While Sylvester Stallone may not be the first name that springs to mind when you think of a film icon but he is an Academy Award nominated actor, director and producer.From the mid 70s to 90s Stallone was one of the biggest box office and Hollywood stars, responsible for creating two of cinema’s most iconic characters: Rocky Balboa and John Rambo.Stallone began his acting career in small, often uncredited, roles including Woody Allen’s Bananas in 1971 before going on to feature in Death Race 2000 and The Lords of Flatbush.But it wasn’t until his first starring role as boxer Rocky Balboa in 1976 release Rocky that he achieved world wide fame.The film, which was written by Stallone, was inspired by the famous fight between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner who last longer than anyone expected being KO’d in the fifteenth round.Rocky follows small time boxer Rocky Balboa who is chosen by Apollo Creed, the undefeated heavyweight champion, to replace his injured opponent in the World Heavyweight Championship bout.
During his training for the fight Rocky begins dating Adrian, a quiet pet store clerk.
Creed doesn’t take his fight with Rocky seriously but the fight becomes intense when the underdog knocks Creed down on the first round.
Upon release Rocky was a critical and commercial hit gaining ten Academy Awards nominations, including Best Actor and Best Screenplay for Stallone. The film went on to win Best Picture and Best Director.
The second Rocky film which followed in 1979 was also a hit with Stallone writing, directing and starring in the $200 million hit.
In the early 80s Stallone had another franchise success with John Rambo, a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran. adrift in the Pacific Northwest.
Harassment by an unsympathetic small-town sheriff brings on nasty flashbacks of torture at the hands of the Viet Cong; after busting out of the jail where he has been unjustly imprisoned, our psychically-scarred hero vows to get revenge on the ungrateful sheriff.
Before blowing the sheriff and his town away, however, Rambo must use his jungle smarts to elude the relentless posse of state troopers and National Guardsmen who pursue him through the forest.
Throughout the 80s Stallone starred in Rambo: First Blood Pat II and Rambo III as well as furthering the Rocky franchise with Rocky III and IV.
Into the 90s the fifth instalment in the rocky series was a disappointment at the box office and wasn’t met well by the critics.
But with other films Stallone proved that he was still a box office hit as Demolition Man, which also starred Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock, grossed in excess of $158 million and Judge Dredd also grossed over $100 million cementing Stallone as the action man of the big screen.
After a sixteen year hiatus from Rocky Stallone returned in 2006 with the sixth and final instalment of the successful franchise.
Despite poor reviews for Rocky V the sixth film was met well critically and commercially grossing $155.3 million worldwide.
Later this month Stallone at the age of sixty one returns to the role of John Rambo that received a favourable reception at Cannes Film Festival where its rough cut trailer was shown.
Despite his age Sylvester Stallone doesn’t appear to be slowing down or taking on less physically demanding roles in a career that has spanned over thirty years producing some of the most memorable scenes in movie history. FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
View the Sylvester Stallone gallery.