The Sylvester Stallone “Rocky Story” for Kids

On July 6, 1946, a boy named Sylvester was born. When it was time for his mother to give birth, Sylvester’s body was not coming out easily. In order for him to survive they used special tools, which although they saved his life, caused part of his lip and face not to work right. Because of this he always had a funny smile and even talked funny. 

Sylvester grew up in the big city of New York. Growing up there wasn’t easy. His parents didn’t get along and they had to move many times. At one point he had to live with different families until he was able to move back with his father. With all of this going on in his life, Sylvester had a tough time in school and didn’t always do very well. 

But Sylvester loved going to the movies. He would go to the theater and stare up at the gigantic screen as larger-than-life heroes did amazing things. He saw how strong and fast and courageous they were and wanted to be just like them. The problem was Sylvester realized he didn’t look like those heroes. He was short and small and got teased for his smile. But this didn’t stop Sylvester. He began to exercise, do pushups and run, and do anything to shape himself into the heroes he saw in the movies. 

As Sylvester got older, his love of movies made him want to become an actor, so he went to a school for actors. He tried his very best there until it was time to be done and look for a job. But finding an acting job isn’t easy. Sylvester did all kinds of odd jobs on the side. He even cleaned lion cages at the zoo! But most of the time he didn’t have any money and it was very hard to get by. So he could pay for food, Sylvester had to sell his favorite dog. He was very sad about this. But Sylvester was determined to become an actor so he sacrificed things for it.

Sylvester stars in his own movie

One day Sylvester saw a boxing match on TV. The boxers were Muhammed Ali and Chuck Wepner. Even though Chuck was getting beat up pretty badly, he kept standing up and fighting back. Sylvester had an idea, so he rushed home and started writing. He wrote all night and all day until the story was done. Next, he took his story to the movie companies and they loved the boxer story. They said they would pay him $125,000 for the story. Sylvester said he would sell it, but on one condition — that he would also be the star in the movie. The directors laughed at this. They thought Sylvester looked a little funny and talked funny. They kept offering Sylvester more money for the story, but he demanded that he be the star. He was persistent and believed in himself. 

Finally, the movie directors said he could be the star, but they didn’t pay him as much for the story. But Sylvester didn’t care because he believed he could be the star. One of the first things he did with the money was bought his old dog back! 

When the movie was finished, it was about a small boxer named Rocky who nobody knew. But the boxer exercised and practiced and worked very hard until in a big boxing match he beat one of the best boxers in the world! People loved the movie named Rocky! It even won many awards and became one of the most popular movies of all time. Sylvester went from being an unknown actor to starring in many big movies. He always worked hard playing his parts, exercised, and stayed strong and fast. Most of the time he wanted to do his own stunts, even though it was dangerous. Today Sylvester Stallone is known as one of the greatest action movie stars of all time. 

Sylvester gives back

Later in his life, Sylvester tried to do good things with the money he earned from his movies. They held an auction to sell the boxing gloves and other items from his Rocky movie and made $3 million dollars which they gave to those in need.

Remember that becoming good at something requires a lot of practice and persistence. Persistence is when you keep trying and trying even when things aren’t working out. Sylvester had a dream and stuck with it even when it wasn’t working out. Sometimes dreams take time and courage and patience. Like the boxer Rocky we can keep getting back up and trying even when difficult things in life knock us down.

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