The Year in Celebrity Pictures: Burt Young

Celebrity: Burt Young, best known for his work as meatpacking plant worker/lover of alcohol/occasional Santa Claus Paulie Pennino in every last one of the Rocky movies (and, of course, for his work as chauffeur/intimidator Lou in Back to School)
Photo taken: October 30, 2011, at the Parsippany Hilton, as part of the Chiller Theatre convention

One of two photos taken that day in which I don't look nearly as tired as I feel. On the morning this was taken, I was in Wisconsin, having stayed up all night after seeing Cheap Trick and partaking in most of a late-night bingo session so I could catch a bus that would take me to the airport in Chicago, from which I would fly to LaGuardia and then proceed directly to Parsippany courtesy of the McGrath Shuttle Service. It was a long day. But I met Paulie (and someone even cooler...stay tuned), so it was worth it. In retrospect, I wish I had brought a sign that read "Bruce Springsteen" on it so we could've recreated that scene in Back to School, but so be it. I'm just grateful that in my groggy state I didn't start rattling off his lines from the climax of Rocky V (such as "This man, he spit blood for you" and "You know what Tommy--you're a piece of garbage" and "Should've left him on the street where we found him, Rock").