Joseph Bologna

Joseph Bologna (December 30, 1934 – August 13, 2017) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter notable for his roles in the comedy films My Favorite Year, Blame It on Rio, Big Daddy, and Transylvania 6-5000.

Life and career Bologna was born in the Parkville section of Brooklyn, New York, to an Italian-American family. He attended St. Rose of Lima school and Brown University, where he majored in art history. Bologna served with the United States Marine Corps. Bologna was hired to produce and direct Manhattan-based TV commercials.

Bologna enjoyed a long run in film and television. His breakthrough film Lovers and Other Strangers adapted with his wife Renée Taylor from a play they co-wrote, was based on the true-life circumstances of organizing a wedding on short notice with the involvement of his Italian extended family and her Jewish clan. Several relatives performed as extras in the final cut. The couple shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. A year later, in 1971, the couple again collaborated to write and perform in the film Made for Each Other.

Bologna stayed close with his old-neighborhood aunts and uncles after becoming successful. Two of them were slightly famous on their own: His Uncle Pat was Blacky the Bootblack, whom Joseph Kennedy credited as his main influence when he sold all of his stock holdings in the summer of 1929 (the market crashed in October); his aunt Pauline was one of the better-known celebrity chefs, working for Jackie Gleason, Burt Reynolds and others.

Bologna's aunt Pauline chastised him for starring in Blame It on Rio (starring Michael Caine), which contained some nudity; Bologna remarked "Blame it on me. It's the last time I invite Aunt Pauline to a film premiere." In 1976, he starred in the television drama What Now, Catherine Curtis? with Lucille Ball. Other film roles for Bologna include: playing the brother of James Caan's widowed protagonist in Neil Simon's 1979 romance Chapter Two portraying the Sid Caesar-based character King Kaiser in the 1982 comedy hit My Favorite Year (which starred Peter O'Toole in the role of drunken film star Alan Swann, modeled after Errol Flynn) as Lenny Koufax, the frustrated father of perpetual slacker Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) in the 1999 comedy Big Daddy

In 1987, Bologna starred in the TV musical sitcom Rags to Riches as Nick Foley, a millionaire mogul turned adoptive father.

He played the mad scientist Dr. Malavaqua in the 1985 comedy Transylvania 6-5000.

From 1996 to 1998, Bologna voiced Inspector Dan Turpin in Superman: The Animated Series. In 2006, he voiced Mr. Start in Ice Age: The Meltdown.

He and his wife Renée Taylor had a son Gabriel. Gabriel became an actor, writer and director, and directed his father in his last film, "Tango Shalom". Taylor and Bologna starred together on stage and on television. Bologna played a love interest for his wife in the episode "Maternal Affairs" of the sitcom The Nanny in the sixth and final season, in which Taylor plays Sylvia, the mother of Fran Drescher's character. He also appeared in the first-season episode "The Gym Teacher" as a famous actor for whom Maxwell Sheffield once interned.

From 2012 until before his death in 2017, Bologna appeared in numerous roles on TV and in motion pictures, including roles on Funny or Die, stage productions, and national commercials.

In 2017, Bologna received the Night of 100 Stars Oscar Gala Lifetime Achievement Award from actor comedian Richard Lewis and his peers to celebrate his 60-year career and to recognize his efforts to save the Motion Picture Home and Hospital in 2012.

Death Bologna died on August 13, 2017, at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, from pancreatic cancer 1973 Cops and Robbers Joe 1974 Mixed Company Pete 1976 The Big Bus Dan Torrance 1979 Chapter Two Leo Schneider Credited as Joe Bologna 1982 My Favorite Year King Kaiser

Blame It on Rio Victor Lyons The Woman in Red Joey 1985 Transylvania 6-5000 Dr. Malavaqua 1989 It Had to Be You Vito Pignoli 1990 Coupe de Ville Uncle Phil 1991 Alligator II: The Mutation David Hodges 1992 Jersey Girl Bennie 1993 Deadly Rivals Anthony Canberra

1994 Night of the Archer Reggie

Love Is All There Is Mike Also director/writer Ringer Goldstein 1997 Heaven Before I Die unknown role Credited as Joe Bologna

Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure P.T. Wynnsocki Direct-to-video Big Daddy Lenny Koufax Blink of an Eye Renfro

Squint Mel Kingman Short film Dying on the Edge Cal Roman 2002 Returning Mickey Stern Mickey Stern Also producer 2003 Red Zone Principal Pugliese Credited as Joe Bologna 2005 Boynton Beach Club Harry 2006 Ice Age: The Meltdown Mr. Start Voice role 2007 Dancing on the Edge Captain Reynolds Short film 2012 Driving Me Crazy: Proof of Concept Martin Brown 2021 Tango Shalom Father Anthony Released posthumously, also writer/producer

Television