Danny Aiello
Encyclopedia
Daniel Louis "Danny" Aiello, Jr. (aɪˈɛloʊ; born June 20, 1933) is an American actor
who has appeared in numerous motion pictures, including Once Upon a Time in America
, Ruby
, The Godfather: Part II, Hudson Hawk
, The Purple Rose of Cairo
, Moonstruck
, Léon
, Two Days in the Valley, and Dinner Rush
. He had a pivotal role in the 1989 Spike Lee
film Do the Right Thing
as Salvatore 'Sal' Frangione, the pizzeria owner, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
. Aiello is also known for his role as Don Domenico Clericuzio in the miniseries Mario Puzo's The Last Don.
parents Frances (née
Pietrocova), a seamstress who was a native of Naples, Italy, and Daniel Louis Aiello, Sr., a laborer. Aiello's father deserted the family even though his wife had gone blind. For many years, Aiello had publicly condemned his father's desertion of his children and his blind wife. Aiello reconciled with his father in 1993, but to this day harbors a resentment of his father's conduct. He moved to the South Bronx when he was age 7 and later attended James Monroe High School
. At the age of 16, Aiello lied about his age in order to enlist in the U.S. Army. After serving for three years, he returned to New York City and did various jobs in order to support himself and later his family. Aiello also once served as a union representative for Greyhound bus
workers and was a night club bouncer.
, with Robert DeNiro. Aiello had a walk-on role as small-time hood Tony Rosato in The Godfather Part II
(1974), ad-libbing the famous line "Michael Corleone says hello!" during a hit on a rival gangster Frank Pentangeli
(Michael V. Gazzo
).
In 1980, Aiello had a co-lead role with Jan Michael Vincent in Defiance
, about some Manhattan residents who fight back against the thugs terrorizing the neighborhood. He received considerable acclaim for playing a racist New York City cop in Fort Apache the Bronx (1981) with Paul Newman
.
He was paired with DeNiro again for the 1984 Sergio Leone
gangster epic, Once Upon a Time in America
, as a police chief whose name was also "Aiello." His many film appearances included three for director Woody Allen
, who cast him in The Purple Rose of Cairo
, Broadway Danny Rose
and Radio Days
.
Although his characters have often been vulgar and violent, Aiello has also portrayed sensitive, kindly men with an earthy sense of humor. He gained recognition as the befuddled fiance of Cher
opposite her Oscar-winning performance in the romantic comedy Moonstruck
(1987), and the actor made a comic appearance in drag
for the Robert Altman
fashion-industry film Prêt-à-Porter
. He also had sympathetic roles in the 1990 horror thriller Jacob's Ladder
and the 1991 comedy-drama 29th Street
. In the early 1990s film The Professional, Aiello had a small cameo role as a nefarious cafe owner who assigns jobs to a hitman, played by Jean Reno
.
He played nightclub owner and Lee Harvey Oswald
assassin Jack Ruby
in the 1992 biopic Ruby
and a political bigshot with mob ties in City Hall
, starring Al Pacino
.
Aiello's singing has been on display in films such as Hudson Hawk
, Once Around
; and Remedy that starred his son Ricky Aiello and Jonathan Doscher
. He has released several albums featuring a big-band sound including "I Just Wanted To Hear The Words" from 2004 and "Live From Atlantic City" from 2008. Aiello and EMI
songwriter Hasan Johnson are releasing an album in 2009 of standards fused with rap entitled "Bridges."
In 1981 Danny Aiello won a Daytime Emmy award
for his appearance in an ABC Afterschool Special
called A Family of Strangers.
He played the title character for the video of Madonna
's song, "Papa Don't Preach
."
Aiello's Broadway theatre
credits include Gemini
, The Floating Light Bulb
, Hurlyburly
, and The House of Blue Leaves
. He also was in the 1976 Broadway play Wheelbarrow Closers
, which was directed by Paul Sorvino
.
In July, 2011, opened Off Broadway in the two-act drama "The Shoemaker," written by Susan Charlotte and directed by Antony Marsellis. The play is a stage version of his 2006 movie A Broken Sole
, which began life in 2001 as a one-act play.
