"Sly", as he's known to those closest to him, might not want to hear the word "Veteran" in polite company but there can be no getting away from the fact that the movie's most famous boxer has now been part of the Hollywood furniture for nearly 25 years. Before Forrest Gump was laying down his down-home philosophy, Stallone was showing us his own way of achieving the American dream in 1976 when as Rocky he became the ultimate example of gutter to gold in the land of the free. 

If Die Hard made Willis and Terminator made Arnie this third musketeer of the action picture genre has much to thank the Rocky series for. Over the years there have been attempts to re-invent himself in such roles as the Wall-Street-watching supercop in Tango and Cash, followed by a disasterous double whammy in 1991 with Oscar and in 1992 with Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, both of which indicated that maybe Sly wasn't a natural comedian.

In the 90's he starred two of his best action roles in Cliffhanger and Daylight while Copland was the ultimate turnabout for Sly, playing a passive put upon officer. The U.S. remake of the Michael Caine British thriller Get Carter brought Stallone back to what he does best, kickin' ass. 

Whether you view Sylvester Stallone as meatball or movie's #1 action man, there can be no doubt that similar to his most famous alter-ego there are a few more rounds left in this Italian-American thespian. 

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