Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6, 1946) is an American Academy Award-nominated film actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is often referred to by his nickname, "Sly".Stallone was born in New York to Frank Stallone and Jacqueline "Jackie" Labofish, an astrologer. Stallone's father was an immigrant from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily while his mother is American; one of his maternal great-grandmothers, Rosa Rabinovich, was from Odessa, Ukraine. Stallone's career began with the leading role, Stud, in a hard-core pornographic film called Party at Kitty and Stud's. The film was originally hard core and depicted sexual acts, but after Stallone's later success, the film was re-cut to soft-core and re-packaged as Italian Stallion (a reference to Rocky Balboa's nickname). The hardcore footage is now apparently lost. Stallone did not gain world-wide fame until his starring role in the smash hit Rocky (1976), the film was awarded the 1976 Academy Award for Best Picture. On March 24, 1975, Stallone saw the Ali-Chuck Wepner fight which inspired the foundation idea of Rocky. That night Stallone went home, and in three days he had written the script for Rocky. After that, he tried to sell the script with the intention of playing the lead role. Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler in particular liked the script (which was suggested by Stallone after a casting), and planned on courting a star like Burt Reynolds or James Caan for the lead role. Stallone had another major franchise success as John Rambo in First Blood (1982) and the sequels, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Rambo III. During the 1980s he built a reputation as a major action star. Stallone's debut as a director came in 1978 with Paradise Alley, which he also wrote and starred in. In addition, he directed the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, along with Rocky II, III, IV and Rocky Balboa.