Burt Young
Gerald Tommaso DeLouise (born April 30, 1940), known professionally as Burt Young, is an American actor, author and painter. He played Rocky Balboa's brother-in-law and best friend Paulie Pennino in the "Rocky" film series. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the first film. He has also appeared in "Chinatown" (1974), "The Gambler" (1974), "The Killer Elite" (1975), "Convoy" (1978), "Uncle Joe Shannon" (1978), "Once Upon a Time in America" (1984), "The Pope of Greenwich Village" (1984), "A Summer to Remember" (1985), "Back to School" (1986), "Last  Exit to Brooklyn" (1990), "Mickey Blue Eyes" (1999), "Transamerica" (2005), "Win Win" (2011), "Bottom of the 9th" (2019), "Beckman" (2020) and the documentary film "" (2021) and had a guest appearance on "The Sopranos" in 2001. Early life, family and education. Young was born in Queens, New York City, New York, the son of Josephine and Michael DeLouise, a high school shop teacher. He is of Italian descent. He was trained by Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Career. In the Marines and in boxing. Young served a tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps from 1957 to 1959 . While in the Marine Corps, he won 32 of 34 boxing bouts. He later became a professional boxer and compiled a 17–0 record under three aliases. His manager was Cus D'Amato. In acting. Young made his name playing rough-edged working class Italian-American characters, the best-known example being his signature role as Rocky Balboa's friend (and future brother-in-law) Paulie in "Rocky" (1976), for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He is one of four actors (the other three being Sylvester Stallone, Stu Nahan and Tony Burton) who have appeared in all  of the first six "Rocky" films (although Talia Shire, who appears in the first five films, makes a flashback appearance in the sixth). Young did not reprise his role in the 2015 film "Creed"; the character was described as having died in 2012. He has played similar roles in "Chinatown", "Convoy", "Back to School", "The Pope of Greenwich Village", "Once Upon a Time in America", "Last Exit to Brooklyn", "", and even a brutal and darker role in "". Young has also appeared in many television programs, including "The Rockford Files", "Baretta", "Law & Order", "Walker, Texas Ranger","All In The Family", "M*A*S*H". He  guest-starred in a "Miami Vice" episode, and made an appearance on "The Sopranos" ("Another Toothpick") as Bobby Baccalieri's father, who is dying of cancer and comes out of retirement to execute a hit on his godson, "Mustang Sally" Intile, as punishment for Intile having brutally beaten a family friend simply for chatting with Intile's girlfriend. In a nod to his having served in the U.S. Marine Corps, he played a retired drill instructor in the short-lived 1987 ABC series, "Roomies", where his character decides to go to college after his retirement. In 2017, Burt Young returned  to the stage as an aged mob boss in "The Last Vig," a play written by Dave Varriale. The show ran from January 14 to February 19, 2017, at The Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles. As a painter and a writer. Young is also a painter; his art has been displayed in galleries throughout the world. As an artist, he has collaborated with the writer Gabriele Tinti, for whom he designed the cover for the poetry collection "All Over", as well as contributing the illustrations for the art book "A Man". Some of Young's actual paintings were shown in  a scene in "Rocky Balboa" when Paulie gets fired from the meatpacking plant. Young is also a published author whose works include two filmed screenplays and a 400-page historical novel called "Endings". He has written two stage plays: "SOS" and "A Letter to Alicia and the New York City Government from a Man With a Bullet in His Head". Personal life. Young is a widower. He has a daughter, Anne Morea, and a grandson. He resides in Port Washington, New York. He owns a restaurant in the Bronx, New York. He participated in the 1984 New York City Marathon