The Profile Dossier: Sylvester Stallone, the Grittiest Actor in Hollywood

"I am not the richest, smartest, or most talented person in the world, but I succeed because I keep going and going and going."

Nov 10, 2021

Here's how legendary actor Sylvester Stallone describes his life: Chaotic.

"From the time I got dressed in the back of a deflated, flat-tired, fish-smelling station wagon for Rocky, it's always been a 'do it yourself,' kind of like paper-clip it together," he says.

He has paper-clipped his way to ultimate stardom, but his journey to success has been as dramatic as any Hollywood movie.

Stallone's rocky start to life dates all the way back to the day of his birth. Born in New York City in 1946, Stallone's mother had a difficult delivery, which required doctors to use forceps. They caught his face and accidentally severed a nerve in his cheek, resulting in his signature snarl and slurred speech.

As a child, Stallone was thin, insecure, and often bullied for his speech impediment. He found ways to get in trouble, and he was expelled from 14 different schools for behavioral problems, all before he was 15 years old.

After his parents divorced, he was sent to a boarding school for troubled youth. His life began to turn around after he discovered sports and began playing football, the discus, and weight-lifting. He went to college in Switzerland for two years and returned to the United States to enroll at the University of Miami with a major in drama.

He dropped out of college and moved into a $36-per-week hotel room in New York City where he was determined to make it as an actor. To make ends meet, he took a number of odd jobs including cleaning lion cages at the Central Park Zoo, selling fish at a deli, and working as an usher at the Baronet Theatre.

In 1970, broke and desperate, Stallone even starred in a porn film called The Party at Kitty and Stud's, which paid him $200. "I was broke and sleeping in the Port Authority bus station for three weeks straight," he says. "I read in a trade paper about this film that was paying $100 a day. For $100 a day, I would wreak havoc. Instead of doing something desperate, I worked for two days for $200 and got myself out of the bus station."

Eventually, he found modest success landing small roles in several films, but more so, he had impressed several producers with his writing skills. He pitched his idea for Rocky, and the producers offered to buy it from him for $350,000 and cast Ryan O'Neal or Burt Reynolds for the starring role. "I said, 'Oh no, I don't know if you understood that I'm writing this for me,'" Stallone told them.

At this point, Stallone was struggling for money. He didn't have a car, and he had recently sold his beloved bullmastiff dog Butkus for $40 to pay the bills. And even though he only had $106 in his bank account at the time, Stallone turned down the lucrative offer and refused to sell the script unless they allowed him to star as the boxer.

Finally, they reached a deal: Stallone would be allowed to star in the role but only if he waived his writing fee and accepted a meager $35,000 acting salary.

He said, "This is one of those things where you just roll the dice and you fly by the proverbial seat of your pants, and you just say, ‘I’ve got to try it. I’ve just got to do it. I may be totally wrong, and I’m going to take a lot of people down with me, but I just believe in it.’”

After the screenplay for Rocky sold, Stallone tracked down the new owner of Butkus and used $15,000 of the money to buy his dog back. "He was worth every penny," Stallone says. To make things even better, Butkus even starred in the film.

Rocky grossed more than $225 million at the box office. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and it became the first sports film ever to win "Best Picture." The entire Rocky movie franchise has earned more than $1.4 billion at the box office, making it one of the most successful franchises of all time.

Stallone wrote this part for Rocky, but also for himself:

“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you’re hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”

Here's what we can learn from Stallone's story about how taking smart risks and betting on yourself can pay off in spades.

READ.

On the legacy of his film career: Stallone feels that his legacy will be fused to the character of Rocky. "He dined with the staff, dined with kings, but at the end of the night, he paid the check and left through the service entrance," Stallone says. Even as an actor who has "made it," he believes he'll always "have this blue-collar connection." And Stallone doesn't mind because the fact that he was constantly underestimated as a Hollywood outsider was the key to his success.

On struggling to reinvent himself: Stallone had always been pigeonholed into a particular kind of role — the muscular alpha protagonist. Whenever he tried to take a creative risk, it often flopped. He learned that without his muscles, a kind of emotional armor, he was a different person. In this 1997 profile, he said: ''You begin to feel what it's like to walk into a room and not make waves. You are just a man, who has to rely on his intelligence or affability for people to like him."

LISTEN.

On the untold stories of his life: In Stallone's first (and only) podcast episode, his daughters Sophia and Sistine interview their father on everything from his turbulent early life to his stellar film career to his most important job: being a father. "I just thought it would be interesting to put you into sports that normally aren't akin to women, like javelin, discus, shot put, boxing, or powerlifting," he says about his unique parenting approach. "I'm a big believer that you can learn more out there than you can sitting in a classroom." This is a hilarious, must-listen episode.

