| Vincent Schiavelli | |
| Birth Name: | Vincent Andrew Schiavelli |
| Birth Date: | 11 November 1948 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Polizzi Generosa, Sicily, Italy |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Years Active: | 1971–2005 1993−2005 (writing) |
| Children: | 1 |
Vincent Andrew Schiavelli (; November 11, 1948 – December 26, 2005) was an American character actor noted for his work on stage, screen, and television.[1] Described as an "instantly recognizable sad-faced actor", he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome in childhood.[2]
Schiavelli gained fame as a character actor, mainly in supporting roles. His better-known roles include Fredrickson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Mr. Vargas in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), the Subway Ghost in Ghost (1990), Organ Grinder in Batman Returns (1992), Buggy Ding Dong in Death To Smoochy (2002), Chester in The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Dr. Kaufman in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and ABC executive Maynard Smith in Man on the Moon (1999). Schiavelli is the subject of the biographical film, Tanti Beddi Cosi (English, Many Beautiful Things) about his return to Polizzi Generosa, the historically significant ancestral village of his grandfather.
Schiavelli was born in Brooklyn, New York City to Sicilian-Americans John Schiavelli and Katherine Coco. He attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn. He was raised in the large Sicilian neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn; the stories and recipes of which he shared in his 1998 book Bruculinu, Remembrances of Sicilian American Brooklyn. He studied acting through the theatre program at New York University and began performing on stage in the 1960s.
Schiavelli's first film role occurred in Miloš Forman's 1971 production Taking Off,[1] where he played a counselor who taught parents of runaway teens to smoke marijuana to better understand their children's experiences. Schiavelli's aptitude and distinctive appearance soon provided him with a steady stream of supporting roles, often in Forman's films, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Valmont, and the 1999 biopic Man on the Moon.
He played Mr. Vargas, the biology teacher, in the 1982 comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a role he reprised in the 1986 television spin-off Fast Times. He was cast in a similar role in Better Off Dead in which he played Mr. Kerber, a geometry teacher.
In 1987, he starred alongside Tim Conway in the short film comedy Dorf on Golf, and then Dorf and the First Games of Mount Olympus in 1988. In 1990, he played the Subway Ghost in Ghost and in 1992, he played in Tim Burton's Batman Returns as the "Organ Grinder", one of the Penguin's henchmen. He appeared as another villain in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), as a silent monk in The Frisco Kid (1979), and as John O'Connor, one of the evil Red Lectroids in 1984's The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. In 1994 he appeared in the music video for ZZ Top's "Breakaway", alongside Fairuza Balk and in 1997, was named one of America's best character actors by Vanity Fair magazine. He also made several voice appearances in the animated television show Hey Arnold!. In 2002, he played a children's television show host turned heroin addict named Buggy Ding Dong in Death to Smoochy.[3]
His first television role came in 1972 as Peter Panama in The Corner Bar, the first sustained portrayal of a gay character on American television. His other television credits include The Moneychangers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, WKRP in Cincinnati, Benson, and Taxi as the priest who marries Latka and Simka. He appeared in the episode "The Arsenal of Freedom" as a holographic salesman, on Miami Vice as a research scientist who conspires to steal a top-secret prototype weapon from his employer, and in an uncredited role in an episode of Punky Brewster. In 1987 he appeared as Lyle, a gangster, in the MacGyver season 2 episode "Soft Touch". In , he played Leo Atkins, a homeless Vietnam War veteran accused of murder in the Season 1 episode "Innocent Man". In The X-Files, he played Lanny, a man with an underdeveloped conjoined twin in the Season 2 episode "Humbug".
Schiavelli was honorary co-chair of the National Marfan Foundation, an organization that serves those affected by Marfan syndrome, a condition that Schiavelli had.[4]
Schiavelli also performed in a few video games, including (as Harkonnen Mentat Yanich Kobal) and as Dr. Hellman in the video game Corpse Killer.
Schiavelli was married twice. He and his first wife, actress Allyce Beasley, were married from 1985 to 1988. They appeared together in an episode of Moonlighting, Beasley's television series. They had one son, composer Andrea Schiavelli. Vincent Schiavelli then married harpist Carol Sue Mukhalian on October 23, 1992. They remained married until his death.[5]
Schiavelli died of lung cancer on December 26, 2005, at the age of 57 at his home in Polizzi Generosa, the Sicilian town where his grandfather Andrea Coco was born, and about which he wrote in his 2002 book Many Beautiful Things: Stories and Recipes from Polizzi Generosa .[6] He was buried at Polizzi Generosa Cemetery near Palermo, Sicily.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Taking Off | Schiavelli | ||
