Stage and Screen Actor Burt Young, Best Known For ROCKY, Dies at 83

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that stage and screen actor Burt Young has died at age 83. Gerald Tommaso DeLouise, known professionally as Burt Young, is best known for playing Rocky Balboa's brother-in-law and best friend Paulie Pennino in the Rocky film series, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Young 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).

Television appearances for Young included The Rockford Files, Baretta, Law & Order, Walker, Texas Ranger, All In The Family, M*A*S*H, and Miami Vice. He also made an appearance on The Sopranos ("Another Toothpick") as Bobby Baccalieri's father.

 He appeared on Broadway in Cuba & His Teddy Bear in 1986, alongside Robert De Niro and Ralph Macchio. In 2017, he returned to the stage as an aged mob boss in The Last Vig, a play written by Dave Varriale, at The Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles.