Jon Polito Biography

Jon Polito (December 29, 1950 - September 1, 2016) was an American actor and voice artist. In a film and television career spanning 35 years he amassed over 220 credits on IMDb. Notable television roles included Det. Steve Crosetti in the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street and on the first season of Crime Story. He appeared in several films including The Rocketeer, The Crow and Gangster Squad but was most widely known for his work for the Coen Brothers where he appeared in five of their films including Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink and The Big Lebowski. He died on September 1, 2016 of cancer.

Life and career

Polito was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Villanova University. He was known for working with the Coen brothers, most notably in the major supporting role of Italian gangster Johnny Caspar in Miller's Crossing.He appeared as Det. Steve Crosetti in the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street and on the first season of Crime Story. Polito won an OBIE award in 1980 for his theater performances off Broadway and for his lifetime of work in film and television he received the Maverick Spirit Event Award at Cinequest Film Festival in 2005. In 2012, he won the award for "Best Actor in a Short Film" at Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival.

Polito was openly gay. He died from cancer on September 1, 2016.

Homicide: Life on the Street

When Homicide began pre-production, Polito was asked to audition, and was initially reluctant - he didn't want move to Baltimore for the series, because he had just relocated from New York to Los Angeles. The script he received featured a dialogue scene between two detectives, one Polish-American and the other Irish-American. Polito decided that the part he wanted was that of the Irishman, but he was told that he could not read for it. After reading for the part of the Polish-American detective, Polito added a message on his audition tape, saying that if the producers wanted to call him back, he would only be interested if he could take the part of the Irish detective. Series co-creators Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana did call him back, and they rewrote the character as an Italian, and cast him in the role. The other character, the Polish-American detective, was also rewritten, becoming Det. Meldrick Lewis, played by African-American actor Clark Johnson.

Polito was written out of Homicide at the end of Season 2 (explained by his character taking extended leave). The reality behind the move was that the producers were under pressure from their network NBC to include a new female character (Megan Russert), hoping to gain broader appeal for the show (which rated poorly). Although Polito was unhappy about the character's departure, co-producer Tom Fontana assured him that he would be brought back later in the season. However, Polito's previous experiences with producers led him to mistrust Fontana's assurances, so he went to the media to express his unhappiness, speaking critically of the producers' handling of NBC's demands:

"I actually said in one newspaper, "The producers of the show are like the people on the Titanic," and the writer said, "You mean they're the captain of the ship?" and I said "No, no. They're on the iceberg saying, 'This way. Come this way.'" That's in print and that was wrong."

The outburst caused a rift with Fontana. The Crosetti character was killed off early in Season 3, with the explanation that the detective had committed suicide. This further infuriated Polito, who again complained to the media, triggering a public slinging match between him and Fontana. Interviewed about the situation in 2005, Polito expressed regret for his handling of the matter, and said that with hindsight, he realized that he should have trusted Fontana. He noted that he and Fontana subsequently patched up their differences, and as a result the Crosetti character returned to make a farewell appearance as a spirit in Homicide: The Movie.

Coen brothers collaboration

Polito was a regular in the Coen brothers movies appearing in five of their films. The Coens had seen Polito in a New York stage adaptation of Death of a Salesman in 1986 playing Howard Wagner. They approached him to play the part of The Dane in Miller's Crossing (1990), but after reading the script he turned them down saying he would only play the Italian gangster Johnny Caspar. The Coens auditioned several other actors but eventually used Polito after they made him read his entire role cold.

He was offered the role of Lou Breeze in their next film Barton Fink (1991), in a role which was written especially for him. Again he spurned the Coens offer saying he wanted to play the part of movie producer Michael Lipnick. Frances McDormand persuaded him to take the role saying it would change his career. He relented and took the part of Lou Breeze.

He later appeared in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) as an eccentric businessman, The Big Lebowski (1998) as a private detective and finally in 2001 as a flirtatious salesman in The Man Who Wasn't There.

