Raymond Castellani
Encyclopedia
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
on February 13, 1933. He is a former character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
, Skid Row
Skid row
A skid row or skid road is a run-down or dilapidated urban area with a large, impoverished population. The term originally referred literally to a path along which working men skidded logs. Its current sense appears to have originated in the Pacific Northwest...
alcoholic, and from humble beginnings in 1987, the founder of the Frontline Foundation
Frontline Foundation
The Frontline Foundation, located in downtown Los Angeles, California, is a non-profit charity organization that serves emergency meals to people on Skid Row. As of July 2006, it has served over 860,000 meals...
, which serves meals to the homeless on the Los Angeles Skid Row.
In 1995, Castellani received the Presidential Citizens Medal
Presidential Citizens Medal
The Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest civilian award in the United States, second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is awarded by the President of the United States, and may be given posthumously....
from President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
at a White House ceremony. During the early 1990s, President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
included Castellani among his "thousand points of light
Thousand points of light
The Thousand points of light was a recurring phrase in speeches given by George H. W. Bush. The term was coined by speechwriter Peggy Noonan. In his inaugural address on January 20, 1989, Bush said:...
."
Castellani attended The Albany Academy
The Albany Academy
The Albany Academy is an independent college preparatory day school for boys in Albany, New York, USA, enrolling students from Preschool to Grade 12. It was established in 1813 by a charter signed by Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer and the city council of Albany...
, class of 1952. Upon graduation, he spent a semester at Springfield College
Springfield College
Springfield College is a private, coeducational university located in the City of Springfield, Massachusetts. Springfield College is most famous as the site where the sport of basketball was invented...
. During this time he received a draft notice, and then served as a Marine
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Castellani acted in numerous plays, television shows, and films, including
Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, Lawman
Lawman (tv series)
Lawman is an American Western television series originally telecast from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay on the ABC Television Network. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during the mid to late 1870s. Warner Bros....
, and Dragnet. Often he played villains. As Castellani's alcoholism increased, his career suffered and his acting skills eroded. Despite this, he appeared in television shows such as Emergency!
Emergency!
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...
, Simon and Simon, Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
, The Dakotas
The Dakotas (TV series)
The Dakotas is an American Western television series starring Larry Ward and featuring Jack Elam broadcast by ABC during 1963. The short-lived show is a spin-off of Cheyenne,...
, Temple Houston
Temple Houston (TV series)
Temple Houston is a 1963–64 NBC television series which has been called "the first attempt . . . to produce an hour-long Western series with the main character being an attorney in the formal sense." It was the only show Jack Webb sold to a network during his ten months as the head of production at...
, Night Gallery
Night Gallery
Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although...
, Kojak
Kojak
Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...
, Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (TV series)
Planet of the Apes was a short-lived American science fiction television series that aired on Friday evenings at 8:00 PM Eastern/7:00 PM Central on CBS in 1974. The series starred Roddy McDowall, Ron Harper, and James Naughton, Mark Lenard and Booth Colman...
, McNaughton's Daughter, Judd for the Defense, The D.A., Sam
Sam
-People:*Samuel , includes a list of people known as "Sam"*Samantha*Sām, a Persian folk hero, whose name means 'very dark'*Sam , the third son of Lehi and elder brother to the prophet Nephi-Animals:...
, Mobile One
Mobile One (TV series)
Mobile One was an American television series that aired on the ABC network from September 12 to December 29, 1975. The show was a production of Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited for Universal Television....
, Quincy
Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC...
, The Redd Foxx Show
The Redd Foxx Show
The Redd Foxx Show is a short-lived sitcom that premiered January 18, 1986 on ABC. The show ended after four months on air.-Overview:It followed the life of Al Hughes , a New York City newsstand owner who adopted a "street-wise" teenager named Toni...
, Lucan
Lucan (TV series)
The television drama Lucan aired on ABC from 1977 to 1978. The core cast was Kevin Brophy, John Randolph, and Don Gordon.A 20-year old man spent the first 10 years of his life running wild in the forest after being raised by wolves. Lucan is taken to a research institute and taught the ways of...
, Turnabout
Turnabout (TV series)
Turnabout is a television situation comedy that first aired on NBC in 1979, and was based on a 1931 novel of the same name by Thorne Smith...
, General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
, CHiPs
CHiPs
CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
, Riker
Riker
There are a number of people called Riker:* William T. Riker, a fictional character in the Star Trek saga** Kyle Riker, father to the fictional William Riker** Thomas Riker, a fictional twin of William Riker in Star Trek...
, Oklahoma City Dolls, and Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...
.
In New York, he appeared in plays such as The Curious Savage, Hat Full of Rain, The Rain Maker, What Makes Sammy Run, and Light Up the Sky.
During the 1970s, Castellani occasionally found himself homeless on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Castellani returned to acting in the 1980s, but quit to found the Frontline Foundation in 1987. As of January 2011, he continues to operate this charity.
In 2008, Castellani released an autobiography titled, The End Was But A Beginning: A True Story. In his own words:
started 2004 - ended 2008 - four years in the making - I was directed to write this story by a power much greater than I - never having read a book - unable to type - or spell - I began to write - the words came - they just flowed - the story began to unfold - a childhood filled with tears - with loneliness - the love from a grandfather - a godfather - the knowledge later on in life - from my dead father how much he loved me - the lonely path I traveled for a life time - the fight for equality at a young age - the transformation from an alcohol drenched body - to becoming a servant of the Master - to follow four principals - Honest - Purity - Unselfishness - Love - to come to a point in life - where there are no mountains to climb - nor valleys to flounder in - to find peace in His Will. I was born 1933 - Raymond Jay Johnston Jr. - Albany New York - at the age four and one half - I was put in an orphanage - near New York City - spent three and one half years there - ran away from the second orphanage I was put in - up state New York - lived with my Grandfather for three and one half years - stayed at times - with my Godfather - he was a member of the Black Hand - the Black Hand preceded the Mafia - started to drink as a little boy - could not read - spell - or write - for a long time - flunked two grades before the fourth grade - excelled in sports - drank more as a teenager - did graduate high school 1952 - at the bottom of the class - three years in the Marine Corp - started an acting career in New York - came to Hollywood 1959 - career going well - drinking also going well.