Alex Rocco (born Alessandro Federico Petricone Jr.; February 29, 1936 – July 18, 2015) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive, gravelly voice, he was often cast as villains, including Moe Greene in The Godfather (1972) and his Primetime Emmy Award–winning role in The Famous Teddy Z. Rocco did a significant amount of voice-over work later in his career.
Early life Rocco was born as Alessandro Federico Petricone Jr.,Obituary, cbsnews.com; accessed July 20, 2015. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1936, and raised in nearby Somerville, the son of an Italian immigrant, Mary (née DiBiase; 1909–1978) and Alessandro Sam Petricone (1896–1949), a native of Gaeta, Italy. Rocco served in the National Guard during the Korean War.Rocco, Alex 1936- PERSONAL Encyclopedia.com Retrieved March 26, 2022.
Criminal activity and arrests In January 1960, Rocco—then known as Alexander F. Petricone—was one of 28 persons indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury in a gambling case, and in September 1961, he was arrested along with James McLean and others on charges related to an assault on the owner of a diner in Somerville, and the wrecking of his establishment, the previous August.
According to organized crime turncoat Vincent Teresa, Petricone was a hanger-on with the Winter Hill Gang of the Boston area. An unwanted advance toward Petricone's 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.Teresa, Vincent. "My Life in the Mafia."
Petricone was arrested in Charlestown on October 31, 1961, along with McLean on suspicion of murder following the death of Bernie McLaughlin of the Charlestown Mob, the first murder of the war. He was working as a bartender.
A witness claimed that Petricone was the driver of the getaway car, and he and McLean were formally charged in the slaying on November 1, 1961. Petricone and McLean were released after a grand jury found a lack of evidence, but both served a prison term for the diner wrecking. In 1962, while Petricone was in prison, his wife's car was bombed. Police believed the bomb was intended for Howie Winter, head of the Winter Hill Gang, who had driven the car to her earlier.
Acting career After completing his prison term for the diner assault, Petricone and his wife divorced and he moved to California. He later recounted, "I had to get out of Boston, so I flipped a coin and said 'Heads, Miami, tails, California'." He began taking acting lessons from actor Leonard Nimoy, a fellow Boston native. Nimoy worked with him to eliminate his heavy Boston accent and had him take speech lessons. Rocco followed through with Nimoy's instructions, and started working in the film industry, adopting the name "Alex Rocco" after seeing "Rocco" on a bakery truck.
His first film role was in Russ Meyer's Motorpsycho! in 1965.
In 1972, Rocco played the part of Moe Greene, a Las Vegas casino owner, in Coppola's The Godfather. Greene's character represented the top Jewish mobster in Las Vegas; although he sought an Italian role, director Francis Ford Coppola remarked "I got my Jew!" on seeing Rocco. The same year, Rocco returned to the Boston area to play a bank robber in the film The Friends of Eddie Coyle. He 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, who had murdered Billy O'Brien, a low-level gangster.
In the fall of 1975, Rocco starred as Pete Karras in Three for the Road. In the long-running, 1980s TV series The Facts of Life, Rocco played Charlie Polniaczek, Jo's father. In 1989, he played Gus Keller in the Corey Feldman and Corey Haim movie Dream a Little Dream. In the period 1989–90, Rocco was a regular on the television comedy series The Famous Teddy Z as Al Floss, a Hollywood talent agent. He received an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for this role in 1990. In 1995, Rocco appeared as Jimmy Capp, a Miami mob boss, in the John Travolta mob comedy, Get Shorty. In 1997, he appeared, along with Rodney Dangerfield and others, in the annual Thanksgiving episode of the ABC sitcom Home Improvement.
In the 1996 film That Thing You Do!, Rocco had a cameo part as Sol Siler, the founder of Playtone Records, a performance that was rated by The Observer'''s critic as his "favorite [part] in the movie." Rocco appeared as Salvatore in the 2001 film The Wedding Planner, and (uncredited) in the action thriller Smokin' Aces.
