Sylvester Stallone's latest action epic, "The Expendables 2," hits theaters this weekend. Sly and co-stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and company flexed their muscles at the movie's Los Angeles premiere. Also there and looking cut, Stallone's little-seen younger brother, Frank Stallone.
Frank, though nowhere near as famous as Sly, is a celebrity in his own right. He was nominated for a Golden Globe and Grammy Award for "Far From Over," a song he wrote and performed for the film "Staying Alive." He also earned praise from Roger Ebert for his role in the movie "Barfly." In recent years, he's done a slew of cameos and appeared on the Howard Stern Show for a boxing bout with Geraldo Rivera (Stallone won).
Frank has admitted to feeling a little
overshadowed by his big brother. “I'm extremely proud that Sly created Rocky, but I got really tired of that,” he once said.
In a 2008 interview with
The Composer's Corner, Frank explained that when his brother became a star with "Rocky," Frank was working with a band,
Valentine (its lead guitarist, by the way, was John Oates of "Hall and Oates" fame). Sylvester's sudden success and the world's reaction to it made Frank feel, in his words, like a "non-person."
According to his personal site, when Frank isn't writing songs or filming, "he can be found on a shooting range or at the gym but he’s happiest with a guitar, beautiful women and good glass of vino."