Richard Morea, better known by his stage name Burt Young, is an American actor, author and painter. He is best known for his role as Rocky Balboa's brother-in-law and best friend Paulie Pennino in the Rockyfilm series, being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the first film. He has also appeared in Chinatown, The Gambler, Convoy, Uncle Joe Shannon, Once Upon a Timein America, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Back to School, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Mickey Blue Eyes, Transamerica, and Win Win, and had a guest appearance on The Sopranos.
Young served a tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps from 1957 to 1959. While in the Marine Corps, he won 32 of 34 boxing bouts. He later turned pro and compiled a 17–0 record under three different aliases. His manager was Cus D'Amato.
In acting
Young made his name playing rough-edged working class Italian-American characters, the best-known example being his signature role as Rocky Balboa's friend Paulie in Rocky, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He is one of four actors who have appeared in all of the first six Rocky films. Young did not reprise his role in the 2015 film Creed, with the character described as having died in 2012. He has played similar roles in Chinatown, Convoy, Back to School, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Once Upon a Time in America, Last Exit to Brooklyn, ', and even a brutal and darker role in '. Young has also appeared in many television programs, including The Rockford Files, Baretta, Law & Order, Walker, Texas Ranger, M*A*S*H. He guest-starred in a Miami Vice episode, and made an appearance on The Sopranos as Bobby Baccalieri's father, who is dying of cancer and comes out of retirement to execute a hit on his godson. In 2017, Burt Young returned to the stage as an aged mob boss in The Last Vig, a play written by Dave Varriale. The show ran from January 14 to February 19, 2017, at The Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles.
As a painter and a writer
Young is also a painter; his 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 historical 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.