Filmography

Genre	Year	Title	Role	Episodes	Notes
TV miniseries	1981	'	Thomas "Three Finger Brown" Lucchese
Film	1981	Gangster Wars	Thomas "Three Finger Brown" Lucchese
Film	1982	The Clairvoyant	Detective Sporaco		a.k.a. The Killing Hour
TV film	1983	Running Out	Joe Poswalsky
Film	1984	C.H.U.D.	Newscaster
TV film	1984	A Good Sport	Man in Taxi
Film	1984	The Princess and the Call Girl	Private Detective
Film	1985	Compromising Positions	Cop #1
TV film	1985	Death of a Salesman	Howard
Film	1985	Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins	Zack
Film	1986	Dream Lover	Doctor James
TV series	1986	'	Gianni	"Unpunished Crimes"
Film	1986	Highlander	Detective Walter Bedsoe
TV film	1986	A Deadly Business	Vitola
Film	1986	Fire with Fire	Boss
TV series	1986-1988	Crime Story	Phil Bartoli		16 episodes
Film	1987	Critical Condition	Kline
TV series	1987	'	Carmack	"Memories of Manon: Part 1" "Memories of Manon: Part 2"
TV series	1987	Ohara	Captain Ross		11 episodes
TV film	1988	Alone in the Neon Jungle	Brad Stakowski
Film	1988	Homeboy	Moe Fingers
TV series	1988	Miami Vice	El Gato	"Hostile Takeover" "Redemption in Blood"
TV series	1988	Wiseguy	Eddie Van Platt	"Player to Be Named Now"
TV series	1989	'	David Pfieffer	"Silent Fury"
TV film	1989	Livin' Large	Sal
TV film	1989	Memories of Manon	Carmack
TV series	1989	Trying Times	Agent Caponello	"Death and Taxes"
Film	1990	'	Chuck Greenwald
Film	1990	Miller's Crossing	Johnny Caspar
Film	1991	Barton Fink	Lou Breeze
TV series	1991	Empty Nest	Slocum	"Harry's Got a Gun"
Film	1991	'	Bigelow
TV series	1991	Tales from the Crypt	Nikos Stano	"Deadline"
Film	1992	Flodder in Amerika!	Larry Rosenbaum
TV series	1992	Hearts Are Wild	Leon 'Pepe' Pepperman		3 episodes
Film	1992	Leather Jackets	Fat Jack
TV series	1992	Murder, She Wrote	Lieutenant Peter DiMartini	"The Dead File"
Film	1993	The Contenders	Pedro Perusia
TV series	1993	Dinosaurs	Ty Warner	"Swamp Music"	voice actor
TV series	1993	Fallen Angels	Al Reseck	"I'll Be Waiting"
TV series	1993	Homicide: Life on the Street	Detective Steve Crosetti	"Gone for Goode" "Ghost of a Chance" "Son of a Gun" "A Shot in the Dark" "Three Men and Adena" "A Dog and Pony Show" "And the Rockets' Dead Glare" "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" "The Night of the Dead Living"	13 episodes total
TV series	1993	'	Tommy Palumbo	"Railroaded"
Film	1994	Blankman	Michael 'The Suit' Minelli
Film	1994	'	Gideon
TV film	1994	Girls in Prison	Boss Johnson
TV series	1994	Homicide: Life on the Street	Detective Steve Crosetti	"Bop Gun" "See No Evil" "Black and Blue" "A Many Splendored Thing"	13 episodes total
Film	1994	'	Mr. Bumstead
TV series	1994	Murder, She Wrote	Lieutenant Peter DiMartini	"A Murderous Muse"
TV film	1994	'	Detective Al
TV series	1994	Viper	Councilman Strand	"Pilot"
TV series	1995	Burke's Law		"Who Killed Cock-a-Doodle Dooley?"
Film	1995	Bushwhacked	Agent Palmer
TV series	1995	Chicago Hope	Detective Bill Ranford	"Life Support"
Film	1995	Fluke	Boss
TV series	1995	High Society	Alvin Spalding	"We Ought to Be in Pictures"
Film	1995	The Invaders	Whitley, Metro HQ		uncredited
TV series	1995	Mad About You	Ralphy	"My Boyfriend's Back!"
TV series	1995	NYPD Blue	Paul Biaggi	"One Big Happy Family"
