Actor

Joe Viterelli

Acting

Career Snapshot

Explained

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Acting credits

Active

Consistent number of acting credits.

TMDB popularity

0.9

Low visibility

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Movies: 25Series: 4

TMDB ID: 60023

IMDb ID: nm0899995

Known for: Acting

Born: March 10, 1937

Died: January 28, 2004

Age: 66

Place of birth: New York, USA

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1990 - 2002

Years active: 13

Average TMDB rating: 6.09

Wikidata: Q706246

TMDB TMDB IMDb IMDb W Wikidata

Biography

Joseph "Joe" Viterelli (March 10, 1937 – January 28, 2004) was an Italian American actor known for his mafioso-orientated character roles. Joe Viterelli was born to Italian immigrants in Bronx, New York. Before Viterelli became an actor, he was a successful businessman in New York City. He had befriended director Leo Penn (actor Sean Penn's father), who initially tried but failed to persuade Viterelli to pursue acting because of his unique and typically Italian looks. Some years later, Sean Penn approached Viterelli and asked him to try out for a part as a favor: Viterelli did and went on to appear in State of Grace and then in over 40 movies. Joe Viterelli became an icon of Mafia-Movies. Viterelli died on January 28, 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada due to a severe stomach hemorrhage, a complication of just-completed heart surgery. He was 66 years old. His last role was as a mobster in a 2004 Super Bowl ad for Staples, Inc. and his last movie role was as Jelly in Harold Ramis’ Analyze That.