Gerald Tommaso DeLouise

Gerald Tommaso DeLouise was born in Corona, Queens, New York City, to Italian-American parents. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1957 to 1959, where he took up boxing, compiling a professional 17-1 record under the alias "Burt Young." He trained at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg, who praised him as an "emotional library."

Young became Hollywood's quintessential blue-collar tough guy with a tender, battered soul. In 1974, he appeared in Roman Polanski's masterpiece Chinatown as Curly. In 1976, Sylvester Stallone cast him as Paulie Pennino, the grumpy, alcoholic meat-packer and brother to Adrian in Rocky. Young's performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and he reprised Paulie across all six original Rocky films. He appeared in over 160 films and TV series, including Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Back to School (1986), and as Bobby Baccalieri's hitman father in The Sopranos. Young was also an accomplished painter whose works were exhibited internationally.