Alex Rocco (born February 29, 1936) is an American
actor. His roles have ranged from
comedy to playing gangsters in
Mafia movies.
Early life
Rocco was
born Alexander Federico Petricone, Jr. in Cambridge,
Massachusetts
but raised in Somerville, Massachusetts
, the son of Mary (née Di Biase; October 1909 - August
1978) and Alexander Sam Petricone.
He moved
to California
in 1962 and began using the name Alex Rocco.
He first
worked as a bartender in Santa Monica,
California
and took acting lessons from actor Leonard Nimoy, a fellow Boston native.
Nimoy was not impressed with Rocco's heavy
Boston accent and told him to take speech
lessons. Rocco followed through with Nimoy's instructions and after
ridding himself of the accent came back to study under Nimoy and
character actor and teacher
Jeff
Corey.
Career
Rocco played the part of
Moe Greene, a
Las Vegas casino owner, in the film
The Godfather. Greene's character
represented the top Jewish mobster in the United States. He also
played a gangster in the film
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
about the Boston
Irish Mob. Other notable
movies in which Rocco has appeared include
The Wedding Planner, as Salvatore
and appeared uncredited in
Smokin'
Aces. He also played a small part in the
Disney/
Pixar
film,
A Bug's Life as Thorny.
In the film
That Thing You
Do!, Rocco played Sol Siler, the founder of
Playtone Records.
He also has a recurring part in the long running animated series
The Simpsons as the head of
Itchy and Scratchy Studios,
Roger
Meyers, Jr.. In DVD commentaries, Rocco has expressed true
gratitude to
The Simpsons' staff for allowing him his
first voiceover role. He has also taken a part on an episode of
Family Guy (in the episode
"
Mind Over Murder", he had a
memorable role as the masculine woman) and he is known for having
played Charlie Polniaczek, Jo's father on
The Facts of Life. From
1989 to 1990, Rocco was a regular on the television comedy series
The Famous Teddy Z in
which he played "Al Floss", a slick cheesy Hollywood talent agent
and foil to
Jon Cryer in the title role,
an ex-mailroom clerk turned superagent. Rocco received an
Emmy Award as
Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for this role. In
1997, he appeared (along with
Rodney
Dangerfield) in the annual Thanksgiving episode of the
ABC sitcom
Home Improvement.
In 2008, he starred in Audi's
Super Bowl commercial for the
Audi R8 supercar. The commercial was
inspired by one of the films Rocco was in:
The Godfather.
He portrays a rich man who finds the front fascia of his luxury car
in his bed, a nod to the scene from the original movie in which
Jack Woltz, a rich movie producer, finds
the head of his prized racehorse in his bed.
Personal life
After moving to Los Angeles, Rocco became a member of the
Bahá'à Faith. He married Sandra
Elaine Garrett (September 1, 1942 - June 12, 2002) on March 24,
1964. He adopted her son, director
Marc
Rocco (June 19, 1962 - May 1, 2009). They had a son Lucien, and
a daughter Jennifer. Sandra died of
cancer,
aged 59. Rocco married Shannon Wilcox on October 15, 2005.
Selected filmography
References
- Alex Rocco Biography (1936-)
- AdRants Audi's Godfather Ad Powerful,
Stellar, Captivating
- Social Security Death Index
- Marc Rocco dies at 46; filmmaker directed 'Where
the Day Takes You'
- Obituary Sandie Rocco Copyright Coastal View
(Carpinteria Valley, CA, USA) 2002
External links
Wikis
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