ROCKY Star Burgess Meredith’s joy during filming set the standard for the cast

Actress Thalia Shire (The Godfather) was the beloved Hadrian in Rocky film, and is one of the actors who joined the first film in a faithful judgment of the fantastic script, and it was clearly a good choice, as the film has become one of the most popular of all time. The first film was made for under a million dollars and went on to earn over $225 million at the box office. No one could have known at the time of filming the freezing cold movie that it would be so successful, except maybe Rocky’s trainer Mickey, actor Burgess Meredith.

In an interview at TCM Fest in 2016 (via /Film), Shire described working conditions at Rockysaid:

“‘Rocky’ was very low budget, you have to know that and we were in Philly during, it was December and it was freezing cold. And we had kind of a community truck where the cables and costumes were. They put a couple of mirrors there by the wall, we were so freezing our breath fogged the mirrors. We couldn’t see while changing clothes.”

Rocky’s shooting schedule began in January 1976. It debuted in New York City the following November, with rapid shooting and a quick post-production process. The film boasts no glitz, with low-rent working-class apartments providing the backdrop and a love story between Rocky and Adrian providing the emotional foreground. Shire is excellent in the film—she was nominated for a second Oscar—but she credits Meredith with keeping her spirits up in the bitterly cold, cheap trailer.

“I’m changing my clothes next to this great actor Burgess Meredith and he’s putting on his Mickey hat and he was full of creative joy. This is a great actor. No complaints. And he kind of set the key for the rest of us as actors. That’s what a professional actor does, he brings that great sense of creativity and collaboration and boy he was to all of us, all actors he set that standard.”

Meredith was a fantastic actor and it seems like it was a dream to work with him. It’s so good that even in the worst of circumstances he was able to sustain his co-stars and make everyone remember the love of making a movie. Meredith died in 1997, just before his 90th birthday. He will always be remembered for many of his roles in Hollywood, with Rocky topping the list.