 Kambakkht Ishq
2010 The Expendables
2011 Zookeeper
2012 The Expendables 2
2012 Bullet to the Head
2013 Escape Plan
2013 Homefront
2013 Grudge Match
2014 The Expendables 3
2014 Reach Me
2015 Creed
2016 Ratchet & Clank
2017 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

2017 Animal Crackers
2018 Escape Plan 2: Hades
2018 Creed II
2018 Backtrace
2019 Escape Plan:
2019 Rallying Cry
2019 Rambo: Last Blood
2019 One Night: Joshua vs. Ruiz
2021 The Suicide Squad
2021 The Making of ‘Rocky vs. Drago’
2022 Samaritan
2022 MVP
2023 Creed III
2023 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
2023 The Expendables 4.