Michael Vincente Gazzo was born in Hillside, New Jersey, on April 5,
1923. He attended
Erwin Piscator's
Dramatic Workshop at the New School on the GI Bill after being
demobilized from the US Army Air Force after World War II.
Gazzo's first major success was as a playwright. His play about drug
addiction, "A Hatful of Rain," was a success on Broadway, running for
389 performances in 1955 and 1956 and winning
Ben Gazzara and
Anthony Franciosa Tony award
nominations as Best Actor and Best Featured Actor, respectively.
However, his second (and what would prove to be his last) Broadway
play, "The Night Circus," also starring Gazzara, was a flop, lasting
just 7 performances in 1958,
"A Hatful of Rain" was made into a successful film by Oscar-winning
director
Fred Zinnemann in 1957.
Franciosa won an Oscar nomination for reprising his role in the film.
Gazzo turned to screenwriting, penning the
Elvis Presley hoses-opera
King Creole (1958). Eventually he
turned back to acting, where his stocky physique and unique screech of
a voice made him a first-rate character actor by the 1970s.
His biggest and best acting gig came to him when
Richard S. Castellano refused to
appear in
The Godfather Part II (1974)
due to a money dispute. Castellano's character Clemenza was killed off
and Gazzo was cast as Clemenza's successor in the Corleone crime family
in New York. Gazzo was outstanding as the old-fashioned,
unsophisticated mafioso who, believing he has been betrayed and marked
for death by his don, turns state's evidence against him, only to honor
the Mafia code of "omerta" in the end. Gazzo won a Best Supporting
Actor Oscar nod for his performance.
Gazzo continued to work in films until his death, mostly assaying Mafia
bosses and other criminal types. On film, though, he was able to break
out of typecasting in his frequent television appearances and play good
guys. He died of a stroke on February 14, 1995 in Los Angeles, at the age of 71.
To theatro tis Defteras(1970)
Klobouk plný deste(1973)
Alta comedia(1965)
A Hatful of Rain(1968)
L.A. Law(1986)as Roscoe Zambini
Nothing to Lose(1994)as Joe
Johnny Bago(1993)as Don Roselli
Last Action Hero(1993)as Torelli
The Ring of the Musketeers(1992)as Papa
xXx: Return of Xander Cage(2017)
47th Annual Academy Awards(1975)as Self - Nominee
The Walter Winchell Show(1956)as Self
Special Collector's Edition(2010)as Chico Suarez
The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't(2008)
The 68th Annual Academy Awards(1996)as Self - Memorial Tribute
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980(1992)as Frankie Pentangeli
The Godfather: A Novel for Television(1977)as Frankie Pentangeli