TV series	1995	Dream On	Louie	"Significant Author" "Flight of the Pedalbee" "Toby's Choice"	4 episodes total
TV series	1996	Dream On	Louie	"All About Louie"	4 episodes total
Film	1996	Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco	Ashcan		voice actor
Film	1996	Just Your Luck	Nick
TV series	1996	New York Undercover	John Dennis	"Andre's Choice"
TV series	1996	'	Ben Hansel	"A Virus Among Us"
TV series	1996	Roseanne	Mr. Russo	"Millions from Heaven"
TV series	1996	Swift Justice	Tom Luddy	"Supernote"
Film	1997	'	Mr. Deacon
TV series	1997	Early Edition	Louie DeFozio	"The Cat"
TV series	1997	Fired Up	Sam Harris	"Domestic Bliss"
Short film	1997	Inside Out	Paparazzi		27 minutes; included in the compilation film Boys Life 3
TV film	1997	Invasion	Detective Kemper
Animated TV series	1997	Life with Louie		"Louie's Harrowing Halloween"	voice actor
TV series	1997	Night Man	Al Capone	"That Ol' Gang of Mine"
TV series	1997	Over the Top	Mr. Hamstead	"The Bee Story"
Film	1998	'	Da Fino
TV film	1998	'	D.A. Al Orsini
TV series	1998	Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show	Marv Fishland	"Honey, She's Like a Fish Out of Water"
TV series	1998	Jenny	Sid Bouchie	"A Girl's Gotta Get It"
TV series	1998	Millennium	Eddie Scarpino Giannini	"Omerta"
TV film	1998	Money Play$	Lou Spano
Film	1998	Music from Another Room	Lorenzo Palmieri
TV series	1998	New York Undercover	Rinaldi	"Drop Dead Gorgeous"
TV series	1998	Players	Pappas	"Mint Condition"
TV series	1998	Seinfeld	Silvio	"The Reverse Peephole"
Film	1998	Tale of the Mummy	Parsons
TV series	1998	Veronica's Closet	Mr. Lehman	"Veronica's Dog Day Afternoon"
Film	1998	With Friends Like These...	Rudy Ptak
TV film	1999	'	Dr. Caligari
Film	1999	Angel's Dance	Uncle Vinnie
Film	1999	Carlo's Wake	Uncle Gus
TV series	1999	Good vs. Evil	Howard	"Sunday Night Evil"
Video game	1999	Lands of Lore III	Dark Army Orc / Elliott the Guard / Viscosa		voice actor
TV series	1999	Nash Bridges	Roland Margolis	"Truth and Consequences"
Film	1999	Road Kill	Jelly
Film	1999	Stuart Little	Detective Sherman
Film	1999	The Green Mile	"D" Block Prison Guard
Short film	1999	Surgeon General's Warning	The Other Guy		8 minutes
Film	2000	'	Schoentell
Film	2000	After Sex	Naldo
Animated TV series	2000	Batman Beyond	The Major	"Betrayal"	voice actor
TV series	2000	Early Edition	Cliff Mourning	"Snow Angels"
Film	2000	Flies on Cupid	Giorgio Gagantano
TV film	2000	Homicide: The Movie	Steve Crosetti
TV series	2000	'	Eddie the Mammoth	"Pilot"
Short TV film	2000	Nature Boy	Mort Ruby		29 minutes; directed by Kari Skogland
Film	2000	Nowhere Land	Frank
TV series	2000	Popular	Caesar Croutons	"Hard on the Outside, Soft in the Middle"
TV series	2000	'	Constantin Falzone	"Cold Dick"
Animated film	2000	'	Virgil		voice actor
TV series	2001	'	Rhonda Parks	"Our Place"
TV series	2001	'	Donald Stern	"Pilot" "What Gobbles Beneath" "Here There Be Dragons" "Baby Got Back" "He's Dead, She's Dead" "Bermuda Love Triangle" "Only the Young Die Good" "Bring Me the Head of Tucker Burns" "Let Sleeping Dogs Fry" "Take Me Back"	22 episodes total
TV series	2001	'	The Baby	"Drew and the Baby"	3 episodes total; voice actor
Short film	2001	Frank's Last Dance	Frank		18 minutes
