It is no secret to anyone that Sylvester Stallone is an animal lover; Just check his Instagram account to see pictures with his pets and countless interviews in which he talks about his dogs. However, throughout his career, there was one that for him and his fans is special: Butkus.
Those who follow Stallone’s works will remember that the bull mastiff was part of “Rocky” and “Rocky II”. But before entering these famous movies, the animal and its owner went through hard times, to the point that The actor had to sell the dog because he had no money to feed him.
Sylvester Stallone: the sale of Butkus and his subsequent recovery
“When I was 26 years old, I didn’t know where my life was going. I had dreams of reaching as high as the sun and by my side was my dog Butkus, my best friend, my confidant. He always laughed at my jokes and put up with me,” Stallone wrote on his Instagram account in 2017.
His words were for the dog that came to his family in 1969 and that, despite loving him, had to sell, since the economic situation in his home was not the best. Butkus’ fate was explained in 2019 by the actor in an interview for The Graham Norton Show.
Butkus in “Rocky”
“At that time, I was very poor, earning $36 a week, so I had to sell my dog because I had no food to give him. I don’t know why, but when he was totally broken, that animal was with me,” he shared.
But the story of Sylvester Stallone and Butkus had a happy ending. The Hollywood icon told how, shortly before selling the “Rocky” script, He went back to the house of the man who bought the dog from him and told him he would pay him to get it back. The problem was that if he paid $60 for it, now they were asking for $3,000 to return it.
“I didn’t have that money with me, so he said, ‘So put me in the movie’ (Rocky). And that’s what I did. He is a small man who appears in a scene at the beginning of the tape, ”he commented.
Years later, the interpreter revealed that Butkus died of a heart attack in 1981. Their friendship is not only an important milestone for the movie “Rocky”, but also for the public life of Sylvester Stallone, who on more than one occasion has remembered the dog in their social networks.
#Stallone #dog #Butkus #selling #survive #Rocky