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Joe Viterelli

Joe Viterelli

Acting

Biography

Joseph "Joe" Viterelli (March 10, 1937 – January 28, 2004) was an Italian American actor known for his mafioso-orientated character roles. Joe Viterelli was born to Italian immigrants in Bronx, New York. Before Viterelli became an actor, he was a successful businessman in New York City. He had befriended director Leo Penn (actor Sean Penn's father), who initially tried but failed to persuade Viterelli to pursue acting because of his unique and typically Italian looks. Some years later, Sean Penn approached Viterelli and asked him to try out for a part as a favor: Viterelli did and went on to appear in State of Grace and then in over 40 movies. Joe Viterelli became an icon of Mafia-Movies. Viterelli died on January 28, 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada due to a severe stomach hemorrhage, a complication of just-completed heart surgery. He was 66 years old. His last role was as a mobster in a 2004 Super Bowl ad for Staples, Inc. and his last movie role was as Jelly in Harold Ramis’ Analyze That.

Known For

Palace Guard
5.7

Palace Guard is the story of a reformed jewel thief and cat burglar, Tommy Logan, who, after serving three years in prison, is released on parole and accepts an offer to become the head of security for the posh Palace Hotel chain. There were two reasons for this somewhat unusual job offer. One was that Logan had previously enjoyed great success in stealing from the high-class clientele of the Palace chain, and hence it was thought that he'd understand how to prevent others from doing so. And the other was that Tommy was the illegitimate son of the chain's owner, Arturo Taft, though Taft did not reveal this to Logan. The show centered primarily around the working relationship between Logan and his new boss, Christy Cooper, the hotel chain's Vice-President of Public Relations. In each episode, Logan and Cooper travelled to a hotel in a different city where Logan would help avert some disaster using quirky and questionable methods, leaving Cooper to sweep up the fallout.

Palace Guard

1991Series