TV series	2001	Gideon's Crossing	Lou Peda	"The Race"
Film	2001	'	Creighton Tolliver
Film	2001	Mimic 2	Morrie Deaver
Film	2001	'	Judge Bob
Film	2001	'	Ramn Rudd, the Banker
TV series	2002	Becker	Leonard Nagle	"Piece Talks"
Film	2002	Black Mask 2: City of Masks	King
TV series	2002	'	Donald Stern	"Touched by an Alien" "Pig Boy's Big Adventure" "The Cursed Sombrero" "Tears of a Clone" "I See Dead Fat People" "Man and Superman" "Hot from the Oven" "The Stepford Cheerleaders" "The Mists of Avalon Parkway" "The King Is Undead" "Hell Mall" "A Snitch in Time"	22 episodes total
TV series	2002	'	Stansfield	"The Curse of the Mummy" "The Enabler"	3 episodes total
TV series	2002	Gilmore Girls	Father in Kirk's Film	"Teach Me Tonight"	2 episodes total
Film	2002	29 Palms	The Security Guard
TV series	2002	Push, Nevada	Silas Bodnick	"The Amount"
TV series	2002	She Spies	Edward Malloy	"Ice Man"
TV film	2002	Women vs. Men	Desk Sergeant
Film	2003	'	Michael Dickerson
TV series	2003	Crossing Jordan	Dick	"Wild Card"
TV series	2003	Dragnet	Richard Maughm	"The Silver Slayer"
TV series	2003	Gilmore Girls	Pete	"Happy Birthday, Baby"	2 episodes total
TV film	2003	Life on Parole	Ernie
TV series	2003	'	Mr. Carpeggi	"Trick or Treat"
Short film	2003	No Credits, No Peace	The Network Executive		6 minutes
TV series	2003	Oliver Beene	Mr. Rayfield	"Dancing Beene"	2 episodes total
Film	2003	'	Second Hood
Film	2003	View from the Top	Roy Roby
TV series	2004	10-8: Officers on Duty	Enzo Fontana	"Wild and the Innocent"
Film	2004	Charlie the Ox	Freddy Boon
TV film	2004	Gone, But Not Forgotten	Sam Oberhurst		based on the novel by Phillip Margolin
TV series	2004	It's All Relative	Leonard	"A Long Day's Journey Into Leonard's"
TV series	2004	Judging Amy	D.A. Gerald Abner	"Disposable" "The Quick and the Dead"
TV series	2004	'	Johnny Pappas	"The Boxer"
Film	2004	'	Wally Kamin
TV film	2004	The Mentalist	Duesterberg
TV series	2004	My Wife and Kids	Minister	"The Wedding"
TV series	2004	Oliver Beene	Mr. Rayfield	"Oliver & the Otters"	2 episodes total
TV series	2004	Scrubs	Mr. Summers	"My Female Trouble"
Animated TV series	2005	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Chief Arnook Additional Voices	"The Waterbending Master" "The Siege of the North: Part 1" "The Siege of the North: Part 2"	voice actor
Animated TV series	2005	'	New Aldrin / New Pupert	"Those Pesky Roaches"	voice actor
TV series	2005	Desperate Housewives	Charles Skouras	"Love Is in the Air"
TV film	2005	Family Plan	Gold
TV series	2005	Ghost Whisperer	Joe Grimaldi	"Pilot"	2 episodes total
Film	2005	'	Kirby
Film	2005	Short Order
TV series	2005	Threshold	Nicky Frost	"The Order"
TV series	2005	Without a Trace	Jimmy 'The Tooth' Fusco	"Lone Star"
Film	2006	Big Nothing	Agent Hymes
Short film	2006	Cleaners			10 minutes
Film	2006	Cutting Room	Sandy
Film	2006	Flags of Our Fathers	Borough President
Film	2006	Grilled	Leon Waterman
Animated TV series	2006	Handy Manny	Joe Bolotero	"Supremoguy/Tool Talk"	voice actor
Animated film	2006	Happily N'Ever After	Wolf 1		voice actor
Film	2006	'	Jimmy the Photographer		a.k.a. Lies & Alibis
TV series	2006	Masters of Horror	Montesquino	"Haeckel's Tale"
Film	2007	American Gangster	Rossi
Film	2007	Cougar Club	Mr. Archibald
