R.I.P. John Aprea, The Godfather Part II actor

John Aprea has died. An actor on screens big and small since the late ‘60s, Aprea died with family by his side at his home in Los Angeles on Monday, August 5, Deadline confirmed via Aprea’s manager, Will Levine. He was 83.

Born on March 4, 1941, in Englewood, N.J., Jonathan Aprea was the son of Italian immigrants who landed in America from Campagna, Italy. He spent Sundays at family dinners in Brooklyn and New Jersey, enjoying five- or six-course meals and speaking the family’s native tongue of “Napolitán.” Though he always wanted to act, Aprea’s journey to the screen didn’t begin until he was 23. Auditioning for his first role, a part he found in a newspaper ad, Aprea discovered a pay-to-play scheme as a “strange guy, with a mustache and an ostentatious German accent” offered him a part in exchange for a “couple thousand dollars.” Aprea opted to go to the Actor’s Studio at the behest of his sister.

After three years at the Actors Studio, Aprea started booking some roles, appearing in Bullitt, The Seven-Ups, and the TV series Mannix and The F.B.I. Director Jonathan Demme cast him in his first film, Caged Heat, beginning a collaboration between the actor and filmmaker that would include Crazy Mama and Manchurian Candidate.

Though he auditioned for Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Aprea wouldn’t join the series until the sequel. As Young Tessio in The Godfather Part II, Aprea took over for Abe Vigoda, who allegedly gave him some advice before taking the job: “Just have a good time, kid.” He starred opposite Robert DeNiro, who, along with Al Pacino, had carved out space for actors like Aprea. “I remember that when I started to act, the roles of the main actors were all held by blonde, blue-eyed men – Robert Redford, Ryan O’Neil,” he said. “It was difficult to force myself at first, but with the advent of De Niro and Al Pacino, things fortunately changed dramatically!”

In the ‘80s, Aprea took the role of Lt. Vince Novelli on Matt Houston, an ABC procedural that ran for six years. He also spent six years playing Lucas Castigliano on the soap opera Another World. He was nominated for a 1989 Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain: Prime Time for his role on Knots Landing. Aprea closed the decade playing John Stamos’ father on Full House. He would reprise the role of Nick Katsopolis in a 2017 episode of Fuller House.

Aprea continued to work steadily throughout his career. He appeared in movies like New Jack City, David Fincher’s The Game, and top-rated TV shows, including CSI, The Sopranos, and Cold Case. In 2016, he joined Tim Heidecker’s low-budget spy series Decker, spending 10 bizarre episodes as General Cotter and General Cotter Clone in a spin-off of Heidecker’s On Cinema empire.

Married three times and divorced twice, Aprea had one child, a daughter, in 1989 with his second wife, Ninon Zenovich. He is survived by his wife, Betsey Graci, and daughter.