Whatever Happened to the Cast of the ‘Rocky’ Franchise?
It’s been almost 50 years since an ambitious young New York actor named Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone — a guy with big dreams on both sides of the silver screen — took inspiration from a jaw-dropping Muhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner boxing match and turned it into box office gold via a little movie he called Rocky. Stallone cast himself as the titular main character, a small-time boxer, Rocky Balboa, who gets an unlikely shot to fight the world heavyweight champ Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) and discovers that guts, heart, and having the right folks in your corner matter more than a championship belt.
The film won three Oscars and launched a nine-movie franchise, and in October, Stallone announced that he’s written a new chapter in the Rocky story, which focuses on the fighter’s life outside the ring.
To celebrate 50 years of the guy who’s gone the distance, we’re celebrating Stallone and other actors from the franchise who are still fighting the good fight today.
Sylvester Stallone
Everett Collection; Manoli Figetakis/Getty Images
The fellow who introduced fight fans and film lovers to the world of the feisty Philly boxer is now 80 years old and continuing to make his mark in Hollywood. Since 2022, Stallone has wowed TV viewers as New York Mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi, who is exiled to Oklahoma in Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan‘s Emmy-nominated series Tulsa King, currently streaming on Paramount+ with a fifth season forthcoming.
Talia Shire
Everett Collection; Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images
Having already gained acclaim as mercurial Corleone sibling Connie in The Godfather franchise, Shire signed on to play Adrianna — “Yo, Adrian!” — Pennino, Rocky’s stalwart gal in Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, and Rocky V. Though her eventual death wasn’t shown onscreen, Adrian passed away from cancer before the events of 2006’s Rocky Balboa. Stallone said he wrote Adrian’s death into Balboa’s story to lead Rocky to return to the ring out of grief rather than a hunger for glory.
Her time in the franchise may have ended, but the now 80-year-old Shire’s career continues to thrive on the big and small screens. Recently, she appeared in her brother Francis Ford Coppola‘s 2024 film Megalopolis, guest-starred as Melissa Schemmenti’s mother on ABC’s Abbott Elementary and appeared as Teresa, a former nun with a colorful romantic past, alongside Susan Sarandon and Lorraine Bracco in Netflix’s 2025 comedy Nonnas.
Mr. T
Everett Collection; Jean Catuffe/GC Images/Getty Images
The blinged-out, mohawk-sporting former nightclub bouncer and bodyguard made his motion picture acting debut as Clubber Lang in Rocky III. It suited Mr. T well. Compared to former opponent Apollo Creed, Clubber preferred an unfettered brawl, leading an unmoored Rocky to turn to Creed to help him train.
Following Rocky III, Mr. T would quickly earn superstardom as A-Team‘s B.A. Baracus on the NBC hit action series. Other top credits include his self-titled ’80s animated series, the outlandish ’80s comedy D.C. Cab, and the syndicated crime drama T. and T.
While Mr. T has largely stepped away from the cameras to focus on charitable pursuits, fans can revisit his rise to success in the documentary Untold Mr. T: I Pity the Fool, now streaming on Netflix.
Dolph Lundgren
Everett Collection; Jason Mendez/Getty Images
Lundgren, whose imposing Scandinavian good looks made him god-like, joined the franchise in 1985’s Rocky IV, playing Ivan Drago. In the franchise, he is best known for killing Apollo Creed in the ring during an exhibition match. Drago represents the era’s tense rivalry between America and the Soviet Union, and stirs a deep need for retribution in Rocky. Lundgren, now 69, reprised the character in 2018’s Creed II and hasn’t stopped acting since. This year alone, he starred in Masters of the Universe and bad guy Armand Stoker in the creepy streamer Straight Shot.
Brigitte Nielsen
Everett Collection; Marco Ravagli/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Nielsen, who spent a mere 19 months as Mrs. Stallone in the mid-’80s, played Ivan Drago’s icy wife, Ludmilla Drago, in Rocky IV and Creed II. Now 63, she lives in Spain with her fifth husband and quintet of kids, the last of whom she gave birth to via IVF in 2018, when Nielsen was 54. She was last seen on the small screen in 2022, but makes occasional personal appearances and models.
Michael B. Jordan
Everett Collection; Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Prime Video
Best known as Erik Killmonger in Marvel’s Black Panther and his Oscar-winning turn as the Smokestack twins in Ryan Coogler’s vampire romp, Sinners, the 39-year-old Jordan introduced the Rocky franchise to a new generation of fans when he played Apollo Creed’s illegitimate son, Adonis Johnson Creed, in the Creed franchise. The handsome and sought-after actor will write, direct, and star in The Thomas Crown Affair and Miami Vice.
In Memoriam
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Sadly, many of the people who played Rocky’s most memorable friends, foes, and family are no longer with us.
Carl Weathers died of heart disease at age 76 in 2024. Burgess Meredith earned an Oscar nomination as Rocky’s hard-as-nails trainer, Mickey Goldmill. He succumbed to complications of Alzheimer’s disease and skin cancer at age 89 in 1997. Tony Burton, who played Apollo’s trainer and Rocky’s corner man Duke Evers, died of multiple health problems in 2016 at the age of 78. Burt Young, who earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Rocky’s gruff but loyal brother-in-law, Paulie Pennino, died of cardiac arrest in 2023 at the age of 80. Joe Spinell, who portrayed loan shark Tony Gazzo in the first two Rocky films, was just 52 at the time of his accidental death.
But the saddest of them all was Stallone’s own son Sage, who played Rocky Balboa Jr. in Rocky V and passed away from a heart attack caused by severe atherosclerosis at age 36. In an interview with People, Stallone said his son “would have done wonderful things in the future. I just had no idea that he had something that you would expect a very advanced adult to have. … you don’t get over that.”