A boy who was homeless, cleaned animal cages at the zoo and slept at a bus station in New York city. He worked very hard but earned minor roles in films. At his lowest phase, he wrote his dream script in just 3 days. After years of rejections and hard work, his dream project “Rocky” was released and he rose to stardom in style. Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone was born on July 6, 1946 in New York city, USA. He had a difficult birth, which resulted in partial facial paralysis and slurred speech leading to taunts from other children. His parents divorced when he was young, and Sylvester and his brother Frank lived with their mother in poverty.
He struggled at school, and was always in trouble. He was expelled from 14 different high schools. Stallone dropped out of high school to build an acting career in New York. He constantly faced rejections. After years of trying, he had minor success and was only getting small roles in films earning little money. So to survive, he was working all kinds of jobs. He was cleaning lion cages at the zoo. He was working as an usher at the movie theater and ended up being so broke that he was homeless. He slept at a bus station for a few weeks, and sold his dog Butkus, for 50 dollars and walked away crying. One day, he watched a boxing match that inspired him to write a screenplay about an up-and-coming boxer. He stayed up writing for 20 hours straight and finished the whole screenplay in 3 days. When he tried to sell the script, nobody wanted it.
He finally met producers who wanted to buy the script for 2 lakh 50 thousand dollars but they wanted a real Hollywood star in lead. Sylvester refused the deal. He didn’t want anyone else to be the lead. Because he knew that “Rocky” was meant for him and decided to risk everything despite being homeless. The producers eventually relented and let him star in the movie, but paid him only a fraction of their last offer. After he sold the script, he immediately got his dog back and the movie ended up winning three Oscars.
More movies followed. Rocky and Rambo became a huge success and the legend of Sylvester Stallone was born. His incredibly motivational success story is proof that if you try hard enough, anything is possible. It was during his lowest point. He penned a script in just 3 days, inspired by his own hardships. Even after he became successful, Sylvester Stallone still had to go through a lot of painful things. Life kept hitting him hard in the face, through divorce and his son’s death but he never gave up. “It ain’t about how hard you hit, It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving on. That’s how winning is done.”
Some interesting facts about Stallone
-Charlie Chaplin and Elvis Presley wanted to hang out with him.
-He wrote the first draft of ’Rocky’ in three days.
-He was voted ‘Most likely end up in the electric chair’
-His famous smile and pattern of speech is the result of nerve damage.
-He had his own men’s magazine called ‘Sly’
-He was busted with 48 vials of human growth hormone.
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