Alex Rocco Biography

Alex Rocco (born Alexander Federico Petricone, Jr., February 29, 1936) is an Emmy Award-winning American actor. His roles have ranged from comedy to playing gangsters in Mafia movies.

Early life

Rocco was born Alexander Federico Petricone, Jr. in Cambridge, Massachusetts but raised in Somerville, Massachusetts, the son of Mary (née Di Biase; October 1909 - August 1978) and Alessandro Sam Petricone. He is of Italian descent.

According to organized crime turncoat Vincent Teresa, Alex was a hanger-on with the Winter Hill Gang of the Boston area. An unwanted advance toward Petricone's then girlfriend on Labor Day, 1961 touched off the Boston Irish Gang War of the 1960s. Georgie McLaughlin who made the advance was beaten by Winter Hill Gang members. Howie Carr, a Boston-area journalist and radio personality who has written extensively about the Boston underworld, has written that the young Petricone (whose nickname was "Bobo") was arrested in Charlestown in November 1961 along with Winter Hill boss Buddy McLean for questioning following the death of Bernie McLaughlin of the McLaughlin gang, the first murder of the war. Petricone was released without charge, and shortly thereafter left the Boston area. (When he returned to the Boston area in 1972 to play a bank robber in the film The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Petricone"?now styled "Alex Rocco""?set up a meeting between Robert Mitchum and local Irish-American gangsters to help Mitchum research his part as Eddie Coyle, a low-level Irish-American criminal. Rocco introduced Mitchum to Howie Winter, leader of the Winter Hill Gang. Another Winter Hill Gang member who met with Mitchum was Johnny Martorano. Ironically, Martorano had murdered Billy O'Brien, a low-level gangster who may have been the prototype of the Eddie Coyle character.)

After his arrest, Petricone moved to California in 1962 and began using the name Alex Rocco. He first worked as a bartender in Santa Monica, California and took acting lessons from actor Leonard Nimoy, a fellow Boston native. Nimoy was not impressed with Rocco's heavy Boston accent and told him to take speech lessons. Rocco followed through with Nimoy's instructions and after ridding himself of the accent came back to study under Nimoy and character actor and teacher Jeff Corey.

Career

Rocco played the part of Moe Greene, a Las Vegas casino owner, in the film The Godfather. Greene's character represented the top Jewish mobster in the United States. Other notable movies in which Rocco has appeared include The Wedding Planner, as Salvatore and appeared uncredited in Smokin' Aces. He also played a small part in the Disney/Pixar film, A Bug's Life as Thorny. In the film That Thing You Do!, Rocco played Sol Siler, the founder of Playtone Records.

In the fall of 1975, Rocco starred in the role of Pete Karras, a widowed father, writer, and photographer, in a 12-week CBS drama series Three for the Road, with Vincent Van Patten as his older son, John Karras, and Leif Garrett as his younger son, Endy Karras. After the death of their wife and mother, the Karrases sell their house, buy a recreational vehicle, and roam throughout the United States.

Rocco also has a recurring part in the long running animated series The Simpsons as the head of Itchy and Scratchy Studios, Roger Meyers, Jr.. In DVD commentaries, Rocco has expressed true gratitude to The Simpsons' staff for allowing him his first voiceover role. He has also taken a part on an episode of Family Guy (in the episode "Mind Over Murder", he had a memorable role as the masculine woman) and he is known for having played Charlie Polniaczek, Jo's father on The Facts of Life. From 1989 to 1990, Rocco was a regular on the television comedy series The Famous Teddy Z in which he played "Al Floss", a slick cheesy Hollywood talent agent and foil to Jon Cryer in the title role, an ex-mailroom clerk turned superagent. Rocco received an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for this role. In 1997, he appeared (along with Rodney Dangerfield) in the annual Thanksgiving episode of the ABC sitcom Home Improvement.

In 2008, he starred in Audi's Super Bowl commercial for the Audi R8 supercar. The commercial was inspired by one of the films Rocco was in: The Godfather. He portrays a rich man who finds the front fascia of his luxury car in his bed, a nod to the scene from the original movie in which Jack Woltz, a rich movie producer, finds the head of his prized racehorse in his bed.

In Fallout: New Vegas he voices Big Sal, one of the bosses of the Gomorrah casino's ruling family, the "Omertas."

Rocco currently is one of the stars of the Starz cable channel's crime-drama series, Magic City.

