Joe Spinell

Spinell was born Joseph Spagnuolo ({{IPA|it|spaɲˈɲwɔːlo}}) in Manhattan, New York, the second-to-youngest of six children of Italian immigrant parents. His father, Pellegrino Spagnuolo (1892–1950), died from liver and kidney disease. His mother, Filomena Spagnuolo (1903–1987), was an actress who played bit parts in several movies, some of them alongside her son.{{cite web | url=http://www.nndb.com/people/771/000050621/ | title=Joe Spinell | work=NNDB |access-date=May 4, 2011}} Spinell was born at his family's apartment on Second Avenue in Kips Bay, Manhattan, an area then home to 10,000 Italian Americans.{{cite web|title=History of The Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary|url=http://churchofststephen.com/au_h_sacred.htm|publisher=Parish of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary|access-date=June 22, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225044733/http://churchofststephen.com/au_h_sacred.htm|archive-date=February 25, 2013}} A few years after the death of his father, he moved with his mother and older siblings to Woodside, Queens, New York, where he lived off-and-on for the remainder of his life. In the mid and late 1970s when living in California, he lived in an apartment in the Oakwood Apartments complex near Toluca Lake located on Barham Boulevard. Spinell was born with hemophilia and had chronic asthma for most of his life.

As a teenager and young adult, Spinell starred in various stage plays, both on and off Broadway.{{citation|title=The Joe Spinell Story|author=Gregory, David|date=2001}} He 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.{{cite web |url=https://movieweb.com/joe-spinell-highest-paid-actor-the-godfather/ |title=How This Minor Character Became One of The Godfather's Highest-Paid Actors |last=Symchuk |first=Adam |date=July 14, 2024 |website=MovieWeb |access-date=April 15, 2025}} Because of his large, heavyset frame and imposing looks, Spinell was often cast as criminals, thugs, or corrupt police officers.

In 1971, he landed his first film role in a small part as the mafioso hitman Willi Cicci working for the Corleone crime family in the crime film The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. 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. The Godfather would become the highest-grossing film of 1972{{cite web |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/market/1972/top-grossing-movies |title=The Numbers - Top-Grossing Movies of 1972 |website=The Numbers |access-date=April 15, 2025}} and was for a time the highest-grossing film ever made.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/16/archives/profits-of-the-godfather-1million-a-day-pours-into-box-offices.html|title=Profits of 'The Godfather'|last=Allan|first=John H.|date=April 16, 1972|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 10, 2018|language=en}} It won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, and garnered several other nominations.{{cite web |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1973 |title=The 45th Academy Awards - 1973 |website=Academy Awards |access-date=April 15, 2025}}

In 1973, he acted in Aram Avakian's Cops and Robbers, and Philip D'Antoni's The Seven-Ups.

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" (aka: 'button man') to being the personal bodyguard to Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo). The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards,{{cite web |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1975 |title=The 47th Academy Awards - 1975 |website=Academy Awards |access-date=April 15, 2025}} and became the first sequel to win Best Picture.{{cite web |url=https://movieweb.com/oscars-best-picture-sequels-nominated-bad/ |title=Only Two Sequels Have Ever Won Best Picture at the Oscars, and We Hope It Stays That Way |last=Lovett |first=Sarah |website=MovieWeb |date=March 13, 2025 |access-date=April 15, 2025}} It was Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing film of 1974 and was the sixth-highest-grossing picture in North America that year.{{cite web |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/market/1974/top-grossing-movies |title=The Numbers - Top-Grossing Movies of 1974 |website=The Numbers |access-date=April 15, 2025}}

In 1975, he acted in Frank Perry's Rancho Deluxe,{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C06E4D8103BEE34BC4C51DFB767838E669EDE|title=Rancho Deluxe (1975) The Screen: 'Rancho':Spoof Western Opens at the D.W. Griffith|author=Eder, Richard|author-link=Richard Eder|date=November 24, 1975|work=The New York Times}} Barry Shear's Strike Force, Dick Richards's Farewell, My Lovely,{{AFI film|id=55469|title=Farewell, My Lovely}}. and Thomas McGuane's 92 in the Shade.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0DE6D8103CE334BC4A51DFB766838D669EDE|title=92 in the Shade (1975) Self-Indulgence Is Triumphant in '92 in the Shade'|author=Eder, Richard|author-link=Richard Eder|date=January 22, 1976|work=The New York Times}}

In 1976, he acted in Paul Mazursky's Next Stop, Greenwich Village, Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver,{{Cite web|url=https://www.top10films.co.uk/22073-top-10-films-joe-spinell/|title=Top 10 Films Of Joe Spinell - Top 10 Films|website=www.top10films.co.uk|date=July 4, 2014 |language=en-GB|access-date=September 23, 2018}} and Bob Rafelson's Stay Hungry. That year, Spinell played the role of Gazzo, a loan shark in John G. Avildsen's Rocky. It earned $225 million in global box office receipts, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1976, went on to win three Oscars, including Best Picture, and turned lead actor Sylvester Stallone into a major star.{{cite web|url=http://www.bravotv.com/Inside_the_Actors_Studio/guests/Sylvester_Stallone.shtml|title=Inside the Actors Studio with Sylvester Stallone|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006041106/http://www.bravotv.com/Inside_the_Actors_Studio/guests/Sylvester_Stallone.shtml|archive-date=October 6, 2006|url-status=dead|access-date=September 28, 2006}}

In 1977, he acted in Sorcerer, a thriller adaptation of The Wages of Fear directed by William Friedkin.

