IN A heartrending revival of his gutsy “Rocky” character, Sly Stallone played a real-life hero when he suddenly appeared in the hospital room of a badly injured little boy who idolizes him, knelt by his bedside and said gently: “Yo! . . . Give Rocky a punch!” Sadly, 5-year-old Brandon Zucker, maimed in a Disneyland accident, can’t throw a punch anymore . . . or even whisper, “Yo, Rocky!” But Stallone got a smile from the beautiful kid — and those are rare these days, says mom Victoria, who relives the horror of watching her son fall out of a “Roger Rabbit” ride and get crushed under machinery. Sly’s wife, Jennifer Flavin, read in a newspaper how Brandon used to run through his house wearing oven mitts, punching the air like his hero, “Rocky.” Jennifer showed the story to Sly, who went to the hospital to give the kid a shot of come-from-behind Rocky courage! “His visit did a lot of good for Brandon,” wept Victoria. (Keep punching, kid . . . and . . . lookin’ good, Rock!)
Hollywood Behind the Screens Forum.
