Chazz
Palminteri
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New York-born and raised Chazz Palminteri was
a natural choice to continue the Italianate torch in film. In the tradition
set forth in the 1970s by such icons as director Martin Scorsese and actors
Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Joe Pesci, Palminteri brought grit, muscle
and an evocative realism to the sidewalks of his New York neighborhood, violent
as they were.
Born in 1952, Palmintieri grew up in a tough area of the Bronx and it gave
young Calogero (Palminteri's given first name) the life lessons that would
later prove very useful. He graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and
started out pursuing his craft in 1973 studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actor's
Studio.
He appeared off-Broadway in the early 1980s while paying his dues as a bouncer
and doorman in nightclubs, among other jobs. In 1986 he headed west and found
that his ethnic qualifications helped tremendously. Slick attorneys, tough
hoods and hard-nosed cops were all part of his "tough guy" persona in such
TV shows as "Wiseguy" (1987), "Matlock" (1986) and "Hill
Street Blues" (1981). In films he started off playing a 1930s-style gangster
in Sylvester Stallone's _Oscar (1991/I)_ . Although his roles were sharp, well-acted
and with a distinct edge to them, there was nothing in them to show that he
was capable of stronger leading parts.
Then in 1988 he wrote himself a play entitled "A Bronx Tale," a powerful
one-man stage commentary in which he depicted his bruising childhood in great
detail, which included witnessing gangland slayings. Palminteri brought each
and every character to life (18 in all) in this autobiographical piece -- his
friends, enemies, even his own family. He showcased for years in both Los Angeles
and New York, finally sparking the interest of his film idol, Robert De Niro.
DeNiro, wanting to direct for the first time, saw the potential of this project
and brought both it and the actor/writer to the screen. Palminteri played one
of the flashier roles, Sonny, a gangster, in the movie version. An unknown
film commodity at the time, he had stubbornly refused to sell his stage property
(the offers went into the seven figures) unless he was part of the package
as both actor and screenwriter. DeNiro, who became his mentor, backed him up
all the way, and the rest is history.
A Bronx Tale (1993) was a major crowd pleaser as well as a critical hit, and,
at age 41 Palminteri became an "overnight" star. Other important projects
quickly fell his way. He received a well-deserved Oscar nomination the following
year for his portrayal in Woody Allen's hilarious jazz-era comedy Bullets Over
Broadway (1994) of a Runyonesque-type hit man. He was on the right side of the
law in both The Perez Family (1995) - his first romantic lead--and The Usual
Suspects (1995). He was the ill-fated brute in Diabolique (1996) and wrote a
second screenplay, Faithful (1996), in which he again plays a hit man, terrorizing
both Cher and Ryan O'Neal. Though finding himself invariably caught in a rather
tight-fitting typecast, it has been a secure and flashy one that continues to
run strong into the millennium. Surprisingly, the one obvious show he has yet
to be featured in is HBO's "The Sopranos" (1999), but it's probably
just a matter of time.
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Shut Up and Eat: Mangia
With Recipes and Stories From Your Favorite Italian-American Stars.
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