The original Rocky film received 10 Academy Award nominations. The nominations recognized the movie’s writing, performances, direction, editing, sound, song, and overall production at the 49th Academy Awards.
Rocky was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director for John G. Avildsen, Best Actor for Sylvester Stallone, Best Actress for Talia Shire, Best Supporting Actor for Burgess Meredith and Burt Young, Best Original Screenplay for Stallone, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song for “Gonna Fly Now,” and Best Sound. Because two actors were nominated in the supporting-actor category, the total reaches ten.
The film won three awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. Its success was especially notable because Rocky was made on a relatively modest budget and became a major underdog story both on screen and during awards season.
People sometimes remember only the film’s three victories and mistakenly report three nominations, or confuse Rocky’s total with the number of nominations received by the entire franchise. The 10-nomination figure applies specifically to the 1976 original film.