--- title: Unbroken Movie: Louis Zamperini on the Best Advice He Ever Got description: Louis Zamperini, who inspired the Angelina Jolie-directed film, remembers the 1936 Olympics. canonical: https://time.com/3632414/unbroken-movie-louis-zamperini/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-15T17:00:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:49:54.646Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Man Who Inspired 'Unbroken' Shares the Best Advice He Ever Received og:description: Louis Zamperini remembers the 1936 Olympics og:url: https://time.com/3632414/unbroken-movie-louis-zamperini/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01719a8956b53a12/69876e7c06f2c155ae332d48/unbroken-louis-zamperini.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Angelina Jolie, Louis Zamperini og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Man Who Inspired 'Unbroken' Shares the Best Advice He Ever Received twitter:description: Louis Zamperini remembers the 1936 Olympics twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01719a8956b53a12/69876e7c06f2c155ae332d48/unbroken-louis-zamperini.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch the Man Who Inspired _Unbroken_ Share the Best Advice He Ever Received  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Dec 15, 2014 5:00 PM UTC  Angelina Jolie and the late Louis Zamperini. Angelina Jolie and the late Louis Zamperini.AP  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Dec 15, 2014 5:00 PM UTC Louis Zamperini’s Olympic career was almost derailed by food. The man whose experience as a World War II prisoner of war inspired the new Angelina Jolie-directed film _Unbroken_ was the youngest American athlete to ever qualify for the 5,000 meter race in 1936\. But in an exclusive video premiering on TIME, Zamperini, who died earlier this year at the age of 97, recalls that the luxurious life of Olympic athletes had its challenges: namely, free food. “Louis was a depression child, and he was a poor kid — he had eaten in a restaurant I believe once in his life before the Olympics,” says Laura Hillenbrand, who wrote the book that inspired the movie of the same name. But on the SS Manhattan, which carried the U.S. team to Berlin, Zamperini could eat to his heart’s content. He gained more than a dozen pounds on the voyage, which he says slowed him down during the big race — until advice from his brother inspired a last-minute push. “I remember my brother telling me that one minute of pain was worth a lifetime of glory,” Zamperini recalls. Find out how he finished in the clip, above, and catch _Unbroken_ in theaters on Christmas day. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3632414/unbroken-movie-louis-zamperini/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3632414/unbroken-movie-louis-zamperini/"},"headline":"Watch the Man Who Inspired Unbroken Share the Best Advice He Ever Received","datePublished":"2014-12-15T17:00:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:49:54.646Z","description":"Louis Zamperini remembers the 1936 Olympics: \"A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory\"","url":"https://time.com/3632414/unbroken-movie-louis-zamperini/","keywords":["movies","Angelina Jolie","Unbroken"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01719a8956b53a12/69876e7c06f2c155ae332d48/unbroken-louis-zamperini.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01719a8956b53a12/69876e7c06f2c155ae332d48/unbroken-louis-zamperini.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Angelina Jolie, Louis Zamperini","caption":"Angelina Jolie, Louis Zamperini","creditText":"AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3632414/unbroken-movie-louis-zamperini/","name":"Watch the Man Who Inspired Unbroken Share the Best Advice He Ever Received"}}]}] ```