Before becoming Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone cleaned lion cages at the Central Park Zoo, got married wearing a gangster costume, and brought his father to the set of Rocky. And when Rocky finally made it to the Oscars, his mother decided not to accompany him to the ceremony.
The actor recounts this in The Steps, his memoir in which he looks back on the years that led him to become one of the most recognizable stars in American cinema—a journey marked by rejection, odd jobs, financial struggles, and complicated family relationships. Stallone recounts the years leading up to the film’s success, right up to the night of the 1977 Oscars, when Rocky won the award for best picture.
Lion Cages at the Central Park Zoo
When he returned to New York in 1969 after spending a few years in Europe, Stallone wanted to be an actor and screenwriter. But first, he had to pay his rent. After a day spent fruitlessly looking for work, he walked past the Central Park Zoo and asked if they needed staff. “Fifteen minutes later, I was in a lion cage with a hose, a scoop, and a shovel,” he recalls in his memoir. The star recounts working from 5:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for about three and a half weeks, cleaning the cages every day. “If you’ve never been in a lion’s cage after it’s evacuated, let me tell you: It is very pungent. In no time, my eyes began to water from the stench of the natural ammonia in a lion’s urine,” he writes. Eventually, he decided to quit the job because that smell prevented him from going to talent agencies to look for acting work. “I liked animals, but I didn’t like reeking as if I had the world’s greatest bladder problem.”
