Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Why COVID Is Spreading Again This Summer

9 hours ago

Amid Threats From Trump, Sen. Adam Schiff Forms Legal Defense Fund

13 hours ago

Israel to Place $500 Million, US-Funded Order for Boeing Aerial Refueling Tankers

14 hours ago

Hurricane Erin Threatens North Carolina’s Outer Banks With Storm Surge

14 hours ago

Israel Approves Settlement Plan to ‘Erase’ Idea of Palestinian State

14 hours ago

Tech Stocks Pressure Wall Street as Caution Sets in Ahead of Fed Meet

14 hours ago

Most Americans Believe Countries Should Recognize Palestinian State, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

14 hours ago

Gabbard Revokes Security Clearances of 37 Current, Former US Intelligence Members

1 day ago

Trump Escalates Attacks Against the Smithsonian Institution

1 day ago

California Republicans File Suit Seeking to Block Newsom Redistricting Plan

1 day ago
Blue-Collar Character Actor Danny Aiello Has Died at Age 86
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
December 13, 2019

Share

NEW YORK — Danny Aiello, the blue-collar character actor whose long career playing tough guys included roles in “Fort Apache, the Bronx,” “Moonstruck” and “Once Upon a Time in America” and his Oscar-nominated performance as a pizza man in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” has died. He was 86.

“Living in New York City gave me training for any role. I’ve seen people killed, knifed. I’ve got scars on my face. I have emotional recall when I work; the idea is simply to recreate it. I’ve seen it and experienced it. I’ve played gangsters, teachers but most of my work has been in the police area. And for that I’m adored by the police in New York City.” — Danny Aiello
Aiello (pronounced eye-YEL-o) died Thursday night after a brief illness, said his publicist, Tracey Miller, who runs Tracey Miller & Associates. “The family asks for privacy at this time,” she said in a statement.
In a tweet, Cher mourned the man she called “a genius comedic actor.” The two had starred in “Moonstruck” and she called it “one of the happiest times in my life.” Actor Michael Rapaport tweeted that Aiello was a “huge inspiration” and actor Kirk Acevedo mourned: “We lost a great actor today.”
Recognizable, if not famous, for his burly build and husky voice, he was an ex-union president who broke into acting in his 30s and remained a dependable player for decades, whether vicious or cuddly or some of each.
His breakthrough, ironically, was as the hapless lover dumped by Cher in Norman Jewison’s hit comedy “Moonstruck.” His disillusion contributed to the laughter, and although he wasn’t nominated for a supporting-role Oscar (Cher and Olympia Dukakis won in their categories), Aiello was inundated with movie offers.
“Living in New York City gave me training for any role,” he said in a 1997 interview. “I’ve seen people killed, knifed. I’ve got scars on my face. I have emotional recall when I work; the idea is simply to recreate it. I’ve seen it and experienced it. I’ve played gangsters, teachers but most of my work has been in the police area. And for that I’m adored by the police in New York City.”

Aiello Retained the Pugnacity He Learned on City Streets

The ebullient Aiello became a favorite of several directors, among them Woody Allen, who used him in the Broadway play “The Floating Light Globe” and the movies “Broadway Danny Rose,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo” and “Radio Days.”
Lee was another admirer and for “Do the Right Thing” cast Aiello as a pizzeria operator in a black neighborhood of Brooklyn, the movie climaxing with a riot that destroys his eatery. “This is my pizzeria!” he cried. Lee had first offered the role to Robert De Niro, but Aiello’s performance brought him an Oscar nomination for supporting actor.
Among his other movies: “Fort Apache, the Bronx” (as a cop who threw a boy from a building), “Once Upon a Time in America,” “Harlem Nights,” “Jack Ruby” (as Ruby) and”City Hall.” He also appeared in TV miniseries, including “The Last Don,” “A Woman Named Jackie” and in the 1985-86 police series “Lady Blue.” It was Aiello who played Madonna’s father in the pop icon’s “Papa Don’t Preach” video.
A child of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, Aiello retained the pugnacity he learned on city streets.
“During the early times in my acting career, I would fight at the drop of a hat,” he said in 1985. “I was very hungry. If there were obstacles, I tried to remove them.” He added that sometimes he engaged in fistfights with actors after work because of incidents during filming or rehearsals.

Photo of Danny Aiello and Bea Arthur
FILE – In this April 28, 1981 file photo, Actor Danny Aiello hugs actress Beatrice Arthur at a party following their opening performance in Woody Allen’s play, “The Floating Lightbulb,” in New York. Aiello, the blue-collar character actor whose long career playing tough guys included roles in “Fort Apache, the Bronx,” “The Godfather, Part II,” “Once Upon a Time in America” and his Oscar-nominated performance as a pizza man in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” has died. He was 86. Aiello died Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019 after a brief illness, said his publicist, Tracey Miller. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

He Worked at One Job After Another

Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. was born June 20, 1933, to Italian parents. His father, a laborer, left the family of seven children, and Daniel started working at age 9 selling newspapers, working in a grocery store and bowling alley, shining shoes and loading trucks. In his teenage years, he joined a street gang and, he claimed, engaged in burglary and safe-cracking. He dropped out of high school before graduating, got married in 1955 and joined the Army.