| 1974 | The Great Gatsby | Thin Man | Uncredited | |
| 1974 | For Pete's Sake | Grocery Clerk | ||
| 1975 | The Happy Hooker | Music Guru | ||
| 1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Bruce Frederickson[7] | ||
| 1976 | Next Stop, Greenwich Village | Rent Party Guest | Uncredited | |
| 1976 | Angels | Tex | ||
| 1977 | Another Man, Another Chance | Train Traveler | Uncredited | |
| 1978 | An Unmarried Woman | Man at Party | ||
| 1979 | Guard | |||
| 1979 | The Frisco Kid | Brother Bruno | ||
| 1980 | The Gong Show Movie | Mario Romani | ||
| 1980 | Seed of Innocence | Leo | ||
| 1980 | The Return | Prospector | ||
| 1981 | American Pop | Theatre Owner | ||
| 1981 | Chu Chu and the Philly Flash | B.J. | ||
| 1981 | The Gangster Chronicles | Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro | ||
| 1982 | Night Shift | Carl | ||
| 1982 | Fast Times at Ridgemont High | Mr. Vargas | ||
| 1983 | The Selling of Vince D'Angelo | Vince's Right Hand Man | ||
| 1984 | Kidco | Phil Porzinski | ||
| 1984 | The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension | John O'Connor | ||
| 1984 | Amadeus | Salieri's Valet | ||
| 1984 | Johnny Dangerously | Roman Moronie's Building Planner | Uncredited | |
| 1985 | Better Off Dead | Mr. Kerber | ||
| 1988 | Time Out | Receptionist | ||
| 1989 | Cold Feet | Vet | ||
| 1989 | Homer and Eddie | Priest | ||
| 1989 | Valmont | Jean | ||
| 1990 | Playroom | Roman Hart | ||
| 1990 | Waiting for the Light | Mullins | ||
| 1990 | Mister Frost | Angelo | ||
| 1990 | Ghost | Subway Ghost | ||
| 1990 | Penny Ante: The Motion Picture | Davidson | ||
| 1991 | Another You | Dentist | ||
| 1991 | Ted & Venus | Publisher | ||
| 1992 | Batman Returns | Organ Grinder | ||
| 1992 | Miracle Beach | Mystic | ||
| 1993 | Painted Desert | Harry | ||
| 1994 | Lurking Fear | Knaggs | ||
| 1994 | Cultivating Charlie | Martin | ||
| 1995 | Escape to Witch Mountain | Waldo Fudd | ||
| 1995 | 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up | Mayor | ||
| 1995 | Lord of Illusions | Vinovich | ||
| 1995 | Two Much | Sommelier | ||
| 1996 | Back to Back | Leonardo | ||
| 1996 | The People vs. Larry Flynt | Chester | ||
| 1997 | The Beautician and the Beast | Jailer | ||
| 1997 | Tomorrow Never Dies | Dr. Kaufman | ||
| 1998 | Casper Meets Wendy | Matthew Jeeder | ||
| 1998 | Love Kills | Emmet | ||
| 1998 | Restons groupés | Gary | ||
| 1998 | Carney Boss | |||
| 1998 | Milo | Dr. Matthew | ||
| 1999 | Inferno | Mr. Singh | ||
| 1999 | Treehouse Hostage | Gardener | Uncredited | |
| 1999 | Man on the Moon | Maynard Smith, ABC Executive | ||
| 1999 | The Prince and the Surfer | Baumgarten | ||
| 1999 | American Virgin | Cab Driver | ||
| 2000 | 3 Strikes | Cortino | ||
| 2000 | The Pooch and the Pauper | Willy Wishbow | ||
| 2001 | Wednesday | |||
| 2001 | American Saint | Charley Grebbini | ||
| 2002 | Mr. Bailey | Voice | ||
| 2002 | Death to Smoochy | Buggy Ding Dong | ||
| 2002 | Solino | Director Baldi | ||
| 2002 | The 4th Tenor | Marcello | ||
| 2003 | Baadasssss! | Jerry | ||
| 2003 | Ferrari | Mr. Paradise | ||
| 2003 | Baggage | Thomas Horelick | ||
| 2003 | Gli Indesiderabili | Frank Frigenti | ||
| 2005 | Miracle in Palermo! | Federico II | ||
| 2005 | Once Upon a Time in Polizzi | Himself | ||
| 2006 | Nuovomondo | Marriage Broker | Posthumous role | |
| 2007 | Oliviero Rising | Albino | Posthumous role | |
| 2010 | The Passport | Inspector Manuel Silvera | Short film, posthumous role, final film role |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | The Corner Bar | Peter Panama | ||
| 1978 | Rescue from Gilligan's Island | Dimitri | Television film | |
| 1979 | WKRP In Cincinnati | Don Pesola #1 | Episode: "The Contest Nobody Could Win" | |
| 1980 | Escape | J.W. White | Television film | |
| 1980 | White Mama | Medic | ||
| 1980 | Nightside | Tom Adams | Television film | |
| 1981 | Comedy of Horrors | Gregory | Television film | |
| 1981 | The Fall Guy | Motel manager | Television film | |
| 1983 | Little Shots | Smokey Joe | Television film | |
| 1984 | The Ratings Game | Skip | Television film | |
| 1985 | Lots of Luck | Skinny | Television film | |
| 1985 | Moonlighting | Rodney Dillon | Episode: "Next Stop Murder" | |
| 1985 | Otherworld | Priest | Episode: "Village of the Motorpigs" | |
| 1985 | Who's The Boss? | Motel Manager | 2 Episodes | |
| 1986 | Remington Steele | Leon Pulver | Episode: "Steele on the Air" | |
| 1987 | MacGyver | Lyle | Episode: "Soft Touch" | |
| 1987 | The Peddler | Episode: "The Arsenal of Freedom" | ||
| 1987 | Bride of Boogedy | Lazarus | Television film | |
| 1991 | Eerie, Indiana | The Dentist | Episode:The Retainer | |
| 1992 | Leo | Episode: "Innocent Man" | ||
| 1993 | Zatara | Voice, episode: "Zatanna" | ||
| 1995 | The Courtyard | Ivan | Television film | |
| 1995 | Brother's Destiny | Davinport | Television film | |
| 1995 | The X-Files | Lanny | Episode: "Humbug" | |
| 1996 | Hey Arnold! | Pigeon Man, Mr. Bailey | Voice, 2 episodes | |
| 1998 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Enyos | 2 episodes | |
| 2005 | La bambina dalle mani sporche | Silva Roibes |