Burt Young: Oscar-nominated Rocky actor dies aged 83

USA: Actor Burt Young, best known for playing Paulie Pennino in the Rocky films, has died at the age of 83.

Young received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in 1977 for his role as the friend and future brother-in-law of boxer Rocky, played by Sylvester Stallone.

Stallone paid tribute to Young on social media, calling him an “incredible man and artist”.

He added: “I and the world will miss you very much.”

Born Gerald Tommaso DeLouise in Queens, New York, the Italian-American was in the US Marine Corps in the 1950s, and went on to study acting and build a career playing tough guys in TV shows and films.

The actor was remembered by Variety’s Carmel Dagan as “exceptionally prolific”.

“[He] was never much to look at, making him the perfect character actor – [he] had a way of taking a thug or a goon or a mug and giving him more personality, more sympathy, somehow, than the role deserved,” Dagan wrote.