In 1978, he acted in Paul Williams's Nunzio, John Milius's Big Wednesday, Sylvester Stallone's Paradise Alley, and The One Man Jury. He also played the main antagonist in Luigi Cozzi's Italian-produced space opera Starcrash,{{cite book|title=Japan's favorite mon-star: the unauthorized biography of "The Big G"|last=Ryfle|first=Steve|publisher=ECW Press|year=1999|isbn=1-55022-348-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/japansfavoritemo0000ryfl/page/207 207]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/japansfavoritemo0000ryfl/page/207}} starring Caroline Munro and Marjoe Gortner.{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/46473/Star-Crash/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211100444/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/46473/Star-Crash/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 11, 2007|title=Star Crash (1978)|last=Wheeler|first=Jeremy|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|date=2007|access-date=April 12, 2009}}{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=57096|title=Starcrash|publisher=American Film Institute|access-date=January 31, 2016}}{{cite magazine|last=Pulleine|first=Tim|year=1979|title=Starcrash|magazine=Monthly Film Bulletin|location=London|publisher=British Film Institute|volume=46|issue=540|page=155}}

In 1979, he acted in Jonathan Demme's Last Embrace,{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/22824/last-embrace|title=Last Embrace|work=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=March 9, 2016}} and William Richert's Winter Kills. Spinell reprised his role as Gazzo in Rocky II this time directed by Sylvester Stallone. Rocky II finished in the top three highest-grossing films of 1979, in both the North American market and worldwide. The film grossed $6,390,537 during its opening weekend, $85,182,160 at the U.S. box office, and $200,182,160 overall.{{cite web|url=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1979/0RKY2.php|title=Movie Rocky 2 – Box Office Data, News, Cast Information|work=The Numbers|publisher=Nash Information Services|access-date=September 1, 2010|archive-date=November 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109212407/http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1979/0RKY2.php|url-status=dead}}

Although primarily known as a character actor, Spinell co-wrote, co-produced, and starred in his first lead role as a serial killer in the 1980 film Maniac, the psychological slasher film directed by William Lustig.{{cite news|author=Canby, Vincent|author-link=Vincent Canby|date=January 31, 1981|title=Maniac|newspaper=New York Times|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0DEFDA113BF932A05752C0A967948260|access-date=May 4, 2011}}

Also in 1980, he acted in Curtis Hanson's The Little Dragons, William Friedkin's Cruising, William Peter Blatty's The Ninth Configuration, Bernard L. Kowalski's Nightside,{{cite news|title=Nightside|url=https://www.nytimes.com/tv/show/56721/Nightside/overview|work=The New York Times}} Stuart Rosenberg's Brubaker, Brian G. Hutton's The First Deadly Sin, and Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard.{{cite web|title=Melvin and Howard|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/21824/melvin-and-howard|access-date=March 27, 2016|work=Turner Classic Movies}}

In 1981, Spinell had a supporting role in the Sylvester Stallone action film Nighthawks,{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/56666|title=AFI{{!}}Catalog|website=catalog.afi.com|language=en|access-date=September 23, 2018}} and Richard Elfman's Forbidden Zone.

In 1982, he acted in National Lampoon's Movie Madness, Night Shift, Monsignor, and One Down, Two to Go.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}

That year he starred in David Winters's horror comedy The Last Horror Film, co-starring Caroline Munro.{{Cite web|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3374381/blu-ray-review-last-horror-film-good-movie-bad-blu-ray/|title=[Blu-ray Review] 'The Last Horror Film' is a Good Movie with a Bad Blu-ray - Bloody Disgusting|website=bloody-disgusting.com|date=January 12, 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=October 1, 2018}} It played in film festivals,{{Cite web|date=2012-07-01|title=David Winters|url=https://www.dancemogul.com/news/supporting-our-legacy/david-winters/|access-date=2019-05-11|website=Dance Mogul Magazine|language=en}} at the Saturn Awards it received nominations,{{Cite book|last=Cotter|first=Robert Michael "Bobb"|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DU0kG9O1AHoC&q=Saturn+Awards+1982+David+Winters&pg=PA87|title=Caroline Munro, First Lady of Fantasy: A Complete Annotated Record of Film and Television Appearances|date=January 10, 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786491520|language=en}} and at the Sitges Film Festival it was part of their official selection, and won best cinematography.{{Cite web|title=Festival Archives - Sitges Film Festival - Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya|url=https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/eng/arxiu/1982|access-date=April 29, 2019|website=sitgesfilmfestival.com|archive-date=August 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815202026/https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/eng/arxiu/1982|url-status=dead}}

In 1983, he played a corrupt lawyer in William Lustig's vigilante film Vigilante. He also acted in Curtis Hanson's Losin' It, Nicolas Roeg's Eureka, and Fred Williamson's The Last Fight .{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}

In 1985, he played the main villain in the crime film Walking the Edge, starring Robert Forster.

