When Sylvester Stallone was born in 1946, the doctor used forceps to help deliver him. The tool slipped and severed a facial nerve above the infant’s jaw, leaving the left side of his face with a permanent droop. Growing up, schoolyard bullies taunted him with cruel nicknames like “Slant Mouth” and “Mr. Potato Head.”

In 1959, his life shifted after he saw the movie “Hercules Unchained.” He was captivated by its star, former Mr. Universe Steve Reeves. Determined to look like his new hero, Stallone started lifting. In time, his body changed and so did the bullies’ attitude. 

Stallone scraped by in high school with a D average, but after graduation he found a college in Switzerland eager for new students. While there, he acted in a production of “Death of a Salesman.” Later he said, “I knew then that this is what I was made to do.”

By 1969, Stallone was back in America, determined to make it in the movies. His first film appearance, in a soft-core porn release, earned him $200. A few small roles followed, but they didn’t add up to a career. He turned to writing instead.

To support himself and his wife, Sasha, he took whatever work he could find: theater usher, nightclub bouncer, fish-head cutter. At night, he wrote screenplays that no one wanted to buy.

Then he watched a televised boxing match between Muhammad Ali and underdog Chuck Wepner. Ali won, but Stallone couldn’t stop thinking about Wepner’s grit and refusal to quit. That stubborn will to “go the distance” became the core of a new character: Rocky Balboa.

After he and Sasha moved to Los Angeles, Stallone sat down to bring Rocky to life. With Sasha at the typewriter, the couple stayed up for three straight days as the script took shape.

Rocky is the story of a small-time Philadelphia boxer who gets a supremely rare chance to fight the world heavyweight champion in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.

Stallone took “Rocky” to United Artists, which liked the story as a low-budget project that could still headline a big star—maybe Burt Reynolds or Ryan O’Neal. Stallone insisted he had to play Rocky himself. Studio executives pushed back, but he refused to sell the script unless he could star. Eventually, they gave in, signing him for a modest $23,000.

In December 1975, Stallone and Sasha boarded a train for Philadelphia, where the movie would be filmed. On location, a van doubled as both production office and Stallone’s changing room. The cast and crew bunked in a cheap motel and lived mostly on pasta as they shot mile after mile of film.

United Artists didn’t expect much. Executives even considered dumping “Rocky” onto television after some critics at advance screenings brushed it off. One writer dismissed it as “a sentimental little slum movie.”

Moviegoers thought otherwise. When “Rocky” opened in November 1976, audiences embraced it. In the United States alone, the film earned $117 million—around $700 million today. It became the year’s top-grossing movie and scored 10 Academy Award nominations.

“Rocky” won three Oscars, including Best Picture. The fighter who just wanted a chance had gone the distance, and so had the man who created him.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

How “Jaws” nearly sunk Steven Spielberg’s career

Before it became the first summer blockbuster, Jaws was a nightmare to film—plagued by malfunctioning sharks, sea-sick crews and budget overruns. Here's the behind-the-scenes story. Read More » 

Reliving the glamour of Christmas parties in the movies

Movies "The Apartment" and "The Desk Set," made in the era of America’s booming economy, reflect an age where large companies had a paternalistic hand in the lives of their employees. Read More »