Alex Rocco, who famously played the very-quotable Moe Greene in “The Godfather,” died over the weekend at age 79.
Rocco had a long career in film and television, but will always be best remembered for playing the Jewish gangster who went into the casino business with the Corleone family, then got on its bad side.
According to the Washington Post, when Rocco met director Francis Ford Coppola, he wanted to play one of the Italian mobsters.
“But Coppola goes, ‘I got my Jew!’ And I went, ‘Oh no, Mr. Coppola, I’m Italian,'” he told the A.V. Club in 2012. “I wouldn’t know how to play a Jew.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, shut up.’
“He says, ‘The Italians do this,’ and he punches his fingers up. ‘And the Jews do this,’ and his hand’s extended, the palm flat. Greatest piece of direction I ever got. I’ve been playing Jews ever since.”
Rocco was famous for barking out a few pieces of dialogue to Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone when Corleone came to Las Vegas to try wresting control of their jointly-owned casino from Greene.
“No, I buy you out. You don’t buy me out,” he said.
After Corleone dismissively told him “I leave for New York tomorrow. Think about a price,” Rocco’s Greene had to be held back, saying “Do you know who I am? I’m Moe Greene. I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!”
Yeah … he ended up getting shot in the eye for that.
Sorry if that’s a spoiler for you. But you’ve had more than 40 years to watch the film.
Over a 50-year-career, Rocco appeared in scores of TV films of TV shows, while also doing voice-over work. Most notably, he played studio boss Roger Meyers Jr. in “The Simpsons” and Thorny the ant in “A Bug’s Life.”
On the small screen, Rocco appeared on shows like “Starsky and Hutch,” Walker Texas Ranger,” “The Facts of Life,” “The George Carlin Show,” and “Murphy Brown.” He won an Emmy in 1990 for playing a talent agent in “The Famous Teddy Z.” He also had a recurring role in Starz network’s “Magic City.”
Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who worked on “Magic City,” with Rocco, released a statement to Variety the world lost “an amazing talent.”
“For those of us lucky enough to get to know Rocco, we were blessed,” said Morgan. “He gave the best advice, told the best and dirtiest jokes and was the first to give you a hug and kiss when it was needed.”
Tony Hicks writes celebrity commentary for the Bay Area News Group. Contact him at Facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.TonyHicks or Twitter.com/tonyhicks67
