| Frank Vincent | |
|---|---|
| Born | Frank Vincent Gattuso August 4, 1939 North Adams, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
Frank Vincent Gattuso (born August 4, 1939), known professionally as Frank Vincent, is an American actor, musician, author and entrepreneur.[1] He is a favorite performer of director Martin Scorsese, having played important roles in three of Scorsese's most acclaimed films: Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995). He often plays a gangster and works both in features and television. He has also lent his voice talents to video games. He played the New York Boss Phil Leotardo in the HBO series The Sopranos.
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Vincent, an Italian American, was born in North Adams, Massachusetts. His father, Frank Vincent Gattuso, Sr., was at one time an iron worker.[2][3] but in later life a businessman. Vincent has two brothers: Nick and Jimmy, and a half sister, Fran Fernandez. His father was one of six children Lucy/Lucille (Lucia), Phillip (Filippo), Tony (Antonio), Frank, James [Jimmy] and Cecilia [Ceil]). All the boys were born in North Adams, Massachusetts and the girls in New York to Italian immigrants Nicolò Gattuso and Francesca Di Peri. He is of Sicilian (paternal grandfather) and Neapolitan descent.
As an accomplished player of the drums, trumpet and piano, Vincent originally aspired to a career in music, but in 1975 he co-starred in the low-budget gangster movie The Death Collector along with Joe Pesci, where they were spotted by Robert De Niro. De Niro told Martin Scorsese about the both of them; he was impressed by their performances and hired Vincent to appear in a major supporting role in Raging Bull (1980), in which he once again appeared with Pesci. The two would go on to appear together in several other movies. Another familiar co-star and good friend of Vincent's is Robert De Niro, who is also friends with Pesci. Vincent had small roles in two Spike Lee films in 1989 and 1991 respectively: Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever.
Vincent is usually typecast as a gangster. He appeared in Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas, where he played Billy Batts, a made man in the Gambino crime family. He also played a prominent role in Scorsese's 1995 film Casino as Frank Marino (based on real-life gangster Frank Cullotta), the sidekick of Pesci's character.
In 1996, Vincent appeared in rap artist Nas' video "Street Dreams" as his character Frankie Marino from Casino. The video mirrors Casino at certain times. In the television movie Gotti, Vincent played Robert "DiB" DiBernardo, an associate of Mafia boss John Gotti, whose life the film chronicled. In the HBO TV series The Sopranos, he had his most prominent role yet, as Phil Leotardo, a ruthless New York gangster who, as boss of the show's fictional Lupertazzi crime family, becomes the show's chief antagonist in the final season.
Vincent also had a leading role in the heist movie This Thing of Ours in 2003. One of his more light-hearted roles came when he was in a British television commercial for Peugeot cars. In early 2005, Frank Vincent appeared on Irish television in a series of television commercials for Irish bank Permanent TSB. In 1999, he won the Italian American Entertainer of the Year Award. Another noted performance is his appearance in the 2003 film Remedy. In 2001, Vincent lent his voice to Mafia boss Salvatore Leone in the controversial computer and video game Grand Theft Auto III. He later reprised that role in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2005).
In 2006, he released his first book, A Guy's Guide to Being a Man's Man to positive reviews. His idol is Dean Martin.[4] He has also released a line of hand-rolled cigars which have his picture prominently displayed on the band.[5]
In the summer of 2008, he played Lieutenant Marino in the independent film The Tested directed by Russell Costanzo[6] and in 2009, he made a cameo appearance alongside fellow Sopranos actor Steve Schirripa in Stargate Atlantis episode "Vegas".[7]
He starred in Chicago Overcoat in 2010 as the main protagonist.