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Sylvester Stallone brings 'Rocky' to life

Broadcast Date: May 28, 1982

A screenwriter's motivation can come from many sources, but for Sylvester Stallone, it was the impending arrival of his first child that propelled his script for Rocky. The 1976 movie, in which Stallone also starred as the eponymous underdog boxer, was a huge hit, winning three Academy Awards. In this 1982 CBC-TV interview, writer, director and actor Stallone says he finds writing the greatest challenge, enjoys directing the most, and views acting as a byproduct of the other two.

Sylvester Stallone brings 'Rocky' to life

• Sylvester Stallone was born in New York City in 1946 and studied drama in Switzerland and the United States. He was a bit player in several Hollywood pictures in the early 1970s and co-starred in the 1974 movie The Lords of Flatbush, for which he received a writing credit for additional dialogue.

• According to Entertainment Weekly, Stallone was inspired to write Rocky after seeing a 1975 bout between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner. He wrote the first draft in 86 hours. Studios interested in the script offered Stallone $360,000 for it if they could cast Burt Reynolds as Rocky Balboa, but Stallone held out for the starring role. The studios withdrew and Stallone found two producers who agreed to pay him $22,500 plus a 10 per cent cut of the film's profits.

• In 1982, the year of this interview, Stallone's son Seargeoh, three, was diagnosed with autism, which was not a well-known condition at the time. People magazine reported in 1985 that in response, Stallone and his then-wife Sasha set up an autism research fund and had raised about $1 million to be administered by the National Society for Children and Adults With Autism (now the Autism Society of America).

Sylvester Stallone brings 'Rocky' to life

Medium: Television

Program: McLean at Large

Broadcast Date: May 28, 1982

Guest(s): Sylvester Stallone

Host: Bob McLean

Duration: 9:47

Last updated:
July 24, 2009