Robert Loggia obit

Robert Loggia, 'Scarface' and 'Big' actor, dies at 85

He was not on the list.

Robert Loggia, the gravelly voiced character actor who danced with Tom Hanks on a giant floor keyboard in "Big," fought aliens in "Independence Day" and trafficked in drugs in "Scarface," died on Friday at age 85, his widow said.

Loggia, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1985 thriller "Jagged Edge," died at his home in Los Angeles after battling Alzheimer's disease for five years, Audrey O'Brien Loggia told Reuters.

"He loved being an actor - he was a wonderful actor - and loved his profession and his life," she said, adding that he died with her and their two daughters at his side. "We've been together 41 years. He is going be terribly missed."

Loggia had been a journeyman actor on stage, TV and films until he made an impression playing Richard Gere's abusive and alcoholic father in the 1982 blockbuster "An Officer and a Gentleman." That performance led to meaty roles in other box-office hits.He even voiced the role of Sykes in Disney's Oliver and Company.

In director Brian De Palma's hit 1983 crime drama "Scarface," Loggia played drug lord Frank Lopez alongside Al Pacino in the violent tale of Miami mobsters.

Two years later, Loggia was a seedy private detective in "Jagged Edge," starring Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close. He lost the best supporting actor Oscar to Don Ameche of "Cocoon."

Also in 1985, he starred alongside Jack Nicholson in director John Huston's black comedy "Prizzi's Honor," which was nominated for a best picture Oscar.

His most famous role was in director Penny Marshall's bittersweet comedy "Big" (1988) starring Hanks as a boy whose wish to become an adult magically comes true. Hanks' character -a boy in an adult body - ends up working for a toy company headed by Loggia.

Together they danced to the songs "Heart and Soul" and "Chopsticks" on the jumbo floor keyboard at New York's fabled FAO Schwarz toy store in what was one of the famous cinematic scenes of the 1980s.

Loggia said Marshall allowed him and Hanks a lot of freedom in deciding how the scene would unfold, giving them a cardboard mock-up of the keyboard a few weeks before the scene was shot.

"She very cleverly said, 'I don't want you to look like trained dancers, but you do the melody and you ... and Tom, you work it out for yourself. There will be no rehearsal and we'll be at FAO Schwarz about a month down the line and we're going to do it, and let's see what happens,'" Loggia told the Miami Herald in 2006.

"And that's why it's a movie-magic scene," Loggia said.

"Big" became one of the year's top-grossing films, earned Hanks his first Oscar nomination, and was the first movie directed by a woman to top $100 million at the box office.

Loggia also had a key supporting role in "Independence Day," the top-grossing film of 1996. He played a general who advises the president of the United States, played by Bill Pullman, as tentacled aliens in huge spaceships devastate cities worldwide.

The Italian-American actor was born as Salvatore Loggia on Jan. 3, 1930, in New York City. He set aside his plans for a journalism career to go into acting.

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1956      Somebody Up There Likes Me     Frankie Peppo   Uncredited

1957      The Garment Jungle        Tulio Renata      

1958      Cop Hater            Detective Steve Carelli  

The Lost Missile                Dr. David Loring               

1963      Cattle King          Johnny Quatro  

1965      The Greatest Story Ever Told       Joseph

1966      The Three Sisters              Solyony               

Elfego Baca: Six Gun Law               Elfego Baca        

1969      Che!       Faustino Morales            

1974      Two Missionaries             Marches Gonzaga           

    Credited as Roberto Loggia.

1977      Speedtrap           Spillano               

First Love             John March        

1978      Revenge of the Pink Panther       Al Marchione    

1980      The Ninth Configuration                Lt. Bennish         

Flatfoot in Egypt               Edward Burns   

1981      S.O.B.    Herb Maskowitz              

1982      An Officer and a Gentleman        Byron Mayo        

Trail of the Pink Panther                Bruno Langois   

1983      Psycho II              Dr. Bill Raymond              

Curse of the Pink Panther             Bruno Langois   

Scarface               Frank Lopez       

1985      Prizzi's Honor     Eduardo Prizzi   

Jagged Edge        Sam Ransom     

1986      Armed and Dangerous   Michael Carlino                

That's Life!          Father Baragone              

1987      Over the Top      Jason Cutler       

Hot Pursuit         Mac MacClaren                

The Believers     Lt. Sean McTaggert         

Gaby: A True Story           Michel Brimmer               

Amazon Women on the Moon    Gen. McCormick               Uncredited

Segment "The Unknown Soldier"

