5 True Facts About Sylvester Stallone

There is not a movie fan in existence that doesn't know the name Sylvester Stallone. Best known for his portrayal of boxing lug turned superstar Rocky Balboa, as well as the original shell shocked special forces soldier John Rambo, Stallone is an icon. While his career is experiencing something of a rebirth after his action movie extravaganzas The Expendables and its sequels, there's always been more to Stallone than meets the eye.

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Fact #1: He Really Is A Tough Guy

Part of the reason that Sly can breathe believability into action heroes (particularly tough guys who get beat down time and time again) is that it isn't much of a stretch for him. Born in Hell's Kitchen in New York in the 1940s, according to Yahoo! Lifestyle, Sly was in and out of foster care most of his youth due to a rough home life. In that kind of a neighborhood, and in that time, you had to be tough just to get through the day. Channeling that mean streets life experience into characters like Rocky Balboa is one of the things that made Stallone into an action film sensation. Even today, 73 at time of writing, Stallone sports a physique that nothing short of a Mack truck would pick a fight with.

Fact #2: He's One Hell of a Writer

Not everyone knows this, but Stallone wasn't the man the film people wanted to play Rocky. They would rather have cast a bigger-name star to pair with what was a simple, straightforward, and fantastic script. Because Stallone wrote the script, though, he wouldn't sell it unless they agreed to let him play the title character. Given that he had barely $100 to his name at the time he was making these demands, holding out was a pretty bold move. The studio eventually caved, and agreed to take up Stallone's offer to act for free. They paid him the minimum allowed for a script, $20,000 at the time, and gave the movie a $1 million budget. The film grossed over a 200% return and turned Stallone into an instant movie star. If that isn't the American dream, then nothing is.

More recently Stallone has also written for television, and a huge part of the runaway success that is the Expendables franchise is due to his pen, as well as his determination. Additionally, his first writing credit came in 1974 when he wrote, and acted in The Lords of Flatbush. Pay attention to that title as well, because you're going to be seeing it later on in this list as well.

Fact #3: His Famous Face Is Due To An Accident of Birth

Stallone's trademarks, aside from his muscles, are his unique voice and his asymmetrical visage. Remember how Sly grew up rough? Well, his family was broke to the point that he was brought into this world at a clinic for people who couldn't afford the expense of going to an actual hospital. Unfortunately, while he was being born, according to Cracked, the forceps cut a nerve in baby Sly's face, which altered both his appearance as well as the way he talks. While unfortunate, it has been argued by many reviewers and film buffs that the flaw gives Stallone a kind of every-man credibility that he would never be able to portray with a straight face, so to speak.

Fact #4: Yes, He Was Really in a XXX Movie

While the names Sylvester Stallone and Ron Jeremy will never be uttered in the same breath, Sly is far from shy in front of the cameras. Before he hit it big as bruiser Rocky Balboa, Stallone played a sex-crazed gigolo in the softcore adult film Party at Kitty and Studs, which was later retitled as The Italian Stallion, in case you wondered why that nickname followed Sly around for so long.

The character of Stud was his first starring role at age 23 in 1970. After his huge success with Rocky, the film was re-released in order to capitalize on Sly's new-found fame. He was paid $200 total for the movie.

Fact #5: He's Made More Bad Movie Choices Than You Know

A big part of why so many people dismiss Sly isn't that he can't act (though there are critics who would argue that point); rather it's just that for every Rocky or Rambo there are half a dozen films like Avenging Angelo on Stallone's record. He's become a poster child for the Razzies, and he's "won" quite a few of them in his time. However, while he was saved from playing Mr. Freeze in one of the worst Batman films of all time (that honor instead went to Arnold Schwarzenegger, though now I bet you're curious how different the film would have been), Stallone also turned down roles in Quentin Tarantino's Deathproof as well as the lead in Die Hard. In a way, Stallone's choice paved the way for Bruce Willis to step out of smaller movies and comedies to become an action star in his own right, and that's something we can all be grateful for.

Bonus Fact: Stallone Inspired The Fonz

According to Henry Winkler, better known to Happy Days viewers as Arthur "Fonz" Fonzarelli, Stallone was one of the biggest inspirations for the character who defined what it was to be cool. The two of them had been in Lords of Flatbush (I told you that movie would come up again on this list), and just hanging out with Stallone greatly influenced Winkler's portrayal of the character.

As he said in an interview with Entertainment, when presented with a scenario one of the questions he always asked himself was, "What would Sly do here?" And the answer, as you can see, created one of the most iconic television characters of a generation.