Success with Rocky, 1976
Stallone did not gain world-wide fame until his starring role in the smash hit Rocky (1976). On March 24, 1975, Stallone saw the Ali-Chuck Wepner fight which inspired the foundation idea of Rocky. That night Stallone went home, and in three days he had written the script for Rocky. After that, he tried to sell the script with the intention of playing the lead role. Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler in particular liked the script (which was suggested by Stallone after a casting), and planned on courting a star like Burt Reynolds or James Caan for the lead role. Rocky was nominated for ten Academy Awards in all, including Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay nominations for Stallone.
The early drafts of Rocky portrayed him as a darker character. It was only after his wife read it and expressed her dislike did Stallone change it to the warmer version seen in the movies.
More about Sylvester Stallone (From Wikipedia)
Early Life
Stallone was born in New York City, the son of Jackie Stallone (née Jacqueline Labofish), an astrologer, former dancer and promoter of women's wrestling, and Frank Stallone, Sr., read more...
Personal Life
Other famous members in Stallone's family are his brother, actor/singer Frank Stallone and his mother, Jackie Stallone, who achieved notoriety in the middle 1990s as an astrologist read more...
Growth Hormone Controversy
On February 16, 2007, Stallone flew into Sydney, Australia as part of his promotional tour for Rocky Balboa. Upon landing he was searched by Australian Customs officials, who found read more...
Italian Stallion And Score
Stallone had his first starring role in the softcore feature film Party at Kitty and Stud's (1970), which was later re-released as Italian Stallion .(the title taken from Stallone's read more...
Early Film Roles, 1971-1975
Stallone's other first few film roles were minor, and included brief uncredited appearances in Woody Allen's Bananas (1971) as a subway thug, in the psychological thriller Klute read more...
Success With Rocky, 1976
Stallone did not gain world-wide fame until his starring role in the smash hit Rocky (1976). On March 24, 1975, Stallone saw the Ali-Chuck Wepner fight which inspired the foundation read more...
Rocky, Rambo And New Film Roles, 1978-1989
The sequel Rocky II which Stallone had also written and directed was released in 1979 and also became a major success, grossing US$200 mil/.
Apart from the Rocky films, Stallone read more...
1990-2002
With the then recent success of Lock Up and Tango and Cash, at the start of the 1990s Stallone starred in the fifth installment of the Rocky franchise Rocky V which was considered read more...
2003-2005
In 2003, he played a villainous role in the third instalment of the Spy Kids trilogy Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over which was a huge box office success (almost $200 million worldwide). read more...
Revisiting Rocky And Rambo, 2006-2008
After a few years hiatus from films, Stallone made a comeback in 2006 with the sixth and final installment of his successful Rocky series; Rocky Balboa, which was both a critical read more...