In a documentary on the making of Do the Right Thing, Aiello said that he based his character of Sal on a candy shop owner he knew growing up along Arthur Avenue in The Bronx. I suppose I could say acting is medicinal. He took a crack at starring in a TV series, playing a cop-turned-private eye, but CBSDellaventuralasted just 14 episodes in 1997-98. Aiello died at a New Jersey medical facility while undergoing treatment for a sudden illness, TMZ reports. I am sad. Dec. 13, 2019 8:16 AM PT. HOLLYWOOD actor Danny Aiello has died at the age of 86. De Niro wrote, "I am very saddened to hear of Danny's passing. 8:09 AM PT -- A rep for Danny's family tells us, "It is with profound sorrow to report that Danny Aiello, beloved husband, father, grandfather, actor and musician passed away last night after a . Danny was 86 years old at the time of death. He won the role after establishing himself as a memorable character actor in films like Moonstruck (1987), in which he played Chers kind but clueless fianc; Fort Apache: The Bronx (1981), as a ruthless police officer who throws a young man off a rooftop; Sergio Leones Once Upon a Time in America (1984), also as a police officer; and three films involving Woody Allen. In 1967, he presided over an unsanctioned wildcat strike when the company changed bus driver schedules. / CBS/AP. [5], At the age of 16, Aiello lied about his age to enlist in the United States Army. I hate to admit it but I became a part-time thief. He was 86. Danny Aiello, who starred in "Do the Right Thing" among dozens of other films over a career that spanned nearly 50 years, has died, his family confirmed Friday. Danny was a Great Actor, But a Genius Comedic Actor. Danny was a great actor, but a genius comedic actor. In 2019 he could be seen in Making A Deal With The Devil and The Last Big Save. (When ABCsNaked Citycame there for an episode in 1963, actor Frank Gorshin told Aiello to bump into him so he would show up on TV.). I have known him for almost 50 years. At 71, the performer found himself on stage again, this time as a solo vocalist. His literary agent Jennifer De Chiara told USA Today: "The world has lost one of its greatest actors who also happened to be a wonderful human being. Date of Death: December 12, 2019. But at age 52 . He was 86. A statement from Aiellos family said that a private funeral service would be forthcoming. Published on December 13, 2019 12:11 PM. Danny died in December 2019 at 86 at a New Jersey hospital, where he was being treated for an infection related to an injection. Goodbye Johnny Cammareri. Actor Michael Rapaport tweeted that Aiello was a "huge inspiration," and actor Kirk Acevedo said, "We lost a great actor today. See Danny Aiello full list of movies and tv shows from their career. Actor: Do the Right Thing. He also became a union official but lost his job after a wildcat strike, reducing him to pool-hall hustling and eventually to burglary to feed his growing family. If you change your mind, go to Notifications in the menu to enable browser notifications. . "This is my pizzeria!" You got me making pizzas, flipping them in the air, thats a very ginzo thing, he told the writer-director. It hurts me that he didnt paint me on one of his canvases, he said in a 2017 interview. In a tweet, Cher mourned the man she called "a genius comedic actor." Anyone can read what you share. Jim Cooper/Associated Press. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Aiello' He played Tony in the movie Leon and also starred alongside Cher in Moonstruck. He was 86. [21], He played the father for the video of Madonna's song, "Papa Don't Preach" (1986), and recorded his own answer song, "Papa Wants the Best for You", written by Artie Schroeck. He released several albums with a big band sound including "Live from Atlantic City" in 2008. Aiello died Thursday night after a brief illness, said his publicist, Tracey Miller, who runs Tracey Miller & Associates. Prior to Aiello taking the role, director Spike Lee had wanted Robert DeNiro for the part. Danny also appeared in Madonna's music video for Papa Don't Preach. Find where to watch Danny Aiello's latest movies and tv shows Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Mr. Aiello married Sandy Cohen, a girl from his Bronx neighborhood, in 1955. Danny, fr In addition to the initial issue, he was battling an infection related to his treatment. [11] In the mid-1980s, he was a nightly regular at Caf Central, a bistro frequented by celebrities on 79th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, in Manhattan, and at an eatery named Columbus restaurant on 66th Street and Columbus Avenue. Dec. 13, 2019. After three years in the service, he worked at several factory jobs, landing as a baggage man at Greyhound. One of six kids, Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. was born in New York City on June 20, 1933. Danny Aiello III - Biography Danny Aiello III (January 27, 1957 - May 1, 2010) was an American stunt performer, stunt coordinator, director, and actor in film and television. [16], Aiello played the pizzeria owner Sal in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989). The star passed away shortly after his family left his bedside at a New Jersey hospital on December 12, 2019. Frank Rich, critic from The New York Times gave the play a mild review, writing "there are a few laughs, a few well-wrought characters, and, in Act II, a beautifully written scene that leads to a moving final curtain". Actor Rick Aiello, son of the late actor Danny Aiello, died Monday after his battle with pancreatic cancer, according to a press release from public relations company Tracey . He was 86. I did a few movies in Canada, and I consider myself a turncoat for doing it.. "There was a little bantering between acts, and I kept that short. Danny was married to his . We laughed so much making #Moonstruck. Rick Aiello, an actor who appeared in films including Do the Right Thing, Harlem Nights and A Brooklyn State of Mind alongside his father, the late Oscar-nominated actor Danny Aiello, has died.He . USA TODAY. [17] The role earned him nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor Motion Picture and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, while the film critics' associations of Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles each named him best supporting actor.