Danny Aiello Has Died
TMZ has brought us the sad news that Danny Aiello, an acting great whose IMDB page is just as impressive as Gina Gershon and Elizabeth Berkley’s (and yes, I say that because they both have Showgirls on their IMDB pages) is no longer with us. He was 86.
Danny’s family tells TMZ that he was being treated at a medical facility in New Jersey when he caught an infection. After his family visited him last night, he died shortly after.
“It is with profound sorrow to report that Danny Aiello, beloved husband, father, grandfather, actor and musician passed away last night after a brief illness. The family asks for privacy at this time. Service arrangements will be announced at a later date.”
Danny is a Manhattan native, and when he was 16, he really wanted to join the Army, so he lied his age to enlist. He served for three years, and when he got out, he returned to NYC and took up various jobs to help out his mom, who was legally blind and whose anal fissure of a husband left her with six kids to take care of (Danny later reconciled with his father). Danny worked as a labor rep for Greyhound and a bouncer at The Improv before he got into the acting game with his first role as a baseball player in 1973’s Bang The Drum Slowly with Robert De Niro. One year later, Danny was in another movie with Robert De Niro when he played Tony Rosato in The Godfather Part II where he ad-libbed the legendary line “Michael Corleone says hello!” while strangling a trick:
After The Godfather Part II, Danny was in many, many more movies including Once Upon a Time in America (also with Robert De Niro), The Purple Rose of Cairo, The Pick-up Artist, and of course, Moonstruck before Spike Lee cast him as pizzeria owner Sal in Do The Right Thing, which made him a bigger STAH and got him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.
And after Do The Right Thing, Danny kept the hits coming with Harlem Nights, Jacob’s Ladder, Hudson Hawk, Ruby, The Professional, 2 Days in the Valley, The Last Don, and Prêt-à-Porter where he played Teri Garr’s cross-dressing husband who was a buyer for Montgomery Ward (or was it Marshall Field?).
And while Danny Aiello has been in many classics, us children of the 80s, also know him as the papa a pregnant ass Madonna didn’t want to preach to her in the Papa Don’t Preach video.
Danny is survived by his wife of 64 years, Sandy, and three children. His son Danny Aiello III died of cancer in 2010.
Spike Lee, Cher, and Danny’s sports announcer nephew Michael Kay all paid tribute to him today:
Goodbye Dear #DannyAiello 💔
Danny was a Great Actor, But a
Genius Comedic Actor.We Laughed so much. Making #Moonstruck ..It was one of the happiest times in my life,& He Was apart of that Happy time.
Goodbye #JohnnyCammareri
💋Loretta— Cher (@cher) December 13, 2019
RIP, Uncle Danny. And say hi to my mom for me. pic.twitter.com/7JtaklraQ6
— Michael Kay (@RealMichaelKay) December 13, 2019
Danny wasn’t only a master at acting, he was also a master at working a pair of tinted glasses (see: the header pic above).
Rest in peace, Danny Aiello.
Pic: Wenn.com