Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6, 1946 in New York City), usually known as Sylvester Stallone, is an American film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He achieved his greatest successes in a number of action films, notably the Rambo and Rocky series.

As a child, Stallone was nick-named "Binky." When kids began to substitute, for this, "Stinky," Sly decided to name himself "Mike." In fact, in some of his earlier work, he is credited as "Michael Stallone." Sylvester studied drama at the University of Miami, though he dropped out and returned to New York to appear in a few small Off-Broadway plays.

Stallone's career actually began with an appearance in a pornographic film. Called "Party at Kitty and Stud's" it was considered hard-core at the time, but would be considered soft-core by today's standards (as though graphic depictions of genitals are featured, including Stallone's, actual close-up shots of penetration are not shown.) After Stallone's later success the film was re-packaged as "The Italian Stallion".

Stallone's first film roles were very small. He had a brief appearance in the Jack Lemmon vehicle The Prisoner Of Second Avenue (1974). He had a starring role in the cult hit The Lords Of Flatbush (1974). In 1975 he was featured in Farewell My Lovely and Capone. Stallone also appeared in guest shots on the popular television series Police Story and Kojak.

Stallone didn't gain wide fame until his starring role in Rocky (1976), a film that he wrote in only three days and sold with the rider that he would play the lead. This was a box office success, and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Stallone had been a lifelong boxing fan and used "Bayonne Bleeder" Chuck Wepner's surprising performance in his 1975 title bout with Muhammed Ali as partial inspiration for the plot.

Stallone had two Academy Award nominations for Rocky. However, his attempts to expand his range floundered and he was forced to return to the Rocky franchise a number of times (1979, 1982, 1985, and 1990) to pay for the flops. This link with boxing extended to hosting reality TV show The Contender. He tried his hand at directing as well as writing with Rocky II, III and IV, and directed and co-wrote several other films, such as Tango and Cash and the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive. His other early successes were as John Rambo in First Blood, released in (1982), and its sequels. He also appeared in the 1986 movie, Cobra, and the 1987 arm wrestling movie Over the Top. Stallone was recently awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the USA Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films.

In the 1990s, Stallone had further box-office wins with a number of action movies, including Cliffhanger (1993, for which he co-wrote the screenplay), Demolition Man (1993) and Judge Dredd (1995). He still sought to expand his appeal with the low-budget Cop Land (1997) (for which his understated performance won critical praise) and a voice role in Antz (1998), but his $15 million-plus paychecks are still only offered for more lively action roles. He played the villain in the 2003 movie Spy Kids 3-D.

In 1991, Stallone worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Keith Barish and Robert Earl to co-found Planet Hollywood, a worldwide chain of Hollywood-themed restaurants filled with memorabilia and merchandise. Stallone later sued Kenneth Starr (no relation to the independent counsel to the Whitewater investigation), his one-time business manager, for advising him to hold his shares in the restaurant chain, despite its falling value and eventual bankruptcy.

His trademark sneer, lazy eyes, and slurred speech are the result of paralysis in the left side of his face caused by birth complications.

He has been married three times, to Sasha Czack, Brigitte Nielsen, and Jennifer Flavin. He has five children, Sage Moonblood and Seargeoh (with Czack), and Sophia Rose, Sistine Rose, and Scarlet Rose (with Flavin). His younger brother is singer and actor Frank Stallone.

Trivia

• Nicknamed "Sly".
• Nominated for a Best Actor award for his role in Rocky at the 1976 Academy Awards.
• Not all of the films in which he's appeared are in the English language. He made a cameo appearance in the French film Taxi 3 where he spoke what appeared to be fluent French.
• In Rambo III Stallone's character is portrayed fighting alongside the Mujahideen, many of which later formed the Taliban in Afghanistan. The actor would come to regret this in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. In fairness, many of the Mujahideen also formed the Northern Alliance who challenged the authority of the Taliban, but unfortunately their record on human rights is also open to question.
• Stallone's family include former chart-topping singer Frank Stallone, his mother Jackie, who achieved fame in the middle 1990s as an astrologer and Sage Stallone, who played Rocky's son in 1990's Rocky V.
• While Stallone's "official" height has always been put at 5 feet 10 inches, he is actually believed by many, as first reported in Us Weekly magazine, to be only 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm).
• Gave professional wrestler Hulk Hogan his first mainstream exposure as Thunderlips in 1982's Rocky III, two years before he hit it big as the champion of the World Wrestling Federation.
• He was born on the exact same day as President George W. Bush.

Filmography

• Party at Kitty and Stud's (1970)
• Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
• Bananas (1971)
• Klute (1971)
• The Lords of Flatbush (1974) (also writer)
• No Place to Hide (1975)
• The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)
• Capone (1975)
• Death Race 2000 (1975)
• Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
• Cannonball (1976)
• Rocky (1976) (also writer)
• F.I.S.T. (1978) (also writer)
• Paradise Alley (1978) (also director and writer)
• Rocky II (1979) (also director and writer)
• Nighthawks (1981)
• Victory (1981)
• Rocky III (1982) (also director and writer)
• First Blood (1982) (also writer)
• Staying Alive (1983) (Cameo) (also director, producer, and writer)
• Rhinestone (1984) (also writer)
• Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) (also writer)
• Rocky IV (1985) (also director and writer)
• Cobra (1986) (also writer)
• Over the Top (1987) (also writer)
• Rambo III (1988) (also writer)
• Lock Up (1989)
• Tango & Cash (1989)
• Rocky V (1990) (also writer)
• Oscar (1991)
• Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! (1992)
• Cliffhanger (1993) (also writer)
• Demolition Man (1993)
• A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
• The Specialist (1994)
• Your Studio and You (1995) (short subject)
• Judge Dredd (1995)
• Assassins (1995)
• Daylight (1996)
• The Good Life (1997)
• Cop Land (1997)
• An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997) (Cameo)
• Antz (1998) (voice)
• Junket Whore (1998) (documentary)
• Get Carter (2000)
• Driven (2001) (also writer)
• D-Tox (2002)
• Avenging Angelo (2002)
• Taxi 3 (2003) (Cameo)
• Shade (2003)
• Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)

External links

• Official site (http://www.sylvesterstallone.com/)
• Template:Imdb name
• Sylvester Stallone profile, NNDB (http://www.nndb.com/people/761/000023692/).
• University of Miami: Famous Alumni (http://www.ncaaticketsnow.com/miami-tickets.asp).bg:Силвестър Сталоун

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