Rocco had a recurring voiceover part in the long-running animated series The Simpsons as the head of Itchy and Scratchy Studios, Roger Meyers Jr. In the DVD commentaries, Rocco expressed true gratitude to The Simpsons staff for allowing him his first voiceover role. He did further voice work on two early episodes of the Fox hit sitcom, Family Guy and on the 1998 Disney/Pixar film A Bug's Life. He deemed the latter to have been his "greatest prize in life," since he was paid $1 million to record eight lines.
In 2008, Rocco starred in the Super Bowl commercial for the Audi R8 supercar. The commercial was inspired by The Godfather. He played 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. He was also featured on the Starz cable channel's crime-drama series, Magic City. His last role was in the 2010s BBC2 TV series Episodes'', playing the "curmudgeonly" father of Matt LeBlanc's character.
Personal life His first marriage was to Grace Petricone, and they had one daughter.
After moving to Los Angeles, Rocco became a member of the Baháʼí Faith, and he appeared in a number of productions related to the religion over the years. He also thanked Baháʼu'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith, in his Emmy Award acceptance speech.
After moving to California, he married Sandra Elaine in 1964. He adopted her son, Marc King, who became known as Marc Rocco.
Rocco married Shannon Wilcox, on October 15, 2005.Obituary for Sandra Rocco , uga.edu; accessed July 20, 2015.
Death Alex Rocco died on July 18, 2015, from pancreatic cancer in his Studio City home, at the age of 79.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes 1965 Motorpsycho Cory Maddox 1967 Diamond 1968 Detective at Apartment of Victim #10 Uncredited 1970 Blood Mania Lawyer 1971 Wild Riders Stick 1971 Brute Corps Wicks 1972 Moe Greene 1972 Stanley Richard Thomkins 1973 Bonnie's Kids Eddy 1973 The Outside Man Miller 1973 Slither Man with Ice Cream 1973 Jimmy Scalise 1973 Detroit 9000 Lieutenant 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 1975 A Woman for All Men Lt. Robert Di Biase 1975 Hearts of the West Earl 1977 Fire Sale Al 1978 Rabbit Test Sergeant Danny Bonhoff 1979 Voices Frank Rothman 1980 Herbie Goes Bananas Quinn 1980 Police Chief Jake 1981 Nobody's Perfekt The Boss 1982 Jerry Anderson 1984 Cannonball Run II Tony 1985 Stick Firestone 1985 Gotcha! Al 1985 Stiffs Pasquale 1987 P.K. and the Kid Les 1987 Return to Horror High Harry Sleerik 1987 Scenes from the Goldmine Nathan DiAngelo 1988 Lady in White Angelo "Al" Scarlatti 1989 Dream a Little Dream Gus Keller 1989 Wired Arnie Fromson 1990 How to Murder a Millionaire Walter Newman 1991 Cardinal Rocco 1992 Boris and Natasha: The Movie Sheldon Kaufman 1995 The Flight of the Dove Bartender 1995 Get Shorty Jimmy Cap Uncredited 1996 That Thing You Do! Sol Siler 1996 Dead of Night Bukowski 1997 Just Write Mr. McMurphy 1998 Goodbye Lover Detective Crowley 1998 A Bug's Life Thorny Voice 1999 Dudley Do-Right Kumquat Chief 2000 Poker Player #6 2001 Salvatore Fiore 2001 Face to Face Phil 2002 Rip Holland 2003 Vernon Cray 2005 Crazylove Uncle Cort 2006 Find Me Guilty Nick Calabrese 2006 Jam Mick 2006 Smokin' Aces Serna 2009 Ready or Not Don Julio 2010 Now Here Mr. Martin 2011 Batman: Year One Carmine Falcone Voice 2011 And They're Off Saul Youngerman 2013 The House Across the Street Mr. Barnes 2014 Scammerhead Ben Sarnus 2016 Silver Skies FrankPosthumous release 2017 Don't Sleep Mr. Marino Posthumous release; Final film role
