Back in 1970, Sylvester Stallone was just a 24-year-old actor desperate for anything, and it meant anything, to get him off the streets. No Rambo script in hand, no Rocky script either—just a guy in a bus station with dreams! Enter The Party at Kitty and Stud’s is an adult film in which Stallone plays the titular “Stud.” The movie revolved around some seriously NSFW content and more than a few very awkward parties. Let’s just say it was definitely not the role you’d brag about at family reunions.
But you know what Stallone hated the script. He even confessed to Playboy that, at the time, he “wanted nothing to do with it.” So, why did he take it? Well, as the man himself admitted: “It was either do that movie or rob someone because I was at the end—at the very end—of my rope.” No joke, that’s how close he was to making a very different kind of debut. With only two days of work for a paltry $200 (or £180, for those in the UK), Stallone took the gig as a last resort to escape his current living situation—sleeping rough in a bus station.
This was the lowest of the low before he started punching his way to fame. Spoiler alert: it worked. The movie was no masterpiece, but thanks to Rocky, it got re-edited and re-released as The Italian Stallion. After that, Stallone hit it big with Rocky, Rambo, and The Expendables. Now, at 76, he’s still going strong in Tulsa King, proving the action never stops.
So yeah, from $200 in a bus station to one of Hollywood’s most iconic action stars—if that’s not the ultimate comeback story, I don’t know what is! Sylvester Stallone really went from “Stud” to stud.