Early in 1986, Spinell guest starred as a Mob Boss on the television series, The Equalizer in "Wash Up" opposite Robert Davi. That same year he acted in John Byrum's film The Whoopee Boys, Robert Forster's Hollywood Harry, and Fred Williamson's The Messenger.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} That year, he made Maniac 2: Mr. Robbie, a horror short promotional film directed by Buddy Giovinazzo and co-written by Spinell and Joe Cirillo which was loosely based on a 1973 feature film titled An Eye for an Eye (aka: The Psychopath). The short film was produced by Joe Spinell in order to raise financing for a sequel to Spinell's 1980 horror film Maniac.{{cite web|work=Fangoria|title=The Gentle Maniac: Buddy Giovinazzo Remembers Original "MANIAC" Joe Spinell|date=June 21, 2013|author=Janisse, Kier-La|url=http://www.fangoria.com/new/the-gentle-maniac-buddy-giovinazzo-remembers-original-maniac-joe-spinell/|access-date=September 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827220218/http://www.fangoria.com/new/the-gentle-maniac-buddy-giovinazzo-remembers-original-maniac-joe-spinell/|archive-date=August 27, 2017|url-status=dead}} The short was included with the 30th anniversary edition release of Maniac.{{cite web|work=DVD Talk|title=Maniac - 30th Anniversary Edition|date=October 13, 2010|author=Dahlke, Kurt|url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/44892/maniac-30th-anniversary-edition/}}

In 1987, Spinell acted in The Pick-up Artist, and Deadly Illusion.{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/72574/deadly-illusion|title=Deadly Illusion|work=TCM database|publisher=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=February 16, 2016}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/31/movies/film-deadly-illusion.html|title=Film: 'Deadly Illusion'|last=Canby|first=Vincent|work=The New York Times |date=October 31, 1987 |access-date=September 30, 2018|language=en}}

In 1988, Spinell played a corrupt military official in David A. Prior's Operation Warzone.{{Cite book|last=Budnik|first=Daniel R.|title='80s Action Movies on the Cheap|publisher=MacFarland & Company Inc.|year=2017|isbn=978-0-7864-9741-6|location=North Carolina|pages=190|chapter=Operation Warzone}} His last lead role was completed in 1988, a slasher film named The Undertaker. The film was never released for the public, only existed in an incomplete form. In 2010, The Undertaker was released on DVD release by Code Red, and restored by Vinegar Syndrome on Blu-ray in 2016. The film is considered a cult classic, due in part to Joe Spinell's involvement and its long and troubled production.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}

In 1989, Spinell played a U.S. government official in Rapid Fire, directed by David A. Prior which was his final role.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}

Spinell was set to reprise his role as Willi Cicci in The Godfather Part III (1990) but he died before filming began. His character was replaced by Joey Zasa, played by Joe Mantegna.

Spinell was married to adult film star Jean Jennings (1957–2011) from February 1977 to July 1979. They had one daughter together before they divorced.{{cite web | url=https://www.csfd.cz/tvurce/10818-joe-spinell/biografie/ | title=Joe Spinell }}

A close friend of Sylvester Stallone, Spinell was the godfather of his son Sage Stallone.{{Cite news|url=http://whatculture.com/film/sage-stallone-son-of-sylvester-found-dead-cause-of-death-still-unknown|title=Sage Stallone, Son of Sylvester, Found Dead - Cause of Death Still Unknown|date=July 15, 2012|work=WhatCulture.com|access-date=September 23, 2018|language=en}} Spinell had a falling out with Sylvester Stallone during the filming of their final collaboration, Nighthawks (1981).{{Cite news|url=http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30932|title=Stallone answers December 9th & 10th Questions in a double round - plus Harry's Seen ROCKY BALBOA...|last=headgeek|work=Aint It Cool News|access-date=September 30, 2018|language=en}}

Spinell was known to abuse drugs and alcohol intermittently throughout his career and would also suffer from periods of depression. This, coupled with his mother's death, caused Spinell to fall into ill health in his final years.

Spinell died in his apartment in Queens, New York on January 13, 1989, at the age of 52. He had cut himself badly after slipping in the shower and his hemophilia caused him to bleed to death. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens near his home.

{{reflist}}

• Budnik, Daniel R. (2017). '80s Action Movies on the Cheap. North Carolina: MacFarland & Company Inc. {{isbn|9780786497416}}

• {{IMDb name|818874}}
• {{find a Grave|20894279}}

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Category:1936 births

Category:1989 deaths

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century American writers

Category:Accidental deaths in New York (state)

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:American people of Italian descent

Category:Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Queens)

Category:Deaths from bleeding

Category:Male actors from Manhattan

Category:People with haemophilia

Category:People from Woodside, Queens