, for many years. He later moved to Saddle River, New Jersey
. He is the father of stuntman
/actor
Danny Aiello III
, who died May 1, 2010 of pancreatic cancer, and Rick Aiello.
His nephew is Michael Kay, announcer for the New York Yankees
.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who has appeared in numerous motion pictures, including Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime...
, Ruby
Ruby (film)
Ruby is a feature film, released in the United States on March 27, 1992, about Jack Ruby, the Dallas, Texas nightclub owner who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement garage of a Dallas city police station in 1963. The film was directed by John Mackenzie and stars Danny Aiello , Sherilyn...
, The Godfather: Part II, Hudson Hawk
Hudson Hawk
Hudson Hawk is a 1991 American action comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann. Bruce Willis stars in the title role and also co-wrote the story. Danny Aiello, Andie MacDowell, James Coburn, David Caruso, Lorraine Toussaint, Frank Stallone, Sandra Bernhard, and Richard E...
, The Purple Rose of Cairo
The Purple Rose of Cairo
The Purple Rose of Cairo is a 1985 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. Inspired by Sherlock, Jr., Hellzapoppin, and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, it is the tale of a film character who leaves a fictional film of the same name and enters the real...
, Moonstruck
Moonstruck
Moonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. It stars Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, and Olympia Dukakis....
, Léon
Léon (film)
Léon is a 1994 French thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson...
, Two Days in the Valley, and Dinner Rush
Dinner Rush
Dinner Rush is an independent feature film, written by Brian S. Kalata and Rick Shaughnessy. Directed by Bob Giraldi. It stars Danny Aiello as a restaurateur-bookmaker in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood and Edoardo Ballerini as his son, the restaurant's star chef...
. He had a pivotal role in the 1989 Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
film Do the Right Thing
Do the Right Thing
Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American dramedy produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee, who is also a featured actor in the film. Other members of the cast include Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, and John Turturro. It is also notably the...
as Salvatore 'Sal' Frangione, the pizzeria owner, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
. Aiello is also known for his role as Don Domenico Clericuzio in the miniseries Mario Puzo's The Last Don.
Early life
Aiello, the second youngest of six children, was born in Manhattan, the son of Italian AmericanItalian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
parents Frances (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Pietrocova), a seamstress who was a native of Naples, Italy, and Daniel Louis Aiello, Sr., a laborer. Aiello's father deserted the family even though his wife had gone blind. For many years, Aiello had publicly condemned his father's desertion of his children and his blind wife. Aiello reconciled with his father in 1993, but to this day harbors a resentment of his father's conduct. He moved to the South Bronx when he was age 7 and later attended James Monroe High School
James Monroe High School (New York)
For schools with a similar name, see James Monroe High School.James Monroe High School was a comprehensive high school located at 1300 Boynton Avenue and E 172nd Street in the Soundview section of the Bronx....
. At the age of 16, Aiello lied about his age in order to enlist in the U.S. Army. After serving for three years, he returned to New York City and did various jobs in order to support himself and later his family. Aiello also once served as a union representative for Greyhound bus
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
workers and was a night club bouncer.
Career
Aiello broke into films in the early 1970s. One of his earliest roles came as a ballplayer in the 1973 baseball drama, Bang the Drum SlowlyBang the Drum Slowly
Bang the Drum Slowly is a novel by Mark Harris, a sequel to The Southpaw . It was first published in 1956, and was later made into a 1956 U.S...
, with Robert DeNiro. Aiello had a walk-on role as small-time hood Tony Rosato in The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
(1974), ad-libbing the famous line "Michael Corleone says hello!" during a hit on a rival gangster Frank Pentangeli
Frank Pentangeli
Francesco "Frankie Five Angels" Pentangeli is a fictional character from the film The Godfather Part II. In the film, he was portrayed by Michael V. Gazzo, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance, which he lost to Robert De Niro, his co-star from the same film...
(Michael V. Gazzo
Michael V. Gazzo
Michael Vincenzo Gazzo was an American Broadway playwright who later in life became a film and television actor....
).
