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Sylvester Stallone (born July 6, 1946) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He achieved his greatest successes in a number of action films, notably the Rocky and Rambo series. He is often referred to by his nickname, "Sly".
Early life
Stallone was born in Hell's Kitchen, New York to Frank Stallone and Jacqueline "Jackie" Labofish, an astrologer. Stallone's father was an immigrant from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily while his mother is American. One of his maternal great-grandmothers, Rosa Rabinovich, was from Odessa,Ukraine. At fifteen, his classmates voted him the one "most likely to end up in the electric chair." In the 1960s, Stallone attended the American College of Switzerland, Leysin and the University of Miami for three years. He came within a few credit hours of graduation, before he decided to drop out and pursue an acting career. 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.
Early film roles
Stallone's career began with the leading role, Stud, in a hard-core pornographic film called Party at Kitty and Stud's. The film was originally hard core and depicted sexual acts, but after Stallone's later success, the film was re-cut to soft-core and re-packaged as Italian Stallion (a reference to Rocky Balboa's nickname).
Stallone's 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 vehicle Prisoner of 2nd Avenue (1975) as a youth. In the Lemmon film, Jack Lemmon chases and tackles Stallone, thinking he is a pickpocket. He had his first starring role in the cult hit The Lords of Flatbush (1974). In 1975 he appeared in supporting roles in Farewell, My Lovely, Capone, and another cult hit Death Race 2000. He also made guest appearances on TV series such as Police Story and Kojak.
Success with Rocky
Stallone did not gain world-wide fame until his starring role in the smash hit Rocky (1976), the film was awarded the 1976 Academy Award for Best Picture. On March 24, 1975, Stallone saw the 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 (which was suggested by Stallone after a casting), and planned on courting a star like Burt Reynolds or James Caan for the lead role.
The final result was an unequalled success; Rocky was nominated for ten Academy Awards in all, including two for Stallone himself, for Best Actor and for Best Original Screenplay. In addition to winning Best Picture, Rocky won for Best Director and Best Film Editing. Rocky cost about US$1.1 million to make, and grossed about US$225 million worldwide. The sequel Rocky II was released in 1979 and also became a major success, grossing US$200 million worldwide. The Rocky series has made the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art a Philadelphia tourist attraction.
On the list of the top heroes of all time by American Film Institute (AFI) in 2003, Stallone is listed seventh as Rocky Balboa behind Gregory Peck (Atticus Finch), Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Sean Connery (James Bond), Humphrey Bogart (Rick Blaine), Gary Cooper (Will Kane) and Jodie Foster (Clarice Starling).
Rambo & the 80s
Stallone had another major franchise success as John Rambo in First Blood (1982) and the sequels, Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), and Rambo III (1988). He also continued his success with the Rocky franchise and wrote, directed and starred in two more sequels to the series Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985). Many considered him the most famous film star of the 80s and one of the most popular celebrities of the decade. 1986's Cobra and 1989's Tango and Cash continued the hit parade, further solidifying Stallone's overseas fanbase.
1990s
At the start of the new decade, 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 a 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 failures Oscar (1991) and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) during the early 90s, he made a major comeback in 1993 with the blockbuster hit Cliffhanger which became an enormously successful film grossing over US$255 million worldwide. Later that year he enjoyed another hit with 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 title character in Judge Dredd which was based on the comic book 2000 AD. His overseas box office appeal even saved the domestic box office disappointment of Judge Dredd with a worldwide tally of $113 million. In 1996 he starred in the disaster movie Daylight which made only $33 million in the U.S but was a major hit overseas taking in over $126 million, totaling $159,212,469 worldwide.
Following his breakthrough performance in Rocky, critic Roger Ebert had once said he could become the next Marlon Brando - however arguably Stallone had never recaptured the critical acclaim he won in Rocky. Stallone did however receive acclaim for his role in 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. In 1998 he did voice-over work for the computer-animated film Antz.
2000s
As the New Millenium began, Stallone's career went into decline after he starred in a string of critical and commercial failures such as Get Carter (2000) Driven (2001) and D-Tox (2002). 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 box office success but Stallone's performance as the villain was critically panned. He was also attached to star and direct a film about the murder of rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls titled Notorious but the film has yet to be made.
Current status
After three years since he last appeared in a film, he made a comeback in 2006 with the sixth and final installment of the Rocky series, Rocky Balboa, which was a critical and commercial hit. After the critical and box office failure of the previous and presumably last installment Rocky V, Stallone decided that he should end the series with a sixth installment which would be a much more worthy end to the franchise. The total domestic box office gross is coming to a close with just over 70 million, almost four times its production budget. His performance in Rocky Balboa has been praised and garnered mostly positive reviews.
Stallone is currently in production on the latest Rambo sequel John Rambo. Several script review on the internet, have been positive.
It was also recently announced that Sylvester Stallone would be directing a movie on The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, based on the book written by Franz Werfel.
Director
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, III, IV and Rocky Balboa.
Writer
In addition to writing all six Rocky films, Stallone also wrote Cobra, Driven, and the last Rambo film, John 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.
Personal life
Family
Stallone's family include his brother, former actor/singer Frank Stallone, his mother, Jacqueline Stallone, who achieved notoriety in the middle 1990s as an astrologer and his son, Sage Stallone, who played Rocky's son in 1990's Rocky V and appeared in his 1996 movie, Daylight. At the time of ownership, Stallone's pet Bullmastiff, Butkus Stallone, appeared in the first Rocky film as an often-teased favorite pet of Balboa's who lived in Adrian's pet shop.
Marriages
Stallone has been married three times, to Sasha Czack (1974–1985), Brigitte Nielsen (1985–1987), and Jennifer Flavin (1997–present). He has five children, sons Sage Moonblood and Seargeoh, who is autistic (with Czack, born 1976 and 1979 respectively), and daughters Sophia Rose, Sistine Rose and Scarlett Rose (with Flavin, born 1996, 1998, 2002 respectively). He and Flavin, an Irish-American, were married at Winston Churchill's birthplace, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England.
In addition to these marriages, he has had romantic relationships with models Susan Anton, Angie Everhart, Pamela Anderson, Naomi Campbell and Janice Dickinson. Dickinson once believed that Stallone was the father of her daughter Savannah.
Planet Hollywood
He owns shares in Planet Hollywood restaurants with Bruce Willis and formerly Arnold Schwarzenegger (who has since sold his part).
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