Rocco’s Modern Death

Alex Rocco, best remembered as Jo Polniaczek’s neer-do-well father, has died of cancer at the age of 79. His gravelly voice and roughhewn features ensured a career of roles as the heavy, most notably Moe Greene, who made the mistake of slapping around Fredo and telling Michael Corleone to get the hell out of Las Vegas, earning himself a spot in the Montage of Murder in The Godfather. Rocco came by his mobster roles honestly, having been a wannabe member of Whitey Bulger’s Winter Hill Gang in Boston as a kid. He used his connections to set up a meeting between Robert Mitchum and Boston’s Irish underworld to help him research his role in The Friends of Eddie Coyle. After an arrest, he moved to LA and started taking acting lessons from Leonard Nimoy. Other roles included Roger Meyers, Jr., head of Itchy and Scratchy Studios, on The Simpsons, Sol Siler, founder of Playtone Records, in That Thing You Do!, Al Floss, The Famous Teddy Z’s agent, for which he won an Emmy, after the show had been cancelled.