Sylvester Stallone celebrates 50 years of Rocky as iconic statue finally finds permanent spot

To mark the half century since the film’s release, Rocky is back at the top of those legendary steps in the form of an iconic 8ft bronze statue of the boxer, arms raised in triumph

Fifty years ago Sylvester Stallone ran up the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s 72 stone steps, creating a magical moment that saw boxing hero Rocky Balboa instantly enshrined in movie history. Scooping the Best Picture Oscar, the original Rocky film released in 1976, made Stallone an overnight superstar. And now, to mark the half century, Rocky is back on top – at the summit of those legendary steps – in the form of the iconic 8ft bronze statue of the boxer, arms raised in triumph.

A massive tourist draw for the city, four million fans a year visit the statue and run up the museum’s 72 steps, just like Rocky. Stallone says of the steps and the placing of the statue at the top: “You can’t borrow Superman’s cape. You can’t use the Jedi laser sword. But the steps are there. The steps are accessible. And standing up there, you kind of have a piece of the Rocky pie. You are part of what the whole myth is. I think it’s something that will endure.”

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Commissioned in 1982 by Stallone for Rocky III, he loaned the original bronze statue to the city and it was sited – after considerable wrangling – at the foot of the museum steps. Now it is inside the museum, at the centre of an exhibition, Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments, where it will remain until August 2 – having finally been recognised as a bona fide work of art and not just a movie prop.

Meanwhile, a second cast of the statue, again belonging to Stallone, has been moved to the top of the steps, where the original will be permanently placed, once the exhibition finishes. Inscribed with the mantra: “It’s not how hard you hit, it’s how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward – that’s how winning is done,” it’s reflective of Stallone’s own rise to fame.

Turning 80 in July, he was born in the notorious Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood of New York to astrologer and women’s professional wrestling promoter Jackie and hairdresser Frank, who divorced in 1957. Expelled from 14 schools before the age of 13, at one point in high school, Stallone was voted ‘most likely to end up in the electric chair.’ But the star – who moved around as a child, also living in Washington and Philadelphia – found his salvation acting.

Moving back to New York, he landed a few bit parts, but was mainly supported by his then girlfriend Sasha Czack waiting on tables and was forced to take odd jobs, such as being a cleaner at a zoo. As well as minor film roles, he made guest appearances on TV in series like Police Story and Kojak, but he also honed his writing skills by frequenting a local library and developing an interest in Edgar Allan Poe.

And it was Rocky, which he wrote, that made him famous. Stallone penned an early Rocky draft in just three days, refusing $360,000 ($1m today) from Hollywood bosses, who wanted an established star such as Ryan O’Neal, Robert Redford or Burt Reynolds to play the boxer.

Married to model-turned businesswoman, Jennifer Flavin, Stallone, a father-of-five, chose to sell the script for just $35,000, so he could play Rocky himself and has never looked back. Now living in a multi-million pound lakefront estate in Palm Beach, Florida, he says: “When I started I had nothing and I slept in a bus depot in New York for a week.I was homeless. It was 1970 and I was broke. I had to find myself and one day I put my hand in my back pocket and felt my bum and I found myself! I failed and failed again, but eventually you start to learn your way around and find out what you are good at and bad at.”

Constantly made to audition as a thug, he adds: ”When I filmed Rocky I got stopped by the police. They didn’t know I was filming and they said to me,’what are you doing in the neighbourhood?’ When I got stopped, I knew the character was working.” Now with six Rocky films under his belt, he has no plans for another, saying: “If I do another Rocky I am going to be fighting arthritis. I have pushed that limit. I can’t better the last Rocky film. It is not in me.”

Instead, a biopic about him – I Play Rocky – starring Anthony Ippolito as a young Stallone, is due out in November; his own biography The Steps, will be published on May 5 and American sculptor, Auldwin Thomas Schomberg, creator of the Rocky bronze, is releasing The Making of the Rocky Statue this month.

Contacted by Stallone in 1980 about crafting a statue, Schomberg created the likeness of the star. He says: “Rocky is posed with his arms over his head to represent a stage in his career when he has become the victor.” Of Stallone, he says: “He knew exactly what he wanted. When Sly walked into my studio, his first comment was, ‘no, it’s too heavy’. I realised he did not want a slugger, he wanted a boxer.”

After featuring in Rocky III, Stallone proposed the sculpture should be part of Philadelphia’s public art collection and remain permanently at the top of the museum’s east steps. Fans organised a ‘Rocky Must Stay’ campaign when it was moved. After that, it had a few different locations, finally being placed at the bottom of the steps in 2006, after further fan campaigning. Despite being considered just a movie prop for decades by the museum, the statue became iconic. Curator of the Rising Up exhibition, Dr Paul Farber, who is proud to include it in his collection, says: “Millions of people each year come to the statue as a site of pilgrimage, more than double the number that go to our Liberty Bell. New York has the Statue of Liberty. Florence has David. Philly has Rocky.”

*The Making of The Rocky Statue by A. Thomas Schomberg is available from www.rockystatue.com

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