Alex Rocco

Alex Rocco (born Alessandro Federico Petricone Jr.; February 29, 1936 – July 18, 2015) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive, gravelly voice, he was often cast as villains, including Moe Greene in The Godfather and his Primetime Emmy Award–winning role in The Famous Teddy Z. Rocco did a significant amount of voice-over work later in his career. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1936, and raised in nearby Somerville, the son of an Italian immigrant, Mary (née DiBiase; 1909–1978) and Alessandro Sam Petricone (1896–1949), a native of Gaeta, Italy. Rocco served in the National Guard during the Korean War.

Criminal activity and arrests In January 1960, Rocco—then known as Alexander F. Petricone—was one of 28 persons indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury in a gambling case, and in September 1961, he was arrested along with James McLean and others on charges related to an assault on the owner of a diner in Somerville, and the wrecking of his establishment, the previous August.

Petricone was arrested in Charlestown on October 31, 1961, along with McLean on suspicion of murder following the death of Bernie McLaughlin of the Charlestown Mob, the first murder of the war. He was working as a bartender.

A witness claimed that Petricone was the driver of the getaway car, and he and McLean were formally charged in the slaying on November 1, 1961. Petricone and McLean were released after a grand jury found a lack of evidence, but both served a prison term for the diner wrecking. In 1962, while Petricone was in prison, his wife's car was bombed. Police believed the bomb was intended for Howie Winter, head of the Winter Hill Gang, who had driven the car to her earlier.

Acting career After completing his prison term for the diner assault, Petricone and his wife divorced and he moved to California. He later recounted, "I had to get out of Boston, so I flipped a coin and said 'Heads, Miami, tails, California'." He began taking acting lessons from actor Leonard Nimoy, a fellow Boston native. Nimoy worked with him to eliminate his heavy Boston accent and had him take speech lessons. Rocco followed through with Nimoy's instructions, and started working in the film industry, adopting the name "Alex Rocco" after seeing "Rocco" on a bakery truck.

His first film role was in Russ Meyer's Motorpsycho! in 1965. Another Winter Hill Gang member who met with Mitchum was Johnny Martorano, who had murdered Billy O'Brien, a low-level gangster.

In the fall of 1975, Rocco starred as Pete Karras in Three for the Road. In the long-running, 1980s TV series The Facts of Life, Rocco played Charlie Polniaczek, Jo's father. In 1989, he played Gus Keller in the Corey Feldman and Corey Haim movie Dream a Little Dream. In the period 1989–90, Rocco was a regular on the television comedy series The Famous Teddy Z as Al Floss, a Hollywood talent agent. He received an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for this role in 1990. In 1995, Rocco appeared as Jimmy Capp, a Miami mob boss, in the John Travolta mob comedy, Get Shorty. In 1997, he appeared, along with Rodney Dangerfield and others, in the annual Thanksgiving episode of the ABC sitcom Home Improvement.

In the 1996 film That Thing You Do!, Rocco had a cameo part as Sol Siler, the founder of Playtone Records, a performance that was rated by The Observer'''s critic as his "favorite [part] in the movie." Rocco appeared as Salvatore in the 2001 film The Wedding Planner, and (uncredited) in the action thriller Smokin' Aces.

Rocco had a recurring voiceover part in the long-running animated series The Simpsons as the head of Itchy and Scratchy Studios, Roger Meyers Jr. In the DVD commentaries, Rocco expressed true gratitude to The Simpsons staff for allowing him his first voiceover role. He did further voice work on two early episodes of the Fox hit sitcom, Family Guy and on the 1998 Disney/Pixar film A Bug's Life. He deemed the latter to have been his "greatest prize in life," since he was paid $1 million to record eight lines. He was also featured on the Starz cable channel's crime-drama series, Magic City. His last role was in the 2010s BBC2 TV series Episodes'', playing the "curmudgeonly" father of Matt LeBlanc's character.

Personal life His first marriage was to Grace Petricone, and they had one daughter.

After moving to Los Angeles, Rocco became a member of the Baháʼí Faith, and he appeared in a number of productions related to the religion over the years. He also thanked Baháʼu'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith, in his Emmy Award acceptance speech.

After moving to California, he married Sandra Elaine in 1964. He adopted her son, Marc King, who became known as Marc Rocco.

Rocco married Shannon Wilcox, on October 15, 2005.

Death Alex Rocco died on July 18, 2015, from pancreatic cancer in his Studio City home, at the age of 79.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1965 Motorpsycho Cory Maddox 1967 Diamond 1968 Detective at Apartment of Victim #10 Uncredited 1970 Blood Mania Lawyer 1971 Wild Riders Stick 1971 Brute Corps Wicks 1972 Moe Greene 1972 Stanley Richard Thomkins 1973 Bonnie's Kids Eddy 1973 The Outside Man Miller 1973 Slither Man with Ice Cream 1973 Jimmy Scalise 1973 Detroit 9000 Lieutenant Danny Bassett 1974 Three the Hard Way Lt. Di Nisco 1974 Freebie and the Bean D.A. 1975 Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins Vinnie 1975 A Woman for All Men Lt. Robert Di Biase 1975 Hearts of the West Earl 1977 Fire Sale Al 1978 Rabbit Test Sergeant Danny Bonhoff 1979 Voices Frank Rothman 1980 Herbie Goes Bananas Quinn 1980 Police Chief Jake 1981 Nobody's Perfekt The Boss 1982 Jerry Anderson 1984 Cannonball Run II Tony 1985 Stick Firestone 1985 Gotcha! Al 1985 Stiffs Pasquale 1987 P.K. and the Kid Les 1987 Return to Horror High Harry Sleerik 1987 Scenes from the Goldmine Nathan DiAngelo 1988 Lady in White Angelo "Al" Scarlatti 1989 Dream a Little Dream Gus Keller 1989 Wired Arnie Fromson 1990 How to Murder a Millionaire Walter Newman 1991 Cardinal Rocco 1992 Boris and Natasha: The Movie Sheldon Kaufman 1995 The Flight of the Dove Bartender 1995 Get Shorty Jimmy Cap Uncredited 1996 That Thing You Do! Sol Siler 1996 Dead of Night Bukowski 1997 Just Write Mr. McMurphy 1998 Goodbye Lover Detective Crowley 1998 A Bug's Life Thorny Voice 1999 Dudley Do-Right Kumquat Chief 2000 Poker Player #6 2001 Salvatore Fiore 2001 Face to Face Phil 2002 Rip Holland 2003 Vernon Cray 2005 Crazylove Uncle Cort 2006 Find Me Guilty Nick Calabrese 2006 Jam Mick 2006 Smokin' Aces Serna 2009 Ready or Not Don Julio 2010 Now Here Mr. Martin 2011 Batman: Year One Carmine Falcone Voice 2011 And They're Off Saul Youngerman 2012 The House Across the Street Mr. Barnes 2014 Scammerhead Ben Sarnus 2016 Silver Skies FrankPosthumous release 2017 Don't Sleep Mr. Marino Posthumous release; Final film role

Television