Joe viterelli biography

He cherished his wife and considered their marriage to be the happiest part of his life. Joe Viterelli left a lasting impact on the film industry with his talent and memorable performances. He will always be remembered as one of the best Italian gangsters in cinema. Joe Viterelli American actor Date of Birth: Contact About Privacy.

Bijou Phillips. Amy Jo Johnson. Mickey Rooney. Sammo Hung. Han Ji-Min. Joseph Viterelli March 10, — January 28, was an American actor, best remembered for playing Italian-American mobsters. While in his 20s, he inherited four music schools in Queens that had been started by his family. But things went wrong. Then I opened a few bars.

I drove a truck. I owned a cleaning service. I even had a job drilling holes in bowling balls to feed my five kids. Viterelli moved to Los Angeles in the late s. While living in Malibu , Viterelli became friends with director Leo Penn , who saw the screen possibilities in Viterelli's tough-guy visage. We've seen about 50 to 60 people and nobody's right.

A year before his death, Viterelli was considered for a role as former Governor of Illinois George Ryan in a biopic Abby Mann attempted to make. In , he played Jelly, the menacing yet lovable henchman—confidant to Robert De Niro 's anxiety-prone mob boss, in Analyze This , costarring Billy Crystal as De Niro's reluctant psychiatrist. Viterelli was able to convince De Niro and director Harold Ramis to cast him as Jelly after almost losing the role to a much younger actor.

When he described Viterelli's Jelly character patiently padding about "trying to deal with the disturbing news that his boss is cracking up and seeing a shrink ," critic Roger Ebert wrote, "He lends a subtle dimension to the movie; he gives [De Niro's mob boss] a context, and someone who understands him. The comedy here isn't all on the surface, and Viterelli is one reason why.

The sequel, Analyze That , in which Viterelli reprised his role, was his final film. In a Larry King Live interview, Viterelli said that De Niro was the " e asiest man to work with in the world," and that Crystal was "the funniest guy I ever met in my life. Viterelli can be seen in a Staples television commercial in which he provides mob-style "muscle" for an office worker who is having a problem dealing with a manager who demands doughnuts and pastry bribes in exchange for dispensing office supplies.

Look at me, I'm a role model. Viterelli never had an agent or a manager. Viterelli participated in a roast of Magic Johnson , during which he told a joke about finding the former NBA star handcuffed to a tree naked, just after he had gotten robbed. Viterelli died on January 28, , aged 66, of complications from heart surgery at Valley Hospital in Las Vegas.

He is survived by his wife, Catherine, and five children, including his son, the film composer Joseph Vitarelli, who spells his last name differently. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects.

Joe viterelli biography

Wikidata item. American actor — New York City , U. Las Vegas , Nevada , U. Catherine Brennan. Early life [ edit ].