“I wanted to become a politician. I always thought that I could talk, that people liked me, that I can represent them.” — Danny Aiello in 1995
After three years in the service, he worked at several factory jobs, landing as a baggage man at Greyhound. The ambitious Aiello rose to become president of the transit union.
“I wanted to become a politician,” he told a reporter in 1995. “I always thought that I could talk, that people liked me, that I can represent them.” But when Greyhound accused him of starting a wildcat strike and the union leaders agreed, Aiello quit his job.
He worked at one job after another, and in 1970 was hired as a bouncer at the New York comedy club, Improvisation. One night, he was asked to act as an assistant emcee. “It was no big deal; it was just ‘Danny, go up and announce the acts,'” he recalled in 1997. “There was a little bantering between acts, and I kept that short. I was terrified.”
Yet Aiello soon branched out, playing small roles in the movies “Bang the Drum Slowly” and “The Godfather, Part II,” and as the bartender lead in a musical play “Lamppost Reunion.” Starting in 1980 he averaged three films a year, plus appearances in theater and television. Off-Broadway, he appeared in “The Shoemaker” in 2011.
Aiello and his wife of more than 60 years, Sandy, lived in Ramsey, New Jersey. He also is survived by three children and 10 grandchildren: Rick, Jamie and Stacy. A fourth son, stuntman and stunt coordinator Danny Aiello III, died in May 2010 of pancreatic cancer.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

International Rapper Derrick ‘Aesop’ McElroy Who Called Fresno Home Dies at 51

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration to Vet Immigration Applications for ‘Anti-Americanism’

DON'T MISS

Texas Republicans Approve Trump-Backed Congressional Map to Protect Party’s Majority

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Seek Suspect in Casino Assault

DON'T MISS

Poll: California Dems Favor Newsom Over Harris in 2028 Matchup

DON'T MISS

‘Moral Conflict’ Drives Dem Doubts About Newsom’s Redistricting Plan

DON'T MISS

Fresno Animal Center at Critical Capacity After Receiving Over 100 Dogs

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Two SoCal Men in Homicide Investigation

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Investigating Fatal Stabbing of 31-Year-Old Man

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Sheriff Adds Goshen Teen to Most Wanted List

UP NEXT

ESPN Won’t Air Spike Lee’s Docuseries on Colin Kaepernick, Citing ‘Creative Differences’

UP NEXT

CMAC Will Award Cash Prizes at 72-Hour Film Race Screening

UP NEXT

‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry’s Drug Dealer to Plead Guilty in Overdose Death

UP NEXT

Actor Terence Stamp, Star of Superman Films, Dies Aged 87

UP NEXT

Outside Lands 2025: Where Music, Love, and Community Collide

UP NEXT

‘World’s Strongest Man’ Mark Henry to Headline Fresno Grizzlies’ Wrestling Night

UP NEXT

Big Fresno Fair Adds La Arrolladora Banda El Limón to 2025 Concert Series

UP NEXT

US to Retaliate Against IMO Members That Back Net Zero Emissions Plan

UP NEXT

Taylor Swift Announces New Album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

UP NEXT

Feeling Ghoulish? Fresno Haunted House Puts Out Call for Actors

Fresno County Authorities Seek Suspect in Casino Assault

6 hours ago

Poll: California Dems Favor Newsom Over Harris in 2028 Matchup

7 hours ago

‘Moral Conflict’ Drives Dem Doubts About Newsom’s Redistricting Plan

7 hours ago

Fresno Animal Center at Critical Capacity After Receiving Over 100 Dogs

7 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Two SoCal Men in Homicide Investigation

8 hours ago

Fresno Police Investigating Fatal Stabbing of 31-Year-Old Man

8 hours ago

Tulare County Sheriff Adds Goshen Teen to Most Wanted List

9 hours ago

Lemoore Union Elementary Reaches Settlement Over Disability Discrimination Allegations

9 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: Why Is Pismo’s Manager in ICE Detention?

9 hours ago

Why COVID Is Spreading Again This Summer

9 hours ago

International Rapper Derrick ‘Aesop’ McElroy Who Called Fresno Home Dies at 51

When he wasn’t touring Asia, Europe, or across the U.S., Derrick “Aesop” McElroy was busy making a name for himself and fo...

5 hours ago

Derrick 'Aesop' McElroy
5 hours ago

International Rapper Derrick ‘Aesop’ McElroy Who Called Fresno Home Dies at 51

A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) naturalization ceremony in New York City, U.S., September 17, 2021. (Reuters File)
6 hours ago

Trump Administration to Vet Immigration Applications for ‘Anti-Americanism’

State Representative Matt Morgan (R-TX) holds a map of the new proposed congressional districts in Texas, during a legislative session as Democratic lawmakers, who left the state to deny Republicans the opportunity to redraw the state's 38 congressional districts, begin returning to the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, U.S. August 20, 2025. (Reuters/Sergio Flores)
6 hours ago

Texas Republicans Approve Trump-Backed Congressional Map to Protect Party’s Majority

Fresno County authorities are searching for Robert Rios, 27, of Auberry, wanted for assault, burglary and drug possession following a June 6 domestic disturbance at Mono Wind Casino. (Fresno County SO)
6 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Seek Suspect in Casino Assault

7 hours ago

Poll: California Dems Favor Newsom Over Harris in 2028 Matchup

Gov. Gavin Newsom at Election Rigging Response News Conference
7 hours ago

‘Moral Conflict’ Drives Dem Doubts About Newsom’s Redistricting Plan

The Fresno Animal Center is over capacity after taking in more than 100 animals in recent days, leaving dozens of dogs at risk of euthanasia unless the community steps up to adopt or foster, officials said. (Shutterstock)
7 hours ago

Fresno Animal Center at Critical Capacity After Receiving Over 100 Dogs

Fresno police arrested Krishan Kumar (left), 24, and Vishal Vishal, 31, in connection with the July 21 shooting death of Kuvar Kumar. (Fresno PD)
8 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Two SoCal Men in Homicide Investigation

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend