Godfather actor Alex Rocco passes away

Character actor Alex Rocco, who played casino owner Moe Greene in The Godfather and appeared in dozens of other movies and TV shows, died Saturday of cancer in Studio City, California. He was 79. Often appearing as a heavy, hood or cop, in The Godfather, he had the famous line, "Do you know who I am?"
Recently he had a recurring role in Starz's Magic City and appeared on Episodes and Maron. His daughter Jennifer Rocco reported his death on her Facebook page. He appeared in several episodes of 1980s TV show The Facts of Life as Charlie Polniaczek, and had recurring roles on other shows including Starsky and Hutch and The Famous Teddy Z, for which he won a supporting actor Emmy in 1990. He did voices for animated shows including The Simpsons, for which he voiced the executive who made Itchy and Scratchy cartoons, and Family Guy.
His film career included roles in Freebie and the Bean, Get Shorty, Gotcha!, The Stunt Man and That Thing You Do. His son, Marc Rocco, who died in 2009, directed him in Dream a Little Dream and Scenes From the Goldmine.
Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who appeared with him in Magic City, said in a statement, "We lost a great one yesterday. An amazing talent to be sure... But, more than that, an amazing husband, father, and friend. For those of us lucky enough to get to know Rocco, we were blessed. He gave the best advice, told the best and dirtiest jokes, and was the first to give you a hug and kiss when it was needed." He was born Alexander Federico Petricone Jr. in Boston, and studied acting with Leonard Nimoy. He made his first TV appearance on Batman and went on to guest star on numerous TV series, including The Rockford Files, The Love Boat, Get Smart and Murder She Wrote. He is survived by his wife, actress Shannon Wilcox; daughters Jennifer and Kelli, sons Lucien and Sean; four grandchildren and a sister.
His most famous role came in 1972's The Godfather, where he played the humbled casino owner who meets his fate on a massage table, with a bullet through his thick eyeglass lenses. His confrontation with Al Pacino's Michael Corleone - in which he condescended to the new boss: "I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!" - was among the movie's many indelible scenes.
"Without a doubt, my biggest ticket anywhere," Rocco told the AV Club in 2012. "I went for, I dunno, one of the Italian parts. Maybe the Richard Bright part. But Francis Ford Coppola goes, 'I got my Jew!' And I went, 'Oh no, Mr. Coppola, I'm Italian. I wouldn't know how to play a Jew.' And he goes, 'Oh, shut up.'"
JON CRYER REMEMBERS ROCCO
On the heels of his breakout role in Pretty in Pink, Jon Cryer landed his first sitcom - the inside-showbiz CBS comedy The Famous Teddy Z that co-starred Alex Rocco. Rocco cited Teddy Z as the "most fun" he ever had in his long career, according to Rocco's family. Rocco played conniving talent agent Al Floss, who clashed with the agency's mailroom wunderkind Teddy Zakalokis, played by Cryer.
Teddy Z only lasted one season in 1989-90 - its final five episodes never saw the light of day until Comedy Central ran the entire series in 1993. But Rocco earned an Emmy for his performance, and made a lifelong friend of Cryer. On Sunday, Cryer remembered his co-star as "an actor possessed of enormous gifts" with a big heart and infectious spirit. "I had seen a report of his passing on social media and spent the whole morning hoping it was some kind of mistake," Cryer said. "If there was ever someone in your life you referred to as 'just a teddy bear,' Alex Rocco had them beat tenfold. A deeply good-hearted guy, hilarious to be around and an actor possessed of enormous gifts, Alex Rocco will be terribly missed. Anyone who's ever had him in their lives in any respect will know what I'm talking about." Reuters, AP