Wed
3 Jan
2007
Frank Campanella Dies
Posted by Slobokan @ 10:58 pm
147 words · print
Sphere: Related ContentFrank Campanella, the hulking character actor who played tough guys in the 100-plus films and television shows he was in, has died. He was 87.
The 6-foot-5-inch Campanella died Saturday at his San Fernando Valley home, his family said.
“He always wanted to be an actor and kind of influenced me,” his older brother, actor Joseph Campanella, said.
…
Born in New York on March 12, 1919, Campanella enrolled at Manhattan College as a drama major. During World War II he worked as a civilian interpreter, deciphering Italian and Sicilian dialects for the U.S. government.
“We grew up speaking Italian before speaking English,” Joseph Campanella said. “We were your big Italian family.”
Frank Campanella helped Robert De Niro with the Sicilian dialogue in “The Godfather Part II.”
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Jan. 17 at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in suburban North Hollywood.
Posted In: Obituaries
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Posted by Val Tonione
January 6, 2007 @ 10:43 am
Here is the eulogy I gave at his mass on Friday. Thank you for remembering him.
“…let happy memories sustain you if your strength fails you, they are always there, and their current does not run backwards, even across foggy country it floats toward the future.”
“Be patient with all that is unsolved in your heart and try to solve the questions themselves.â€
Rainer Maria Rilke
Va’, pensiero, sull’ali dorate.
Fly, thoughts, on wings of gold
Good morning, the headlines say:
Frank Campanella, the hulking character actor who played tough guys in the 100-plus films and television shows he was in, has died.
Everyone, however knew him as “uncle Frankâ€, and with 13 nieces and nephews who could argue that.
He did play the tough guy in many films, but he could also be wise, as in Heaven Can Wait, a ships captain in Overboard with Goldie Hawn, compassionate as a bartender in Pretty Woman, or very funny as in……
His Television career began when most families didn’t even own a TV and continued until they can now watch his Coors Light commercial on their cel phone.
His is a history of television itself, starting as Mook the Moon Man in Captain Video in 1949 and continuing with such shows as “The Fall Guy,” “Hardcastle and McCormick,” “St. Elsewhere,” “The Love Boat,” “Barnaby Jones,” “Maude,” “The Rockford Files,” “All in the Family,” “Kojak,” “Route 66″ and “Quincy M.E.” Oh and sometimes with his brother Joe in “The Bold Ones†and many others.
He kept on working, just last August I took him to an audition for a Visa card commercial, to play the part of Scrooge. He didn’t get the job, but in his always look on the sunny side, he explained that they thought he looked too young for the part….. I am told by his agent that he was called for an audition this week, but heaven couldn’t wait.
Posted by Slobokan
January 6, 2007 @ 1:13 pm
Val,
Thank you for taking a moment to stop by and share your eulogy with us.