Video game	2007	Dead Head Fred	Ulysses S. Pitt		voice actor
TV series	2007	Medium	Vincent Discala	"Better Off Dead"
Short film	2008	Animated American	Max Rabbit		15 minutes
Film	2008	Bart Got a Room	Bob
TV series	2008	Chocolate News	Harvey Silverstein	"Episode #1.7"
Animated TV series	2008	Chowder	Funjl / Guy	"The Moldy Touch/The Heavy Sleeper"	voice actor
TV series	2008	Do Not Disturb	R.J.	"Dosing"
TV series	2008	Ghost Whisperer	Joe Grimaldi	"First Do No Harm"	2 episodes total
TV series	2008	Las Vegas	The Cleaner	"Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast"
Film	2008	'	Lou Burns
TV film	2008	Rock Monster	The Colonel
TV series	2008	Two and a Half Men	Mr. Sharipa	"He Smelled the Ham, He Got Excited"
TV series	2008	Raising the Bar	Judge Dominick Ventimiglia	"Hang Time" "Out on the Roof" "Roman Holiday" "Shop Till You Drop"	10 episodes total
TV film	2009	Citizen Jane	Detective Romer
Short film	2009	Locker 13	Don Dillon		15 minutes
TV series	2009	Monk	George Gionopolis	"Mr. Monk Fights City Hall"
TV series	2009	Raising the Bar	Judge Dominick Ventimiglia	"Hair Apparent" "I'll Be Down to Get You in a Taxi, Honey" "Fine and Dandy" "Trust Me" "Trout Fishing" "Bobbi Ba-Bing"	10 episodes total
Film	2009	Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion	Captain Sludge
Film	2010	Burning Palms	Ned
Animated short film	2010	DC Showcase: The Spectre	Police Captain		voice actor; 13 minutes
Animated TV series	2009	Glenn Martin, DDS		"We've Created a Mobster"	voice actor; 2 episodes total
Animated TV series	2010	Glenn Martin, DDS	Vito Renzuli	"Life Swap"	voice actor; 2 episodes total
Film	2010	'	HIM
Film	2010	'	Don Bonfante
TV series	2010	'	Duesterberg	"Red Herring"
Film	2010	Stiffs	John "The Prince" Monaco
Short film	2010	The Talking Head	Mr. Opportunity		19 minutes
Film	2010	Venus & Vegas	Frank
Film	2011	Atlas Shrugged: Part I	Orren Boyle
Animated film	2011	Batman: Year One	Commissioner Loeb		voice actor
Animated TV series	2011	Ben 10: Ultimate Alien	DN Alien Mizaru / Mizaru	"Simian Says"	voice actor
TV series	2011	Funny or Die Presents	Eddy	"Episode #2.1"	segment United States Police Department
TV series	2011	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Gino	"Frank's Brother"
Short film	2011	Jonny Boy	Jonny Boy		7 minutes
Film	2011	Son of Morning	Mr. Bordasche
Animated TV series	2011	ThunderCats	Conquedor	"Berbils"	voice actor
Short film	2012	Anti-Muse	Anti-Muse		Directed by John M Goodner
TV series	2012	Bunheads	Sal Russano	"Money for Nothing" "No One Takes Khaleesi's Dragons"
TV series	2012	Franklin & Bash	Lucky Louie	"Jango and Rossi"
TV series	2012	Mike & Molly	Frankie Moranto	"Thanksgiving Is Canceled"
Film	2012	From the Head	Vinnie
Film	2013	Gangster Squad	Jack Dragna
Video game	2013	Batman: Arkham Origins	G.C.P.D. Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb		voice actor
TV series	2014	Castle	Harold Metzger	"That 70's Show"
Film	2014	Big Eyes	Enrico Banducci
TV series	2014	Modern Family	Earl Chambers	"Won't You Be Our Neighbor" "The Closet Case"
Video game	2016	Batman: Arkham Underworld	Carmine Falcone		voice actor
TV series	2016	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Frank O'Brien	"Tony Hale Wears a Blue Flannel Shirt and Fuchsia Sneakers"