Back in the day, Stallone was a struggling actor in every definition. At some point, he got so broke that he had no choice but to take his wife’s jewelry and sell it.

Things got so bad that he even ended up homeless. Yes, he slept at the New York bus station for 3 days. Unable to pay rent or afford food.

His lowest point came when he tried to sell his dog at the liquor store to any passing stranger. He didn’t have money to feed the dog. He sold it for $25 only. He says he walked away crying.

Two weeks later, he saw a boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner and that match gave him the inspiration to write the script for the famous movie, Rocky. He wrote the script for 20 hours.

He tried to sell it and got an offer for $125,000 for the script. But he had just one condition. He wanted to be the main actor. But the studio said no, they wanted a real movie star. The producers claimed that he ‘Looked funny and he talked funny.’

Stallone left with his unsold script. A few weeks later, the studio offered him $250,000 for the script. He again refused. They even offered $350,000. They wanted his movie, but not him. He said he had to be in the movie or no deal.

After a while, the studio agreed, gave him $35,000 for the script and then allowed him star in it. The rest is history! The movie won Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Film Editing at the prestigious Oscar Awards.

He was even nominated for ‘Best Actor’ and the movie Rocky was even welcomed into the American National Film Registry as one of the greatest movies ever! P.S. After the movie came out he tracked down the guy who bought his dog and bought it back for 10k.