Rocky star Burt Young dies aged 83

He is best remembered for portraying alcoholic butcher Paulie Pennino, Adrian's brother, beside Sylvester Stallone in the Rocky franchise.

The role secured Young an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1976.

Young's death on October 8 was confirmed by his daughter Anne Morea Steingieser and his Los Angeles-based manager Lynda Bensky. No cause of death was given.

Young was born in the New York borough of Queens and served in the US Marine Corps in the 1950s.

He later studied at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and went on to build a career playing mostly tough-guy and Italian-American characters on television and film.

Young reprised the role of Paulie Pennino in all six of the original Rocky sequels.

The original Rocky, a motion picture sensation starring Sylvester Stallone, amassed 10 Oscar nominations and won three awards, including the prize for best picture, for its portrayal of a small-time Philadelphia club boxer who gets an unlikely crack at the world heavyweight title.

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Other film credits include Chinatown, The Pope Of Greenwich Village and Once Upon A Time in America.

He also made numerous guest appearances on television on such series as M*A*S*H, The Rockford Files, Baretta and Law & Order.

And he staked his claim as a 'scream-king' in the Amityville horror extended universe.

In later years, Young made a name as painter whose works were displayed in galleries around the world and owned a restaurant in the Bronx, New York.

With Australian Associated Press