Tough and volatile-looking Italianate character actor Alex Rocco was born in Boston and spent time training with such notable teachers as Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Corey to curb his thick Boston accent. In Hollywood from 1963, he worked as a bartender during the lean years and began his TV career in the late 60s. Slowly, he came to show sly, lethal menace in "big city" films and, in the next decade, notably played Las Vegas syndicate boss Moe Green who gets a bullet in the eye during the violent "christening sequence" of Mario Puzo's Oscar-winning Le parrain (1972). Finding a comfortable niche playing various swarthy-looking cronies, hoods and cops, he made a distinct impression when he switched to TV comedy and, in the late 80s, won an Emmy for The Famous Teddy Z (1989) during the 1989-1990 season. Other comedy series such as Sibs (1991) and The George Carlin Show (1994) came and went with over 400 TV appearances racked up so far. Recurring roles on Les Simpson (1989) and Drôle de vie (1979) (as Nancy McKeon's father) has kept him alive, as well. Rocco has appeared in two films helmed by his son, screenwriter and director Marc Rocco: Scenes from the Goldmine (1987) and De l'autre coté du rêve (1989). Other memorably flashy film roles include Les copains d'Eddie Coyle (1973), Les anges gardiens (1974), Le diable en boîte (1980), Les fantômes d'Halloween (1988), Get Shorty (Stars et truands) (1995) and Coup de foudre à Hollywood (1997).
