The Coney Island Kid Who Made Rocky, Goodfellas, and Raging Bull | Irwin Winkler

About this episode

Irwin Winkler has spent more than six decades in Hollywood, producing films that have earned 52 Academy Award nominations and helped define generations of moviegoers. His credits include Rocky, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Right Stuff, and The Irishman, but the path that led to those films was anything but predictable. In this episode of Big Shot, hosts Harley Finkelstein and David Segal sit down with Irwin to look back on the twists, turns, relationships, and moments of good fortune that shaped his remarkable career. From the William Morris mailroom to launching an agency with Robert Chartoff, from representing Julie Christie to hearing Sylvester Stallone pitch Rocky, Irwin shares the stories behind a life spent at the center of the movie business. Along the way, he reflects on the people who changed his life, the opportunities he almost missed, and the unexpected chain of events that led from a kid growing up in Brooklyn to one of the most successful producers in Hollywood history. — In This Episode We Cover: (00:00) Intro (03:13) Growing up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn  (07:11) Moving to the Sea Gate in Coney Island (08:26) Irwin's first attempt at NYU (10:22) Why he enlis