BURT YOUNG:
Uncle Paulie!! Burt plays Rocky’s Brother in law, Paulie Pennino, and he is Adrian’s older brother and Rocky Balboa’s best friend. He is an alcoholic and is not afraid to lose his temper when the opportunity arises. Most of the time he does that out of jealousy towards his friends and family, and he feels like they owe him for their success. Despite this, he cares about his friends and family, and he will stand up for Rocky if someone insults him.
It was because of Paulie that Rocky met, dated, and married his sister Adrian, and it was at the meat factory Paulie worked at where Rocky began his unique training method of punching the meat carcasses. Paulie also distracted the ringside security guards so Adrian could embrace Rocky in the ring after his fight with Apollo Creed was over. By the time of Rocky Balboa, (2006) Paulie is back working at his former meat-packing job. Initially skeptical of Rocky’s desire to return to fighting after a fifteen-year hiatus, Paulie becomes fully supportive when he’s laid off from the factory. He’s later seen helping the older Rocky train along with running his restaurant, Adrian’s, which was named after his sister. A scene that was edited out of the final film shows Paulie weeping over the death of his sister and his sense of failure. When Rocky decides to fight Mason “The Line” Dixon, Paulie again becomes his cornerman and compliments him after the match. And HEY!! PAULIE’S NOT DEAD!!
Burt’s overall filmography is TREMENDOUS!! Both on the big screen and with TV appearances he has developed quite the impressive resume! He is currently a pretty amazing painter whose art has been displayed in galleries throughout the world.! As an artist, he has collaborated with the writer Gabriele Tinti, for whom he designed the cover for the poetry collection All over, as well as contributing the illustrations for the art book A man. Young is also a published author whose works include two filmed screenplays and a 400-page historically based novel called Endings. He has written two stage plays: SOS and A Letter to Alicia and the New York City Government From a Man With a Bullet in His Head.