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Young's death on Oct. 8 in Los Angeles, first reported by the
New York Times on Wednesday citing the actor's daughter, Anne
Morea Steingieser, was confirmed to Reuters by his Los
Angeles-based manager Lynda Bensky.
Born Gerald Tommaso DeLouise in New York City's Queens borough,
the burly performer served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1950s
and later studied at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. He went on
to build a career playing mostly tough-guy and Italian-American
characters on television and film.
He was best remembered for his role in the original 1976 "Rocky"
film, playing Paulie Pennino, the alcoholic butcher and pal to
Stallone's lead character, Rocky Balboa, who made punching slaps
of meat in the storage locker where Paulie worked part of his
regular training routine as an aspiring boxer.
The role of Paulie, who was also the brother of Rocky's
painfully shy love interest and soon-to-be wife, Adrian (she
marries Balboa in "Rocky II"), earned Young an Academy Award
nomination for best supporting actor.
The original "Rocky," a motion picture sensation, amassed a
total of 10 Oscar nominations and won three awards, including
the prize for best picture, for its portrait of a small-time
Philadelphia club boxer who gets an unlikely crack at the world
heavyweight title.
Young reprised the Paulie role in all six of the original
"Rocky" sequels.
Other film credits include "Chinatown," "The Pope of Greenwich
Village" and "Once Upon a Time in America." He also made
numerous guest appearances on television on such series as
"M*A*S*H," "The Rockford Files," "Baretta" and "Law & Order."
In later years, Young made a name as painter, whose works were
displayed in galleries around the world.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles)
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