About Burt Young
Gerald Tommaso DeLouise (April 30, 1940 – October 8, 2023), known professionally as Burt Young, was an American actor. He played Rocky Balboa's brother-in-law and best friend Paulie Pennino in the Rocky film series, his performance in the first installment of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Young also appeared in such films as 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), and Bottom of the 9th (2019). == Early life == Young was born on April 30, 1940, in Queens, New York City, and raised in the Queens neighborhood of Corona, the son of Josephine and Michael DeLouise, a high school shop teacher. He was of Italian descent. Young was trained by Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. == Career == === Military service === Young served a tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps from 1957 to 1959; while in the Marine Corps, he boxed regularly, winning 32 of 34 boxing bouts. === 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.
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