R.I.P. Burt Young, Oscar-nominated Rocky and Chinatown actor

Burt Young—the Oscar-nominated actor known for playing tough guys in films like Chinatown, Once Upon A Time In America, and most notably, the Rocky franchise—has died. His actual date of death was October 8, but his daughter confirmed to The New York Times late last night. He was 83.

Born in Queens in 1940, Young’s early life wasn’t that dissimilar from many of the characters he ended up playing. With the help of his father, Young joined the Marines before he turned 16, where he began boxing. After leaving the service, Young enjoyed a brief professional boxing career—even going up against Muhammad Ali in a charity exhibition match—before breaking into acting under mentor Lee Strasberg, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Young made a small name for himself as an actor who often portrayed gangsters, mob-bosses, and hard-scrabble working men in films and television shows like Chinatown, The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, Cinderella Liberty, The Gambler, The Killer Elite, M*A*S*H, and more throughout the 1970s.

Still, it wouldn’t be until 1976 that he would really enjoy his breakout role in Rocky and its subsequent films. In the movie, Young plays Paulie Pennino, best friend and brother-in-law to Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa. It was a role he didn’t audition for. “I was on the MGM lot when Sly Stallone came over and introduced himself to me, told me he wrote Rocky and said, ‘You gotta do it,’” Young said in a 2009 interview (via THR). “I wanted to do it right away, but I wanted to twist their arms a little bit, not look too eager.”

Young ended up securing an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film. He would go on to star as Paulie in five more Rocky movies, becoming a staple of the franchise. “I made him a rough guy with a sensitivity,” Young once said of the character. “He’s really a marshmallow, even though he yells a lot.”

Young’s Rocky costar Stallone remembered the actor on Instagram last night, calling him a “dear friend” and “an incredible man and artist.”

Altogether, Young logged more than 160 film and television credits over the course of his career. According to IMDB, he still has four roles forthcoming: Chuck Zito’s Street Justice, hockey film Way Of The Warriors, baseball film All In, and metaphysical comedy Asleep At The Wheel.