1988      Big          Mr. MacMillan  

Oliver and Company       Sykes    

    Voice

1989      Relentless           Bill Malloy          

Triumph of the Spirit       Father Arouch  

1990      Opportunity Knocks        Milt Malkin        

1991      The Marrying Man           Lew Horner         

Necessary Roughness    Coach Wally Rig               

1992      Gladiator             Pappy Jack         

Innocent Blood Sallie "The Shark" Macelli            

Spies Inc.             Mac      

1993      Lifepod Director Banks  

1994      Bad Girls              Frank Jarrett      

The Last Tattoo Cmdr. Conrad Dart          

I Love Trouble    Matt Greenfield              

1995      Coldblooded      Gordon                

Man with a Gun                Philip Marquand              

1996      Independence Day          General William Grey    

1997      Lost Highway     Mr. Eddy / Dick Laurent                

Smilla's Sense of Snow   Moritz Jasperson             

The Dog of Flanders        Grandpa Jehan English dub

The Don's Analyst            Don Vito Leoni  

1998      Wide Awake       Grandpa Beal    

The Proposition                Hannibal Thurman          

Holy Man             John McBainbridge         

Hard Time           Connie Martin   

1999      The Suburbans Jules     

Flypaper               Marvin

American Virgin                Ronny  

2000      Return to Me     Angelo Pardipillo             

2001      Dodson's Journey             Opti Dodson      

The Shipment    Frank Colucci     

All Over Again    Zack

2005      The Deal              Jared Tolson      

2006      Funny Money    Feldman              

Rain       Jake Marvin       

Forget About It Carl Campobasso             

Wild Seven         Mackey Willis    

2008      The Boneyard Collection                              

The Least Of These          Father William Jennings               

2009      Shrink   Dr. Robert Carter             

2010      Harvest                 Siv         

Obituary of the Sun         Samuel Levine  

2011      Fake       Seamus White  

The Grand Theft               General McAvoy              

The Great Fight Dr. Salvatore Reno          

The Life Zone     John Lation / Satan         

2012      Apostle Peter and the Last Supper            Apostle Peter    

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie            Tommy Schlaaang           

The Diary of Preston Plummer    John Percy          

Margarine Wars                Grandpa Griswold           

2013      Real Gangsters Gaitanno 'Tanno'             

2014      Snapshot             Paul Grady         

Scavenger Killers              Dr. Montgomery             

An Evergreen Christmas                Pops     

The Big Fat Stone             Father Walter   

2015      Bleeding Hearts                Sheriff Wilson   

No Deposit          Sydney Fischer

Sicilian Vampire                Santino Trafficante Sr.   

2016      Independence Day: Resurgence William Grey             Cameo

Posthumous release

The Red Maple Leaf        Patrick Adams Senior      Posthumous release

2017      Cries of the Unborn         Mr. Lation           Posthumous release

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1959      Wagon Train      Jose Maria Moran            Episode: "The Jose Maria Moran Story"

1959      Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond             Tom Grant           Episode: "The Hand"

1962      The Untouchables           Leo Mencken     Episode: "Takeover"

1963      Alfred Hitchcock Presents             Driver    Episode: "You'll Be the Death of Me"

1965      Combat!               Etienne                 Episode: "The Tree of Moray"

1965      Gunsmoke          Lieutenant Cal Tripp        Episode: "Chief Joseph"

1965      The Wild Wild West        Warren Trevor   Episode: "The Night of Sudden Death"

1966–1967          T.H.E. Cat             Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat          26 episodes

1968      The Big Valley    Vern Hickson      Episode: "The Profit and the Lost"

1968      The High Chaparral          Chio       Episode: "The Deceivers"

1974      Mannix                 Mexican Police Inspector              Episode: “Bird of Prey”

1975      Starsky & Hutch                Ben Forest           Episode: “The Fix”

1976      Columbo              Harry     Episode: "Now You See Me"

1976      The Moneychangers       Tony Bear            2 episodes

1976      The Rockford Files            Manny Arturis   Episode: "Drought at Indianhead River"

1976      Wonder Woman               Hans Eichler       Episode: "Wonder Woman vs Gargantua"

1976      Street Killing       Louis Spillane    

    Television film

1977      The Rockford Files            Manny Arturis   Episode: "Beamer's Last Case"

1977      Raid on Entebbe               Yigal Allon          

    Television film

1978      The Rockford Files            Russell Nevitt     Episode: "Rosendahl and Gilda Stern Are Dead"

1980, 1986          Magnum, P.I.     Philippe Trusseau             3 episodes

1982      A Woman Called Golda Anwar Sadat       TV miniseries

1982      Little House on the Prairie            Thomas Stark     Episode: "Rage"

1983–1984          Emerald Point N.A.S.      Yuri Bukharin     16 episodes

1987      Echoes in the Darkness Jay Smith             2 episodes

1987      Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8     William Kunstler               Television film

1988      Favorite Son       Nick Mancuso    Episode: "Part One"

1989–1990          Mancuso, F.B.I. Nick Mancuso    20 episodes

1991      Sunday Dinner   Ben Benedict      6 episodes

1993      Wild Palms          Senator Anton Kreutzer                 5 episodes

1993      Mercy Mission: the Rescue of Flight 771                 Gordon Vette    Television film

1994      Picture Windows              Merce   Episode: "Armed Response"

1996      The Right to Remain Silent           Lt. Mike Brosloe                Television film

1996      Mistrial                 Capt. Lou Unger                Television film

1999      Joan of Arc          Father Monet    2 episodes

2000      Malcolm in the Middle   Victor    Episode: "The Grandparents"

2000      Frasier Stefano                Episode: "The Three Faces of Frasier"

2000      The Outer Limits               Justice Earl Clayton          Episode: "Final Appeal"

2000      Touched by an Angel      Chandler Crowne             Episode: "Restoration"

2003      Queens Supreme             Judge Thomas O'Neill     13 episodes

2004      The Sopranos     Feech La Manna               4 episodes

2006      Tom Goes to the Mayor                 Lew Petersen (voice)      Episode: "Saxman"

2008      Monk    Louie Flynn         Episode: "Mr. Monk Takes a Punch"

2010      Hawaii Five-0     Boatswain's Mate, Ed McKay, 1st Class   Episode: "Ho'apano"

2010–2011          Men of a Certain Age      Artie      3 episodes

2011, 2013          Family Guy          Himself (voice) 2 episodes