Mickey Goldmill
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Michael "Mickey" Goldmill (April 7, 1905 - August 13, 1981) was a fictional boxing trainer created by Sylvester Stallone and portrayed by Burgess Meredith in the Rocky film series. The character's gravelly voice, intense demeanor and popular catchphrases helped make him highly recognizable as well as a common source of parody and references in pop culture.
[edit] Fictional biography
Mickey Goldmill was born on April 7, 1905 to a Jewish family (this was not revealed until the third movie at his funeral in a synagogue).
He boxed professionally from 1922 until 1947, but never gained any measure of fame. Goldmill recalled that he once knocked an opponent out of the ring the same day that Luis Firpo did the same to Jack Dempsey September 14, 1923. Goldmill claimed that the reason his feat didn't garner any media attention was that he didn't have a manager while Dempsey did. He retired in 1947.
Some time after his retirement (in 1948), he opened a boxing gym in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mighty Mick's Boxing, and began to train fighters.
In Rocky, Micky continues to manage his gym. One of the regulars in his gym was Rocky Balboa, a local club fighter who had never realized his potential. When heavyweight champion Apollo Creed gives Balboa an unlikely shot at the title, Goldmill approaches him about being his manager. Based on their uneasy prior relationship, Balboa was initially resistant but ultimately agreed to let Goldmill train him. While Balboa lost the fight to Creed, he managed to last the full fifteen rounds, a first for any of Creed's opponents.
Rocky II picked up directly after the first film. Creed challenged Balboa for a rematch in the hospital, although Rocky did not agree or disagree initially, Micky angrily stated that there would be no rematch and that Rocky won the fight. Eventually, after Creed's efforts at publicly embarrassing Balboa into a fight, Micky again became Balboa's trainer for the rematch. For the second fight with Creed, Goldmill utilized unique training methods to help Balboa gain speed. He also converted Balboa from a left-handed fighting style to a right-handed style in an effort to both confuse Creed and to protect an eye Balboa had badly injured in the first fight. The rematch took place, after an almost double-KO, Rocky remained standing to be come the winner.
In Rocky III, Goldmill trained Balboa to a series of successful title defenses before both men decided it was time for them to retire (Mickey was suffering heart problems by this time, though he kept this hidden from Rocky). Controversial challenger Clubber Lang accused the two of avoiding him. Finally, Balboa agreed to face Lang in a fight which he figured would be his last title defense, partially on the basis of Clubber's(aka Mr.T's) public daylight obnoxiousness and suggestiveness towards his wife. Goldmill told Rocky that he would have to go it alone if he decided to fight Lang, later admitting that all of his challengers were hand-picked "good fighters, but not killers". Balboa was eventually able to convince Goldmill to train him anyway, with the promise that this would be their last fight.
The matchup was set for August 15, 1981. Shortly before the fight Balboa's and Lang's entourages got into a scuffle and Goldmill was knocked to the ground. He returned to the locker room and when it became apparent that something was wrong, Balboa attempted to call off the fight. Goldmill, however, would have none of it and ordered Balboa to go ahead with the bout. Balboa lost the fight in a second-round knockout. He returned to the locker room shortly before Goldmill finally succumbed to a heart attack. He was 76.
A mentor and a father figure to Rocky, his dying words were (to Balboa) "I love ya, kid."
After his death, Rocky recalled his former trainer in flashbacks during the events of the last three films. (Burgess Meredith reprised the role in Rocky V and archival footage was used for Rocky IV and Rocky Balboa, the latter of which was filmed after Meredith's 1997 death.)
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