Personal life

After moving to Los Angeles, Rocco became a member of the Bahá'í Faith. He married Sandra Elaine Rocco (September 1, 1942"June 12, 2002) on March 24, 1964. He adopted her son, director Marc Rocco (June 19, 1962"May 1, 2009). They had a daughter Jennifer, lawyer, producer, writer, son Lucien, and a grandson Anthony Dominic Rocco, mother Jennifer. Sandra died of cancer, aged 59. Rocco later met and then married Shannon Wilcox on October 15, 2005.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	Motorpsycho	Cory Maddox	Alternative titles: Motor Mods and Rockers and Rio Vengeance
1967	'	Diamond
1968	'	Detective at Apartment of Victim #10	Uncredited
1972	'	Moe Greene
1973	'	Jimmy Scalise
1973	Slither	Man with Ice Cream
1973	Detroit 9000	Danny Bassett
1974	Three the Hard Way	Lt. Di Nisco
1974	Freebie and the Bean	D.A.
1975	Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins	Vinnie
1977	Fire Sale	Al
1978	Rabbit Test	Sergeant Danny Bonhoff
1979	Voices	Frank Rothman
1980	Herbie Goes Bananas	Quinn
1980	'	Police Chief Jake
1981	'	Jerry Anderson
1984	Cannonball Run II	Tony
1985	Gotcha!	Al
1985	Badge of the Assassin	Detective Bill Butler NYPD
1987	Return to Horror High	Harry Sleerik
1988	Lady in White	Angelo "Al" Scarlatti	Alternative title: The Mystery of the Lady in White
1989	Dream a Little Dream	Gus Keller
1989	Wired	Arnie Fromson
1991	'	Cardinal Rocco	Alternative title: The Pope Must Die(t)
1992	Boris and Natasha: The Movie	Sheldon Kaufman
1995	Get Shorty	Jimmy Cap (Ray Bones' boss)	Uncredited
1996	That Thing You Do!	Sol Siler
1997	Just Write	Harold's Father
1998	A Bug's Life	Thorny	Voice
1998	Goodbye Lover	Detective Crowley
1999	Dudley Do-Right	Chief
2000	'	Poker Player	Alternative title: The Final Hit
2001	'	Salvatore Fiore
2002	'	Rip Holland
2003	'	Vernon Cray
2006	Find Me Guilty	Nick Calabrese	Alternative title: Find Me Guilty: The Jackie Dee Story
2011	Batman: Year One	Carmine Falcone	Voice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Batman	Block	Episodes: "A Piece of Action" and "Batman's Satisfaction"
1970	That Girl	Biff	1 episode
1972	'	Matt Wilnor	1 episode
1973	Circle of Fear	Joseph Moretti	1 episode
1974	'	Earl Fisher	1 episode
1975	Three for the Road	Pete Karras	14 episodes
1977	Barnaby Jones	Harry Stroop	1 episode
1978	'	Ralph Corliss	telefilm with Carol Burnett
1981"88	'	Charlie Polniaczek	Jo's father
1980	CHiPs	Ansgar	Episodes: "The Great 5K Star Race and Boulder Wrap Party": Part 1 and Part 2
1984	St. Elsewhere	Roger	Episode: "Breathless"
1985	'	Glen O'Brien	Episode: "That Was No Lady"
1985	'	Sonny Monroe	Episode: "Champ!"
1987	Rags to Riches	Michael Rapp	1 episode
1989	Murphy Brown	Al Floss	1 episode
1989"90	'	Al Floss	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series
1990	'	Roger Meyers, Jr.	Episode: "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge"
1991"92	Sibs	Howie Ruscio	23 episodes
1994	'	Harry Rossetti	11 episodes
1995	Can't Hurry Love	Michael, Annie's Father	Episode: "Daddy's Girl"
1996	Pinky and the Brain	Floyd Nesbit	Episode: "Fly"
1996	Mad About You	Mark Slotkin	Episode: "Outbreak"
1996	'	Roger Meyers, Jr.	Episode: "The Day the Violence Died"
1997	Early Edition	Barney Kadison	Episode: "Home"
1997	Home Improvement	Irv Schmayman	1 episode
1997	'	Roger Meyers, Jr.	Episode: "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show"
1998	Michael Hayes	Bernero	1 episode
1999	Family Law	Goodman	1 episode
1999	Family Guy	Soccer Mom	Episode: "Mind Over Murder"
2000	Walker, Texas Ranger	Johnny "Giovanni Rossini" Rose	Episodes: "Wedding Bells": Part 1 and Part 2
2001	Family Guy	Bea Arthur portraying Peter Griffin	Episode: "Ready, Willing and Disabled"
2001"04	'	John Exstead Sr.	14 episodes
2005	ER	Martin Trudeau	Episode: "Two Ships"
2007	'	Larry Herschfield	Episode: "The Fantasy"
2010	Party Down	Howard Greengold	Episode: "Constance Carmel Wedding"
2012	Magic City	Arthur Evans	Season 1: 4 episodes so far
2012	Private Practice	Ed	Season 6: episode 1, "Aftershocks"