In 1980, Aiello had a co-lead role with Jan Michael Vincent in Defiance
Defiance (1980 film)
Defiance is a 1980 American film starring Jan-Michael Vincent, Art Carney, and Theresa Saldana.Early Jerry Bruckheimer production. Jan-Michael Vincent portrays a suspended young seaman who takes up temporary housing in a neighborhood overrun by a gang, while waiting for his next orders to ship out....
, about some Manhattan residents who fight back against the thugs terrorizing the neighborhood. He received considerable acclaim for playing a racist New York City cop in Fort Apache the Bronx (1981) with Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
.
He was paired with DeNiro again for the 1984 Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
gangster epic, Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime...
, as a police chief whose name was also "Aiello." His many film appearances included three for director Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
, who cast him in The Purple Rose of Cairo
The Purple Rose of Cairo
The Purple Rose of Cairo is a 1985 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. Inspired by Sherlock, Jr., Hellzapoppin, and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, it is the tale of a film character who leaves a fictional film of the same name and enters the real...
, Broadway Danny Rose
Broadway Danny Rose
Broadway Danny Rose is a 1984 American black-and-white comedy film written, directed by and starring Woody Allen. It was screened out of competition at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.- Plot :...
and Radio Days
Radio Days
Radio Days is a 1987 comedy film directed by Woody Allen. The film looks back on an American family's life during the Golden Age of Radio using both music and memories to tell the story.-Plot:...
.
Although his characters have often been vulgar and violent, Aiello has also portrayed sensitive, kindly men with an earthy sense of humor. He gained recognition as the befuddled fiance of Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
opposite her Oscar-winning performance in the romantic comedy Moonstruck
Moonstruck
Moonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. It stars Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, and Olympia Dukakis....
(1987), and the actor made a comic appearance in drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
for the Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
fashion-industry film Prêt-à-Porter
Prêt-à-Porter (film)
Prêt-à-Porter is a 1994 American satirical black comedy film co-written, directed, and produced by Robert Altman and shot during the Paris, France, Fashion Week with a host of international stars, models and designers...
. He also had sympathetic roles in the 1990 horror thriller Jacob's Ladder
Jacob's Ladder (film)
Jacob's Ladder is a 1990 American psychological thriller/horror film directed by Adrian Lyne, based on a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin.-Plot:Jacob Singer is a U.S. soldier deployed in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War...
and the 1991 comedy-drama 29th Street
29th street
29th Street may refer to:*Twenty Ninth Street *Twenty Ninth Street *29th Street - a 1991 film by George Gallo...
. In the early 1990s film The Professional, Aiello had a small cameo role as a nefarious cafe owner who assigns jobs to a hitman, played by Jean Reno
Jean Reno
Jean Reno is a French actor. Working in French, English, Spanish and Italian, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, Ronin and Couples Retreat, but also in European productions such as the...
.
He played nightclub owner and Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
assassin Jack Ruby
Jack Ruby
Jacob Leon Rubenstein , who legally changed his name to Jack Leon Ruby in 1947, was convicted of the November 24, 1963 murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Ruby, who was originally from Chicago, Illinois, was then a nightclub operator in Dallas, Texas...
in the 1992 biopic Ruby
Ruby (film)
Ruby is a feature film, released in the United States on March 27, 1992, about Jack Ruby, the Dallas, Texas nightclub owner who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement garage of a Dallas city police station in 1963. The film was directed by John Mackenzie and stars Danny Aiello , Sherilyn...
and a political bigshot with mob ties in City Hall
City Hall (film)
City Hall is a 1996 film directed by Harold Becker. Al Pacino and John Cusack star as the Mayor of New York and his idealistic deputy mayor....
, starring Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
.
Aiello's singing has been on display in films such as Hudson Hawk
Hudson Hawk
Hudson Hawk is a 1991 American action comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann. Bruce Willis stars in the title role and also co-wrote the story. Danny Aiello, Andie MacDowell, James Coburn, David Caruso, Lorraine Toussaint, Frank Stallone, Sandra Bernhard, and Richard E...
, Once Around
Once Around
Once Around is a 1991 romantic comedy-drama film about a young woman who falls for and eventually marries an overbearing older man who proceeds to rub her close-knit family the wrong way...