WATCH.

On Stallone's road to the top: This documentary presents an up-close look at Stallone's improbable success. At times, it seemed he was delusional — giving up $350,000 so he could star in the movie — but time and time again, his bets paid off. This is a fascinating look at the actor's winding path to success.

On the art of storytelling: Stallone writes, directs, and acts in the stories he crafts. When he wrote Rocky, Stallone uses mythological symbolism, juxtaposition, and metamorphosis. "When I write, I don't worry about the flawed aspect of it," he says. He wrote Rocky in 3 days, and then went back and re-wrote parts of it multiple times.

POLINA’S TAKEAWAYS.

Rejection is just a wake-up call: Stallone is a master at turning failure into opportunity. He was on a casting call for an acting role, and when it became clear that he wouldn't be cast for the part, he decided to shoot his shot. On the way out of the room, he told the producers that he was in the process of writing a script they may like. They told them to bring it by later. "I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat," he says. Whenever rejection strikes, ask yourself: "Rather than waiting for an opportunity, how can I create an opportunity?"

Writing can be a superpower for any endeavor: There's one thing that Stallone wanted to instill in his kids at an early age: Learn how to write because it teaches you humility. "Writing is a miserable means of existence," he says. "You love the end result, but the process itself is awful." When he was writing Rocky, he would block out all the light in his room so that he didn't know if it was night or day. He was just singularly focused on the act of writing, allowing him to write the script in three days. "Don't get so hung up on the perfection. Know that 95% of it is garbage," he says. "The fact that you got through the beginning, middle, and end is amazing." Writing teaches you that you must fail 100 times, Stallone says, to succeed once.

You can DIY your way to success: Stallone describes his path to success as the "do-it-yourself, paper-clip it together" kind. He believes the natural state of the world is complete and utter chaos — and that's why it's important that we stay flexible in our mindset. "I've kind of fashioned my life after a slinky," Stallone says. "Bend me in a million shapes, and eventually, I'll spring back to what I originally was." He constantly reminds himself (and his kids) of the obstacles he had to overcome through the years, which have helped him avoid becoming too comfortable, rigid, and complacent.

Money can destroy your values: Sometimes, money and fame can make you feel like you've become a version of yourself that you don't recognize — especially when you acquire it quickly. Stallone was used to being poor and underestimated, so once he turned into Hollywood's hottest star overnight, he became somewhat reckless in his personal life. He divorced his first wife of 10 years, and married model Brigitte Nielsen, whom he had only known for two months. The marriage lasted for two years before they divorced, and he met Jennifer Flavin. Although it was a relationship that kept him grounded and happy, the couple split when Flavin discovered Stallone had been having an affair. He and Flavin reconciled and have been married for 24 years. "I learned the real meaning of love," he says. "Love is absolute loyalty. People fade, looks fade, but loyalty never fades. You can depend so much on certain people, you can set your watch by them. And that's love — even if it doesn't seem very exciting." Remember, no one can be Rocky forever. It's about making sure that your moral compass never gets out of whack even in the face of great fame and success.

Embrace your flaws because perfection is boring: The irony of Stallone's life is that he had a tumultuous childhood, but he wouldn't have succeeded in the same way if he had a perfect, happy childhood. "So whatever the trials and tribulations, it provided me with enough ammunition and anger and competitiveness and insecurity to keep forging ahead," he says. Even though Stallone has droopy eyes, a crooked mouth, imperfect teeth, and a voice that "sounds like a Mafioso pallbearer," somehow it all blends well together. Remember, whether it’s art, movies, or books, people talk more about the flawed things that get stuck in their heads than they do the perfect things. "Nobody likes perfection," he says. "I want that flawed guy. He's there in spite of the flaws."

QUOTES TO REMEMBER.

"I believe any success in life is made by going into an area with a blind and furious optimism."

"Consider the source — Don’t be a fool by listening to a fool."

"Remember the mind is your best muscle. Big arms can move rocks, but big words can move mountains. Ride the brain train for success."

"Fear is the fuel that we use for overachievement. If I wasn’t afraid at times, I wouldn’t work as hard."

"I'm always looking for a new challenge. There are a lot of mountains to climb out there. When I run out of mountains, I'll build a new one."

"I am not the richest, smartest, or most talented person in the world, but I succeed because I keep going and going and going."

The Profile