As the iconic Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone celebrates his 80th birthday, many might be baffled to learn that he's been in a decades-long feud with a fellow A-lister that started with a fist fight09:09, 06 Jul 2026Fans are baffled to learn that actor Sylvester Stallone once got into a fistfight with a fellow A-list actor, a feud that has continued for several decades. While he's best known for playing the title character in the Rocky and Rambo film series, Sylvester Stallone, 80, has an impressive CV after having working in the industry or for over 57 years, with his professional screen debut beginning in 1968.‌As his career spans over five decades, it's made him one of only two actors in Hollywood history to star in a box-office number-one film across six consecutive decades.‌However, his career has not come without it's drama. Even though Stallone was praised for his portrayal of boxer Rocky in the praised films, it seems as though the actor has a past of getting into fist fights outside of the screen.‌Taking to Reddit, one user went on to share a photo of a excerpt from a book, with the part written by direct Quentin Tarantino, which explained that Stallone 'forced' Richard Gere to leave the production of 1974 film The Lords of Flatbush, after they both got into a fist fight."Sylvester Stallone beat up Richard Gere on the set of Lords of Flatbush in 1974 before either were famous. Sly’s the best," the Reddit post read.‌Did Sylvester Stallone get into a fight with Richard Gere?Stallone and Richard Gere first got to know each other during the production of 1974 film The Lords of Flatbush, before either of them had their big break. But it seems they tension between the two actors got too much, as Gere was nowhere to be seen once the film premiered, as his role had been offered to Perry King instead due to how serious the tension had gotten.“We never hit it off,” Stallone told Ain’t It Cool News in 2006. “He would strut around in his oversized motorcycle jacket like he was the baddest knight at the round table.”Speaking about their fight on the set of the 1974 film, which was the start of their longstanding feud, Stallone said: "One day, during an improv, he grabbed me and got a little carried away,‌"I told him in a gentle fashion to lighten up, but he was completely in character and impossible to deal with," he added.But the incident that really pushed Stallone over the edge happened in the back of a Toyota on a cold day in Coney Island. Stallone said that he was eating a hot dog when Gere entered with mustard-covered chicken that was sure to drip.‌“He proceeds to bite into the chicken and a small, greasy river of mustard lands on my thigh,” Stallone explained at the time. “I elbowed him in the side of the head and basically pushed him out of the car.”Even though the two actors had been on their lunch break when the car incident had occurred, word about it quickly spread across the production team — leading to Gere eventually leaving the film.“To this day, [he] seriously dislikes me,” Stallone told MTV in 2006. “He even thinks I’m the individual responsible for the gerbil rumour. Not true, but that’s the rumour.”‌Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere fights over Princess DianaIn 2019, Elton John brought the feud back into the public eye, describing a dinner party he'd hosted where the two actors had been invited, along with Princess Diana, who had reportedly just split from then-Prince Charles."The most peculiar scene developed," John wrote in his book. "Straight away, Richard Gere and Diana seemed very taken with each other."‌John recall seeing Gere and Princess Diana being deep in conversation by the fire place, when suddenly the mood of the party had changed. He wrote: "Judging by the kind of looks he kept shooting them, Diana and Richard Gere's newly blossoming friendship was not going down well with Sylvester Stallone at all."I think he may have turned up to the party with the express intention of picking Diana up, only to find his plans for the evening ruined."Once they were all called to dinner, John noticed that both Stallone and Gere were missing from the dinner table. He sent his partner David Furnish to find them. As Furnish later came back with the two actors, he explained he'd found them in the corridor, preparing to 'settle their differences over Diana by having a fistfight', as John described it in his book.Article continues belowAfter the awkward meal, Diana and Gere went back to the fireplace and Stallone “stormed off home.”"I never would have come if I'd known Prince f****n' Charming was gonna be here.," Stallone snapped, according to John. "If I'd wanted her, I would've taken her!"Aside from Gere, Stallone has also had a famous, decades-long, yet playful rivalry with Arnold Schwarzenegger. While the two heavily competed and traded insults in the 1980s and 90s, they ultimately mended fences and even starred alongside each other in films like the Escape Plan franchise.