Sylvester Stallone at 70: 12 crazy facts about the Rocky star
SYLVESTER STALLONE turns 70 today so we go through 11 crazy facts about the star of Rocky, Rambo, Creed and The Expendables.
When Muhammad Ali met Rocky Balboa at the Oscars 1977
Can you believe Sly is now 70?
1. Part of his face is paralysed
Sly is famous for for his unique look and slurred speech, a problem he’s had since birth.
The actor was born July 6, 1946 and two pairs of foreceps were used to bring him into the world.
The medical intern accidentally severed the facial nerves in his lips and one of his eyelids.
Sly has played Rocky in across seven movies
2. He grew up playing Polo
Stallone may like to play characters with rough upbringings, but he was no boxer in his youth.
His father made a tidy sum of money with his hair salon business and encouraged his son to take part in the posh sport.
3. He tried to fly like Superman
As a schoolboy he would wear a superhero costume under his school clothes.
One time he tried to fly out a window with only an open umbrella to break his fall, resulting in breaking his collarbone.
4. He was expelled from 14 schools
Sly was always getting into trouble at Catholic school.
Whether fighting, committing arson or stealing nun’s crucifixes, he ended up get expelled from 14 schools.
So his mother Jackie decided to send him off to boarding school in Switzerland.
5. His improvisation destroyed a theatre set
Stallone played Biff in Death Of A Salesman at college.
During one performance he decided to throw a radio instead of flowers in anger.
The wireless went straight through the set’s wall, bringing down the whole structure, and revealing the back stage crew smoking pot.
Sly has played Rambo four times and is planning a fifth and final movie
6. His first title role was in a soft-core porno
Sly’s first movie role was in The Party at Kitty and Stud’s where he and his on-screen girlfriend organise an unsuccessful orgy.
The event ends up in naked dancing circle as Stallone sulks like he’s stoned.
7. He wrote Rocky in three days
Stallone bashed out his first iconic boxer movie in just three days and twenty hours.
Broke at the time, Sly turned down the $350,000 offered for the script without him starring.
Instead he took a worse deal despite having a pregnant wife and just $100 in the bank.
Butkus appeared in two Rocky movies
8. He was so broke he sold his dog
Before hitting it big with Rocky, the star sold his dog Butkus so he could feed his family.
Six months later he asked for Butkus back because he wanted to have him in the movie.
The dog went on to star in two Rocky films and appears in the credits as Butkis Stallone.
9. He ‘boxed’ with Muhammad Ali
At the 1976 Oscars he went on stage to present the Best Supporting Actress nominations only to get a big surprise.
Coming up behind him was the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali who then started a hilarious play fight.
Ali said: “You stole my script, all of that was me, I’m Apollo Creed.”
10. He’s held the Guinness World Record for most violent movie
1988’s Rambo III broke the record with a blood-thirsty 221 acts of violence and 108 deaths.
Incredibly the 2008 follow up, simply titled Rambo, managed to beat its predecessor with 236 deaths, coming to 2.5 deaths every minute.
Jackie Stallone at The Expendables 3 premiere
11. He’s the most Golden Raspberry nominated star ever
Sly has been nominated for an Oscar three times, only just missing out this year for Creed to Bridge of Spies’ Mark Rylance.
However he’s the only person to have been nominated in the worst film awards 30 times, winning ten of them.
His awards include four worst actor awards and a Worst Actor of the Century award.
12. His mother’s a 94-year-old astrologer
Sly’s mother Jackie is still going strong as an astrologer, having previously been a dancer and women’s wrestling promoter.
Not shy to plastic surgery like her son, Jackie appeared on the UK’s Celebrity Big Brother in 2005, and Through the Keyhole in 2007.