Memoir Explores Stallone's Past
Sylvester Stallone reflects on his troubled childhood and the creation of Rocky in a new memoir.
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Sylvester Stallone’s memoir *The Steps* is due Sept. 29. In interviews promoting the book, he reflects on how neglect and violence in his childhood—including unpredictable physical abuse by his father, Frank Sr., and witnessing him kill a cat—shaped his drive and tough screen image. Stallone also recalls a clash with his father during the filming of *Rocky*’s climactic boxing match, when Frank, cast as the bell ringer, failed to follow the choreography. The memoir revisits painful memories Stallone says he had long tried to lock away and the ambition that led him to write *Rocky* and insist on playing its lead.
Key Points
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Stallone says a difficult forceps-assisted birth left him with partial facial paralysis and a lifelong speech impediment.
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After his parents divorced when he was about 11, Stallone says he was sent to live in a boardinghouse before later living with his father.
3
While struggling to establish himself in New York, Stallone says he had less than $100 in the bank when he wrote *Rocky* and turned down increasingly large offers to sell the screenplay unless he could play the lead.
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