He may play a tough-guy on screen, but Burt Young is a true romantic at heart.

Twenty-two years ago, the Academy Award-nominated actor arrived at LaMotta's Marina in Port Washington. He was living on a boat, originally owned by the Duchess and Duke of Windsor, and was worn-out and sluggish and frustrated.

He instantly fell in love with the town and the marina and the people, and stayed docked for a long time. On nights when it was too cold to sleep on the boat, he stayed at the Garden City Hotel. It was there he met a woman. And the two kept in touch through the years.

"About four years ago, I started realizing that I wanted to be with her," says Young, best known for his role as Paulie in all six of the "Rocky" movies. "And so we're together now, she's my girlfriend, and she has two kids. That's why I came here."

Settling down in Port Washington has allowed Young to channel his inner artist as well. Some of that artistry is currently on display in an exhibit of his work at the Nassau County Museum of Art. The exhibit runs through Oct. 31.

In his art studio located on Main Street, colorful paintings line the walls and stand on easels. He's inspired by "color," "injustice" and "women," and sometimes provoked by a newspaper article or a photograph. Nature and animals are also a running theme.

A massive bright yellow painting called "Murder on Mott Street" stands out.

"It's an enlarged storyboard of a movie," he explains. "If you look, you'll see the lines below the surface, as if it was drawn on a legal pad. It's like one day of shooting."

There's a painting of The Last Supper, where Young made Jesus a woman. In another, he painted smiling elephants, sadly oblivious to the world around them.

"If you look casually at those elephants, you'll see it's an impoverished background, like they are in a drought," explains Young.  "They're being lost, that kind of animal. I meant it as a goodbye."

Memorabilia lines the floor, including a cement cross from one of the buildings that fell during September 11, 2001. There's a New York State Heroism Award from the NYPD Sergeant Benevolent Association, given to him in November 2009, and a signed plaque from Mohammed Ali and George Foreman, dated October 30, 1974, when Ali regained the heavyweight championship title over Foreman.

"[Muhammad] Ali is a friend of mine," says Young. "I used to fight, and I did an exhibition with him. He's the only hero I've ever known. I didn't like him at first because he came in with a big mouth and it wasn't my style. It wasn't anybody's style.

"Then, when I saw what he did politically, I thought, that son of a bitch is something else."

Young's passion for boxing might lie even deeper than his love for art, acting or writing, which is why, at age 70, he still punches the bag from time to time. He's even got one hanging  in his bedroom. And he reminisces on the days when he was in the U.S. Marine Corps and fought 44 amateur fights.  

Young's daughter Anne attended opening night of his exhibit at the Nassau County museum. It's easy to sense a strong father-daughter relationship between the two. Anne brings over a new pair of headphones for her father to try. They wrap around the ear. He listens. It's Kid Rock playing. He likes the band, and he laughs.

"She's my good friend, besides my daughter," he points out. "I love her to death." 

The two share a love of animals, and paintings of Anne's dog Socrates and Young's old dog Madison surround the studio.

"He's an animal lover to the nth degree," Anne says. "We used to bring home animals that we would foster care for, and when we would have to give them back, he would say, 'No, no, you can't.' It would break his heart. He couldn't take it."

Young keeps his art supplies out in the open. Tubes of paint, paintbrushes and a clay figurine that Anne made when she was four, sit on the windowsill.

"I paint standing up, I paint in hotel bathrooms, I paint myself out of my houses," he says. "I'm proficient."

The buzzer rings. It's the FedEx deliveryman. He hands Young a white package. This is a natural occurrence, it seems. Fan mail. Well, sort of.

Young whips out a pocketknife and opens the package. He pulls out a red Everlast boxing glove, a fan letter and a Sharpie marker. Yet another request for an autograph. 

"It's a pain in the neck," he says. "Everything I return I find on eBay for sale. They're all con men. They write for a multi autographing company or something, and next thing I know I see it for $20 on eBay. I don't mind someone hustling me, but I don't really want to be hustled.  I won't sign it. Usually, I don't even open the stuff because then I feel like I have to send it back."

Send it back? Well, it seems this is the just the kind of guy Young is.

"He's a real good guy," says marina and restaurant owner Guy LaMotta, Sr. "He's a gentlemen. He comes down and sits in the restaurant and reads his book. He's very well received in this town. And he goes way back too. And he can take a good joke. He used to put on a captain's hat and I would say, 'Just because you're wearing a captain's hat doesn't mean you can drive the boat.' And he would laugh."

LaMotta's son, Guy LaMotta, Jr., remembers Young training early in the morning sometimes in the marina.

"He would have a sledgehammer and he would toss it around his head and then run with it," he said.

Young – who was born in Corona, Queens under the name Jerry De Louise –enjoys eating out at places in Port Washington, like La Parma, Louie's Oyster Bar & Grille and Toscanini.

"I could walk in five directions and there's decent restaurants," he says. "It's gentle. It's a little too gentle for me. I'm really a Manhattan guy. I like traffic. I like crowds. But of course, my girl is out in Long Island, so I'm stuck."

Well, not really. In a few days, he's taking former Nassau County Executive Tom Gulotta to Rao's for a good meal and a night out, a spillover benefit from the days when he lived in an apartment on top of the famed restaurant.

He's also still acting. Young, who has starred in over 120 films and trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute, will be shooting scenes in early October for  "Win Win," a comedic film with Paul Giamatti.

"I play a guy with dementia," he laughs. "It's perfect. No stretch whatsoever."

So what's his secret to being such a confident actor?

"I do more than memorize the lines," he says. "I memorize the emotion. That's important to me, that I'm not a fake. I find where the author and the actor meet, and I find the buttons. But I can't cheat. I'm a quiet guy really, I'm shy, but not in the characters I play. Because I find buttons they have in them." He says this while poking at his stomach like he is pushing buttons. 

Young has some advice for artists too, especially in difficult times like today, where it can be hard to follow your dream.

"Don't give up," he says. "You have a pursuit, an idea, an image, don't give up. And if you thwart it, go the way you bounce. Keep those feet moving. Productivity doesn't have to be math or chemistry. It could be a breath of air, taking a jog, having a quiet moment. Productivity is when you are productive, not when the world says you are productive."

He continues: "I've had so many different winding paths. Still do. I feel you should run with your thrust, with your desire, with your impulse. But when you come to a wall, don't try to crawl through it. Wherever you bounce, go that way. And then if you run into a quagmire or quicksand, whatever you bounce off of, keep the thrust, keep the vinegar. Don't let a wall stop you."

Young still has dreams, too. Like writing and starring in a one-character play on Broadway. And he's got the title all picked out.

"Artist Found in Port Washington Flat," he says.

Sounds like a success.