Skip to main content

A Conversation with Living Legend Burt Young

One of America’s most beloved character actors, he is best known for his role as Paulie Pennino in the Rocky films, an unforgettable portrayal that spanned four decades of cinema.

Actor Burt Young was born Gerald Tommaso DeLouise on April 30, 1940. The son of Pugliese immigrants originating from Bari, he grew up in the tough Italian-German neighborhood of Corona in Queens, New York. “I grew up with honesty and loyalty. They were very decent, family-oriented people,” Young shared at the Italian Contemporary Film Festival in Canada, where he presented his latest film, “The Neighborhood” alongside Danny Aiello and Giancarlo Gianni.


Young gets emotional when talking about his parents.. 

Young originally had no intentions of becoming an actor. Prophetically, he started out as a boxer but then fate stepped in. “I met this girl and I wanted to be close to her. She wanted to study acting with Lee Strasberg. I didn’t know who Lee Strasberg was, but I figured that I could get into anyplace. So, I got a hold of him and I auditioned with her. She folded because we had Paul Newman and Elia Kazan for judges. When I got nominated for an Academy Award, I received two telegrams. One was from her and she wrote, ‘Remember, you owe everything to me.’”

Before the life-changing role of Paulie, Young was building his career with the likes of Roman Polanski, Jack Nicolson, Faye Dunaway, James Caan and Sam Peckinpah. “I learned more working with Peckinpah because all the actors and producers were scared because he was a crazy man. But I enjoyed him a lot. He gave me my freedom. He was wonderful.” Those early roles in Polanski’s "Chinatown" and Peckinpah’s "The Killer Elite" established Young as a no-nonsense tough guy and he went on to solidify that image. 

Stream "Chinatown" on Amazon..

 

However, as the Rocky films progressed until his last reprisal in "Rocky Balboa" in 2006, Paulie matured into a devoted and caring brother-in-law and friend. When I asked him how he managed the evolution and growth of Paulie over the years, he commented on the fact the Paulie was becoming too complicated a person. "I had to pull him back because he was getting too educated. I had to bring him back to infancy, emotional infancy."

Burt Young as Paulie
Young didn’t realize what a breakout success "Rocky" would be, “but I knew it was very good writing. It was clear, clean and informative. I loved it very much,” he recalls. “William Morris was my agent and they wouldn’t pay attention to the producers. They said, ‘What are we talking about, a million dollar movie?’ I said, ‘No, we’re talking about the best thing that’s probably ever going to walk by me.’”

Young feels the film’s worldwide success was due in part to its storyline “about all working people that were underneath the gun with no place for a future. "Rocky" was a freedom call, so to speak. Here was this smally educated guy and Paulie too, his partner, latching onto a dream enough to make them have hope.”

In addition to cinema, Young also works in theater and has enjoyed quite a run in television as well. He's made appearances in shows ranging from the "Rockford Files" and "Baretta" to "Mash," "Miami Vice" and "Law & Order." He also acted in an Italian-American-themed commercial for Dr. Pepper that is sure to awaken a sense of 1970s nostalgia and reminiscence.

Take a step back in time with the commercial...


Although Paulie is Young’s most recognized character, the film closest to his heart is one he actually wrote. “I wrote a movie quite a while ago, "Uncle Joe Shannon." I was a trumpet player. (In the film) Maynard Fergusson does the trumpet. He plays in the high c’s and I worked with him. We had duets together. I said I’m not good like this guy but I could get up there with him. I had a youngster that worked with me on two or three movies that I wrote, Doug McKeon. He was a wonderful boy, and now he’s got four children of his own. I had a great time with Maynard and the boy.”

"Uncle Joe Shannon" is available to stream through Amazon Prime with a Paramount or EPIX subscription..


Check out this concert scene from the film..


Young attributes his ability to balance humor and drama to relaxation and concentration. “You have to have buttons for when you’re in that state. You get there and then you go into the role. I’m pretty good at that.” He enjoys working with younger actors and finds it flattering when they look to him for wisdom. “I like any attention that is well-meaning. Actors are a wonderful breed of people. They’re all trying: trying to better their lives, trying to get clarity with their lives and others around them. How could you not enjoy that?”

Last year, Young was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Long Beach Film Festival. Sylvester Stallone recorded a touching tribute. Watch it here...


In addition to acting, Young is an accomplished painter. He’s had numerous exhibitions, with his next one coming up at the end of October at the Bilotta Gallery in Fort Lauderdale. 

Burt Young currently has four films in development and all of his aforementioned films are available through Amazon. Click here to read my interview with his "Rocky" co-star, Talia Shire. 

