1. Joe Spinell played supporting roles in film including The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Rocky, Rocky II, Taxi Driver, Sorcerer and Cruising.
26 Facts About Joe Spinell
1. 2.
Joe Spinell played lead roles in horror films, sharing the screen with actress Caroline Munro in the first two: the psychological slasher film Maniac, the horror comedy The Last Horror Film, and the slasher film The Undertaker, which was released posthumously.
3.
Joe Spinell's mother, Filomena Spagnuolo, was an actress who played bit parts in several movies, some of them alongside her son.
4.
Joe Spinell was born at his family's apartment on Second Avenue in Kips Bay, Manhattan, an area then home to 10,000 Italian Americans.
5.
Joe Spinell was born with hemophilia and had chronic asthma for most of his life.
6.
Joe Spinell performed with a troupe called Theater of the Forgotten, who specialized in staging unconventional performances, such as in prisons, and went through a number of jobs in New York, including a taxi driver and a clerk at both a post office and liquor store.
7.
Joe Spinell was so liked by Coppola that he was hired as a day player for the film's six-month shoot, and while he worked in an uncredited capacity, the only actor in the film who was paid more than him was Marlon Brando.
8.
In 1974, Spinell reprised his role as Willi Cicci in The Godfather Part II, where Cicci is still working for the Corleone crime family, but having been promoted from "soldier" to being the personal bodyguard to Frank Pentangeli.
9.
That year, Spinell played the role of Gazzo, a loan shark in John G Avildsen's Rocky.
10.
Joe Spinell played the main antagonist in Luigi Cozzi's Italian-produced space opera Starcrash, starring Caroline Munro and Marjoe Gortner.
11.
Joe Spinell reprised his role as Gazzo in Rocky II this time directed by Sylvester Stallone.
12.
In 1981, Joe Spinell had a supporting role in the Sylvester Stallone action film Nighthawks, and Richard Elfman's Forbidden Zone.
13.
Joe Spinell acted in Curtis Hanson's Losin' It, Nicolas Roeg's Eureka, and Fred Williamson's The Last Fight.
14.
Early in 1986, Joe Spinell guest starred as a Mob Boss on the television series, The Equalizer in "Wash Up" opposite Robert Davi.
15.
In 1987, Joe Spinell acted in The Pick-up Artist, and Deadly Illusion.
16.
In 1988, Spinell played a corrupt military official in David A Prior's Operation Warzone.
17.
In 1989, Spinell played a US government official in Rapid Fire, directed by David A Prior which was his final role.
18.
Joe Spinell was set to reprise his role as Willi Cicci in The Godfather Part III but he died before filming began.
19.
Joe Spinell's character was replaced by Joey Zasa, played by Joe Mantegna.
20.
Joe Spinell was married to adult film star Jean Jennings from February 1977 to July 1979.
21.
Joe Spinell had a falling out with Sylvester Stallone during the filming of their final collaboration, Nighthawks.
22.
Joe Spinell was known to abuse drugs and alcohol intermittently throughout his career and would suffer from periods of depression.
23.
This, coupled with his mother's death, caused Joe Spinell to fall into ill health in his final years.
24.
Joe Spinell died in his apartment in Queens, New York on January 13,1989, at the age of 52.
25.
Joe Spinell had cut himself badly after slipping in the shower and his hemophilia caused him to bleed to death.
26.
Joe Spinell was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens near his home.