Burt Young, actor who found fame as Sylvester Stallone’s closest friend in the Rocky film series – obituary

• Burt Young, who has died aged 83, received an Oscar nomination for his role as Paulie Pennino, Sylvester Stallone’s cigar-chomping alcoholic butcher friend, in Rocky (1976); as a kind of amiable moral compass to Stallone’s mumbling pugilist, Young made himself an indispensable part of the package, returning in all five Rocky sequels.