Television Year Title Role Notes 1967 Batman Block Episodes: "A Piece of Action" and "Batman's Satisfaction" 1970 That Girl Biff 1 episode 1971 Mission: Impossible Tanner Episode: "Blues" 1972 Matt Wilnor 1 episode 1972 Cannon Hit Man Episode: "Hear No Evil" 1973 Cannon Walter Koether Episode: "Target in the Mirror" 1973 Kojak Tony Crucio Episode: "Knockover" 1973 Circle of Fear Joseph Moretti 1 episode 1974 Earl Fisher 1 episode 1975 Hustling Swifty TV film 1975 Cannon Paul Episode: "Search and Destroy" 1975 Three for the Road Pete Karras 14 episodes 1977 Police Story Investigator Phil Logan Episode: "Nightmare on a Sunday Morning" 1977 Barnaby Jones Harry Stroop 1 episode 1977 The Rockford Files Sherman Royle 2 episodes 1977 Starsky & Hutch Thomas Callendar 2 episodes 1977 The Mary Tyler Moore Show Ben Selwyn Episode: Lou's Army Reunion 1978 Ralph Corliss Television film 1981–1988 Charlie Polniaczek 11 episodes 1980 CHiPs Ansgar Episodes: "The Great 5K Star Race and Boulder Wrap Party": Part 1 and Part 2 1982 The First Time Jay Television film 1983 The Best of Times Gene Falcone Television pilot 1984 St. Elsewhere Roger Episode: "Breathless"1984SteambathTom DevonEpisode: "Madison Avenue Madness" 1985 Murder, She Wrote Ernie Santini Episode: "Tough Guys Don't Die" 1985 Glen O'Brien Episode: "That Was No Lady" 1985 Sonny Monroe Episode: "Champ!" 1985 Badge of the Assassin Detective Bill Butler NYPD Television film 1986 Murder, She Wrote Bert Yardley Episode: "Christopher Bundy – Died on Sunday" 1987 Rags to Riches Michael Rapp 1 episode 1987 Hotel Phil Johnson Episode: "Desperate Moves" 1987 Hunter Floyd Benson Episode: "Hot Prowl" 1989 Murphy Brown Al Floss 1 episode 1989–1990 Al Floss Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Comedy Series 1990–1997 Roger Meyers Jr. Voice3 episodes 1991–1992 Sibs Howie Ruscio 23 episodes1993Love, Honor & Obey: The Last Mafia MarriageUncle FrankTV movie 1994 Harry Rossetti 11 episodes 1995 Can't Hurry Love Michael O'Donnell Episode: "Daddy's Girl" 1996Pinky and the Brain Floyd Nesbit VoiceEpisode: "Fly" 1996 Mad About You Mark Slotkin Episode: "Outbreak" 1997 Early Edition Barney Kadison Episode: "Home" 1997 Home Improvement Irv Schmayman Episode: "Thanksgiving" 1998 Michael Hayes Bernero 1 episode 1999 Family Law Goodman 1 episode 1999 Family Guy Soccer Mom VoiceEpisode: "Mind Over Murder" 1999 Sabrina the Teenage Witch TV Executive Episode: "Sabrina's Real World" 1999 Just Shoot Me! Charlie Gold Episode: "Shaking Private Trainer" 2000 Walker, Texas Ranger Johnny "Giovanni Rossini" Rose Episode: "Wedding Bells" 2001 Family Guy Bea Arthur VoiceEpisode: "Ready, Willing and Disabled" 2001–2004 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 4 episodes 2012 Private Practice Ed Episode: "Aftershock" 2014–2015 Episodes Dick LeBlanc 2 episodes 2015 Maron David Rosen Episode: "Stroke of Luck"
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