Sylvester Stallone Honors Rocky Costar Burt Young After Death at 83

Sylvester Stallone Honors Rocky Costar Burt Young Following Death at 83: ‘World Will Miss You’

Young starred opposite Stallone as Rocky Balboa’s best friend and brother-in-law, Paulie

Published on October 19, 2023 06:23AM EDT

Burt Young and Sylvester Stallone attend the "Rocky" Broadway opening night at The Winter Garden Theatre — Burt Young and Sylvester Stallone attend the "Rocky" Broadway opening in 2014. Photo:
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic

Sylvester Stallone is remembering his late Rocky co-star Burt Young.

Young, who played Rocky Balboa’s brother-in-law Paulie in the Rocky movies, died on Oct.8 at the age of 83.

“To my Dear Friend, BURT YOUNG,” Stallone, 77, wrote on his Instagram on Wednesday. “You were an incredible man's and artist, I and the World will miss you very much...RIP.”

Stallone’s post also contained a black-and-white throwback picture of him as Rocky Balboa and Young as Paulie in Rocky.

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Young’s manager Lynda Bensky confirmed the actor’s death to PEOPLE on Wednesday. “Burt was an actor of tremendous emotional range. He could make you cry and he could scare you to death,” the statement read. “But the real pathos that I experienced was the poignancy of his soul. That’s where it came from.”

The star’s death was first confirmed by his daughter Anne Morea Steingieser, who told The New York Times her father died in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Burt Young with actor and screenwriter Sylvester Stallone on the set of Rocky V directed by John G. Avildsen — Sylvester Stallone and Burt Young and on set of Rocky V.
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Born Gerald Tommaso DeLouise, Young played Paulie in all six of the Rocky movies. Speaking about how he got his role, the Oscar-nominated actor told The Sweet Science in 2009 that he was the only actor who didn’t have to audition for Rocky.

“I was on the MGM lot when Sly Stallone came over and introduced himself to me, told me he wrote ‘Rocky’ and said ‘you gotta do it,’” Young said. “I wanted to do it right away, but wanted to twist their arms a little bit, not look too eager.”

Young continued that the script “had the cleanest street prose I’d ever read.” He went on to say that Stallone was “a genius who is always looking three years ahead.”

“He has a real eyeball for what’s going on in the world,” Young added.

Young's wife Gloria died in 1974 and he is survived by his daughter, a brother and a grandson, The New York Times reported.