Click on the images below to watch the Rocky films...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Conversation with Actor Mirko Frezza of David di Donatello Winner "Il più grande sogno"

The 2017 David di Donatello award show, which took place on Monday, was an exciting event that celebrated many great contemporary talents of Italian cinema.  I was fortunate to have seen most of the nominees.  Among my personal favorites  is Michele Vannucci's  Il più grande sogno  simply because it is based on one of the most inspiring, beautiful stories I've ever  heard, and the person behind that story is as authentic and down-to-earth as they come. The film won the 3 Future Award, which is determined by the public. With Director Michele Vannucci and Actor Mirko Frezza I first saw  Il più grande sogno last September when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. I didn't make it to Venice, but thanks to a great online platform called Festival Scope , which offers a handful of premieres to be screened on the web, I felt like I was there. The film itself blew me away, and then when I realized it was based on a true story, I knew t...

The Timeless Talent of Stefania Sandrelli

On screen since the tender age of 14, she has captivated audiences for more than 50 years with a compelling combination of strength and vulnerability. She achieved stardom at just 14 years old playing the angelic cousin of a love-struck Marcello Mastroianni in Pietro Germi’s “Divorce Italian Style.” More than half a century later, she is still going strong and remains one of Italy’s most esteemed actors. Stefania Sandrelli was born on June 5, 1946, in Viareggio in the province of Lucca in northern Italy. As a child, she studied music and dance. Then in 1960, she won a beauty pageant and was featured on the cover of Le Ore magazine. Her purity captivated the country and shortly thereafter, movie offers began pouring in. Just one year later, she made her cinema debut in three feature films: Mario Sequi’s Gioventù di notte , Luciano Salce’s The Fascist, and Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style . She instantly became a star and before long was a key figure in Italy’s legend...

7 Days - 7 Women: Interview with Actress Sabrina Impacciatore

  Photo by Rossella Vetrano On Day 6 of our series, 7 Days - 7 Women, in which we are profiling seven strong, talented women working as filmmakers, writers or visual artists, we talk with actress Sabrina Impacciatore about the diversity of her roles. Whether she's playing a devoted mother trying to protect her child, Jesus Christ's "Veronica" in Mel Gibson's controversial film, "Passion of the Christ" or a young woman coming of age, Impacciatore escapes into the life and mind of each character she takes on, sometimes so deeply that she believes she is actually them.   It's a fine line between reality and fiction, but she treads it carefully and anyone watching her performance benefits from her emotional connection to the character that she becomes. I spoke with Impacciatore at the 2010 Open Roads: New Italian Film series in New York City. We talked about her lifelong dream of becoming an actress. She also gave me some insight into the diff...

'Salvatore Giuliano' blends documentary realism with dramatic storytelling

"Salvatore Giuliano" is a 1962 Italian crime drama directed by Francesco Rosi that dramatizes the real-life events surrounding the life and death of the legendary Sicilian bandit and folk hero. Giuliano rose to notoriety after the liberation of Sicily from fascist control in 1943, when he formed a gang that joined a separatist army. When the army dissolved, he and his gang intensified their outlaw activities. One of their most significant crimes was the Portella della Ginestra incident, during which dozens of men, women, and children were killed or wounded. This act prompted the authorities to launch an all-out war against Giuliano. His defenses slowly crumbled, and on July 5, 1959, his body was discovered in the courtyard of a house in Castelvetrano. That moment serves as the starting point for Rosi's film. Giuliano's fame is tied to his involvement in the Sicilian independence movement and his battles against both the Italian government and the Mafia in the 1940s a...

Review: “Hitler Versus Picasso and the Others” by Claudio Poli

A compelling 2018 documentary by Claudio Poli aims to shed light on a chapter of Nazi history that is still relevant today. “Hitler Versus Picasso and the Others” is the story of how the Führer didn’t just take countless human lives but also robbed a whole culture of its artistic heritage. Narrated by actor Toni Servillo, “Hitler Versus Picasso and the Others” takes viewers on an incredible journey in search of masterpieces stolen during World War II. The stories of individual works are told by people who witnessed the looting, much of which took place during raids on homes and galleries belonging to Jewish collectors. The documentary reveals that 600,000 works of art were stolen from private owners, museums, churches and galleries.   The confiscated artwork was either kept by the Nazi elite, warehoused, sold or destroyed in bonfires. Few benefited more from this large-scale heist than Hildebrand Gurlitt, Hitler’s so-called art dealer, who kept many of the most priceless treasures ...