Joe Viterelli

Joseph Viterelli (March 10, 1937 – January 28, 2004) was an American actor. He was best known for playing Italian-American mobsters. He gained widespread recognition for portraying Jelly in Analyze This and Analyze That (2002). He played classical guitar but did not tell his friends about it. "They woulda thought I was a sissy", he said. "I used to save my hard-robbed money and sneak off to Carnegie Hall and Broadway theaters."

Viterelli moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s. While living in Malibu, Viterelli became friends with director Leo Penn, who saw the screen possibilities in Viterelli's tough-guy visage.

Acting "(Leo Penn) asked me to be in some movies and TV, but I always declined," said Viterelli. "I said, 'For half my life, I've been keeping a low profile and now you want to put my mug on a 40-foot screen?'" He also appeared in Eraser (1996).

Jelly In 1999, he played Jelly, the menacing yet lovable henchman–confidant to Robert De Niro's anxiety-prone mob boss, in Analyze This (1999), costarring Billy Crystal as De Niro's reluctant psychiatrist.

When he described Viterelli's Jelly character patiently padding about "trying to deal with the disturbing news that his boss is cracking up and seeing a shrink," critic Roger Ebert wrote, "He lends a subtle dimension to the movie; he gives [De Niro's mob boss] a context, and someone who understands him. The comedy here isn't all on the surface, and Viterelli is one reason why."

The sequel, Analyze That, in which Viterelli reprised his role, was his final film.

Viterelli never had an agent or a manager.

Death Viterelli died on January 28, 2004, aged 66, of complications from heart surgery at Valley Hospital in Las Vegas. He was survived by his wife, Catherine, and five children, including his son, the film composer Joseph Vitarelli, who spells his last name differently. One of his children is a lawyer.

Filmography