Nights at Port Authority before Rocky

Sylvester Stallone had left the University of Miami before he started chasing an acting career in New York. According to an AARP profile, he arrived in the city with nothing but lint in his pocket. He was broke and slept where he could, often at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The article does not give exact dates or say how long this period lasted, but it places it before the release of Rocky in 1976.

The profile is more detailed about the turning point than about the hardship itself. Stallone had written the script for Rocky, and it attracted the attention of the studio United Artists. The studio reportedly offered up to 350,000 dollars for it. Stallone refused to sell the script unless he could play the lead role himself, even though this meant turning down a very large sum for someone in his circumstances.

The studio agreed to his terms. It cast him in the title role and paid an initial 35,000 dollars for the script, along with 10 percent of the net profits. The article does not say that this moment ended his homelessness, only that it came after his time on the streets and in the bus terminal.

The film Rocky was released in 1976, and it marked the point at which his fortunes changed. Stallone went on to become one of the best-known action stars in the world. The AARP profile does not describe any further details of his time sleeping in the terminal, so the account of that stretch remains brief.