[18]. Danny Aiello Photofest. A fourth son, stuntman and stunt coordinator Danny Aiello III, died in May 2010 of pancreatic cancer. He appeared in numerous motion pictures, including The Godfather Part II (1974), The Front (1976), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Hide in Plain Sight (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Moonstruck (1987), Harlem Nights (1989), Do the Right Thing (1989), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Hudson Hawk (1991), Ruby (1992), Lon: The Professional (1994), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), Dinner Rush (2000), and Lucky Number Slevin (2006). Aiello is . Aiello, who didnt start acting until he was 35, often played loathsome types, as in Woody AllensThe Purple Rose of Cairo(1985), where he starred as Mia Farrows gruff, drunken husband. In "Fort Apache, the Bronx," when you can't see Danny, it's his son throwing the punches. He called off the strike after one day. Siblings . Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. was born June 20, 1933, to Italian parents. Im Broken. He added that sometimes he engaged in fistfights with actors after work because of incidents during filming or rehearsals. May You Rest In PARADISE., 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Mark Sheehan, guitarist of the Script, dead at 46, Al Jaffee dead at 102: Mad magazine cartoonist created popular Fold-In, Emmy winner and As The World Turns star dead at 89. Danny Aiello, a veteran stage and film actor remembered for his roles in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing and Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, has died at a New Jersey medical center at age 86. I've seen it and experienced it. In his teenage years, he joined a street gang and, he claimed, engaged in burglary and safe-cracking. Junior was a wage earner from the age of 9 first shining shoes at Grand Central Terminal during World War II (10 cents for regular shoes, 25 cents for combat boots), then delivering magazines and laundry and, by his own admission, running numbers for the local mob. He was 86. Aiello's . Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. (/alo/; born June 20, 1933- died December 19, 2019) was an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures, including The Godfather: Part II (1974), The Front (1976), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Moonstruck (1987), Hudson Hawk (1991), Ruby (1992), Lon: The Professional (1994), 2 Days in the Valley (1996 . [7][8], In the 1960s, Aiello served as president of New York Local 1202 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing Greyhound Bus workers. The actor Danny Aiello in 2001. Goodbye #JohnnyCammareri., Goodbye Dear #DannyAiello Danny was a Great Actor, But aGenius Comedic Actor.We Laughed so much. Danny Aiello, the Oscar-nominated star of "Do the Right Thing," has died at the age 86. The cause of his death was pancreatic cancer when he died at age 53 at his home in Hillside, New Jersey. Danny,We Made Cinema History Together With DO THE RIGHT THING. Kay paid tribute to Aiello on Twitter saying in part, He was a terrific man, self-made, coming from nothing to be an Academy Award-nominated actor., RIP, Uncle Danny. Aiello said, Ive been so many damn things. Just Found Out My Brother DANNY AIELLO Made His Transition Last Night. In 1990 he was nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar for his role in Do The Right Thing. "The family asks for privacy at this time," she said in a statement. Family Members. He was 86. Aiellos new memoir is titled I Only Know Who I Am When I Am Somebody Else. Watch the full interview on charlierose.com. On the set of Robert AltmansReady to Wear(1994), Aiello saidGo fuck yourselftoLauren Bacall after she told him to shut up while he was practicing his lines. 9 on the Billboard jazz chart. His father was absent more times than he was there It seems he would come home once a year and my mother would have another child, he toldThe New York Timesin 1990 and his family needed welfare checks to make ends meet. Aiello lost the Oscar for supporting actor the next year to Denzel Washington for his work in Glory., In an oral history on a 20th anniversary DVD release of the movie, Aiello said, I didnt think Sal was a racist, but I dont think he was a nice guy all the time either. His memoir,I Only Know Who I Am When I Am Somebody Else, was published in 2014. Aiello and EMI songwriter Hasan Johnson released an album of standards fused with rap entitled Bridges in 2011. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. In Do the Right Thing, Mr. Lees 1989 film about a white business in the predominantly black Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Mr. Aiello was a morally complicated racist villain, willing to wield a baseball bat but sentimental about the young people in the neighborhood who had grown up on his food. He kept coming to places where I was, seeing me in a restaurant, taking me to a ballgame, taking me to a Knick game. The play was directed by Stanley Donen and opened off-broadway at the Variety Arts Theatre. But what I say to you is Im hearing them saying things like for the little man, and for the unions. Then, of course, you see movies being sent from Hollywood and everywhere else to places like Canada and right-to-work states, like North Carolina, where there is no union intervention, and they can get a movie done for half the price. Danny Aiello III's father, Danny Aiello, died on December 12, 2019 as he was 86 years old. Danny Aiello, best known for his Oscar-nominated role of pizza shop owner Sal in Spike Lee's 1989 film Do The Right Thing, has passed away at the age of 86.The actor died in a New Jersey hospital on Thursday night where he was receiving treatment for an infection that was caused by an injection. But when Greyhound accused him of starting a wildcat strike and the union leaders agreed, Aiello quit his job. Aiello's role in Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" landed him a 1989 Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Rick's brother, Danny Aiello III, also . When asked about how his conservative politics mixed with working in a Hollywood in a 2011 interview with the New York Times, Aiello said, Theyre probably the people responsible for outsourcing work more than any other company Ive seen, but they claim to be liberals, great liberals. He was 86. Ive become, well, not an expert, but I know about movies. The whole shape. By Paul Farrell. Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. (/alo/) (June 20, 1933[1] December 12, 2019) was an American actor. His film career took off in the early 1970s. It was one of the happiest times in my life & He was a part of that happy time.