; and Remedy that starred his son Ricky Aiello and Jonathan Doscher
Jonathan Doscher
Jon Doscher is an American independent film producer and actor. His popular works are: This Thing of Ours, Remedy, 4CHOSEN: The Documentary and Harry: A Communication Breakdown....
. He has released several albums featuring a big-band sound including "I Just Wanted To Hear The Words" from 2004 and "Live From Atlantic City" from 2008. Aiello and EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
songwriter Hasan Johnson are releasing an album in 2009 of standards fused with rap entitled "Bridges."
In 1981 Danny Aiello won a Daytime Emmy award
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...
for his appearance in an ABC Afterschool Special
ABC Afterschool Special
The ABC Afterschool Special is an American television anthology series that aired on ABC from 1972 to 1996, usually in the late afternoon on week days. Most of the episodes were dramatic presentations of situations, often controversial, of interest to children and teenagers. Several episodes were...
called A Family of Strangers.
He played the title character for the video of Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
's song, "Papa Don't Preach
Papa Don't Preach
"Papa Don't Preach" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The song was written by Brian Elliot with additional lyrics by Madonna, and produced by Stephen Bray and Madonna for her third studio album True Blue, released in June 1986...
."
Aiello's Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
credits include Gemini
Gemini (play)
Gemini is a play by Albert Innaurato.-Plot:Set in the backyard of a blue collar South Philadelphia neighborhood early in the summer of 1973, the comedy-drama focuses on the 21st birthday celebration of Harvard student Francis Geminiani...
, The Floating Light Bulb
The Floating Light Bulb
The Floating Light Bulb is a 1981 Broadway play by Woody Allen. Semi-autobiographical, it focuses on a lower middle class family living in Canarsie, Brooklyn in 1945.-Plot:...
, Hurlyburly
Hurlyburly
Hurlyburly is a dark comedy play by David Rabe, first staged in 1984.-Plot:More than three hours long, Hurlyburly focuses on the intersecting lives of several low- to mid-level Hollywood players in the 1980s. Fueled by massive amounts of drugs, they attempt to find some meaning in their isolated,...
, and The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1966 by Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut....
. He also was in the 1976 Broadway play Wheelbarrow Closers
Wheelbarrow Closers
Wheelbarrow Closers is a 1976 play written by Louis La Russo II. The show opened at the Bijou Theatre on October 11, 1976 and closed on October 16, 1976 after 8 performances.-Original Production:...
, which was directed by Paul Sorvino
Paul Sorvino
Paul Anthony Sorvino is an American actor. He often portrays authority figures on both sides of the law, and is possibly best known for his roles as Paulie Cicero, a portrayal of Paul Vario in the film Goodfellas and Sgt. Phil Cerreta on the police procedural and legal drama television series Law...
.
In July, 2011, opened Off Broadway in the two-act drama "The Shoemaker," written by Susan Charlotte and directed by Antony Marsellis. The play is a stage version of his 2006 movie A Broken Sole
A Broken Sole
A Broken Sole is a 2007 trilogy of short films directed by Antony Marsellis and written by Susan Charlotte, dealing with 9/11.Plot=Based on three short plays by Susan Charlotte, the film follows the lives of six characters: a shoemaker and his customer, a cabbie and his passenger, and a dyslexic...
, which began life in 2001 as a one-act play.
Personal life
Aiello lived in Ramsey, New JerseyRamsey, New Jersey
Ramsey is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located northwest of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 14,473....
, for many years. He later moved to Saddle River, New Jersey
Saddle River, New Jersey
Saddle River is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 3,152. Saddle River has the second-highest per-capita income in the state...
. He is the father of stuntman
Stuntman
A stuntman or stunt performer is someone who performs dangerous stunts.Stuntman may also refer to:*The Stunt Man, a 1980 film starring Peter O'Toole*Stuntman , a 2002 video game**Stuntman: Ignition, its sequel...
/actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Danny Aiello III
Danny Aiello III
Danny Aiello III was a stunt performer, stunt coordinator, director, and actor in film and television. He was the son of actor Danny Aiello.-Death:...
, who died May 1, 2010 of pancreatic cancer, and Rick Aiello.
His nephew is Michael Kay, announcer for the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
.