John Aprea, a charismatic character actor, plays young Salvatore Tessio The Godfather Part 2 and his father, played by John Stamos. Full housealready dead. He is 83 years old.
Aprea died of natural causes in Los Angeles on August 5, his manager Will Levine announced.
The New Jersey native has appeared in director Jonathan Demme’s productions. cage heat (1974), crazy mom (1975) and manchurian candidate (2004), starring Taylor Hackford as the brother of Ray Sharkey, a budding music promoter. idol maker (1980) Played a gangster in a Mario Van Peebles film new jack city (1991).
Aprea also had two starring roles on the NBC soap opera as fellow con man Lucas Castigliano and as multi-millionaire shipping magnate Alexander Nikos another world A ten-year journey (1989-98). Both characters end up being shot dead by women.
He plays the patriarch of a multi-generational Italian-American family on the NBC show. montefusco familyBut the comedy, created by Bill Persky and Sam DeNoff, lasted only nine episodes in 1975.
While bartending in Los Angeles, Apley met Francis Ford Coppola and auditioned for the role of Michael Corleone. godfather (1972). Of course, Al Pacino got the role, but Aprea did appear in the first sequel as Tessio, the gangster played by Abe Vigoda in the original.
He called Vigoda to learn more about the role and was reportedly told, “I don’t know what I did. Have fun, kid.” He said the performance was the highlight of his career.
Aprea reprises her role as Stamos’ Jesse Katsopolis’ exterminator father on the ABC show Full house He played the role from 1988-91 and reprized the role in the 2017 Netflix reboot.
Jonathan Aprea was born on March 4, 1941, in Englewood, New Jersey, to Italian immigrant parents. He and his family lived in Italy for several years before settling again in New Jersey, where he graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1959, where he played football.
Aprea moved to New York in the early 1960s to pursue an acting career, then came to Los Angeles to play a killer in Steve McQueen’s classic Bullitt (1967). He subsequently had roles in the following films: grasshopper (1970) and Curtis Hanson’s sweet kill (1972).
Aprea later starred as mob boss Albert Anastasia in the critically acclaimed 1981 NBC miniseries gangster chronicles.
He played Lieutenant Vince Novelli in the first two seasons (1982-84) of the ABC action series Matt Houston and had prominent storylines in two CBS primetime soap operas: playing Sheriff Jack North falcon crest In 1987, he played the evil Manny Vasquez in the film notts landing 1988.
His acting experience also includes guest appearances Mannix, rookie team, FBI, wonder woman, silk tracing, Montenegro family, unsolved case, NYPD Blue and CSI and work in movies mrs stepford (1975), american national anthem (1986) and game (1997).
Survivors include his third wife, Betsy, with whom he lived for 25 years; his daughter, Nicole, from a previous marriage to the actress Ninon Aprea; and stepson, Mary Card and Valentino. He was preceded in death by his sister, Rosanna;
