Robert Loggia, a well-known character actor who appeared in over 200 films and TV episodes over a career than spanned more than six decades, has died. His widow confirmed to Variety that he died earlier today in Los Angeles, but no other details are forthcoming at this time. He was 85.
Loggia made his screen debut on an episode of the drama series Search For Tomorrow in 1951, and has been working more or less steadily ever since. (His IMDb page lists multiple roles every year from 1957 to 2015, with only a brief break in the early 2000s.) Some of Loggia’s best known work was in Brian De Palma’s 1983 modern gangster classic Scarface, where he played Tony Montana’s ill-fated underworld mentor Frank Lopez:
Often cast as a villain or underworld type, Loggia played mobsters Eduardo Prizzi in Prizzi’s Honor (1985), Sykes in Disney’s Oliver & Company (1988), Mr. Eddy in Lost Highway (1997), and Feech La Manna on The Sopranos, among others. Other notable Loggia roles include toy-company head MacMillan in Penny Marshall’s Big (1986), kindly psychiatrist Dr. Bill Raymond in Psycho II (1983), union president Maichael Carlino in Armed And Dangerous (1986), controlling father-in-law Jason Cutler in Over The Top (1987), and Coach Wally Riggendorf in Necessary Roughness (1991).
He played the title agent in the NBC drama Mancuso, FBI, a role for which he was nominated for an Emmy. Loggia was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as private detective Sam Ransom in the 1985 thriller Jagged Edge. But perhaps his most unusual gig was in a 1998 commercial for Minute Maid orange juice, where a young boy says he’ll drink his juice if Robert Loggia asks him to:
The A.V. Club interviewed Loggia about his long and distinguished acting career for our Random Roles feature in 2011; that interview can be read here.