Vincent Schiavelli
Encyclopedia
Vincent Andrew Schiavelli (November 11, 1948 – December 26, 2005) was an American character actor
noted for his work on stage
, screen
, and television
often described as "the man with the sad eyes." He was notable for his numerous and often critically acclaimed cameo appearances.
-American family. He attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
as a teen. He studied acting through the theatre programme at New York University
. He began performing on stage in the 1960s.
's 1971 production Taking Off
, in which he played a counselor who taught parents of runaway teens to smoke marijuana
in order to better understand their children's experiences. Schiavelli's aptitude and distinctive angular appearance soon provided him with a steady stream of supporting roles, often in Miloš Forman films, namely One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
, Amadeus
, The People vs. Larry Flynt
, Valmont
, and the 1999 biopic Man on the Moon.
He played Mr. Vargas, the biology teacher in the 1982 hit comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High
, a role he reprised in the 1986 television spin-off Fast Times
. He was cast in a similar role in the cult hit Better Off Dead in which he played Mr. Kerber, a geometry teacher.
In 1987, he starred alongside Tim Conway
in the short film comedy, Dorf on Golf
, and Dorf and the First Games of Mount Olympus
in 1988. In 1990, he played the Subway Ghost in Ghost
and in 1992, he played in Tim Burton
's Batman Returns
as the "Organ Grinder", one of the Penguin
's henchmen. He appeared as another villain in the James Bond
film Tomorrow Never Dies
(1997), as a silent monk in The Frisco Kid
(1979), and as John O'Connor, one of the evil Red Lectroids in the 1984 cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
. In 1997, he was named one of America's best character actors by Vanity Fair magazine. He also made several voice appearances in the animated television show Hey Arnold!
. In 2002, he played a children's television show host turned heroin addict named Buggy Ding Dong in Death To Smoochy
.
His first television role came in 1972 as Peter Panama in The Corner Bar
, the first sustained portrayal of a gay character on American television. His other television credits include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Taxi
as the priest who marries Latka and Simka. He appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation
episode, "The Arsenal of Freedom
", as a holographic salesman and an uncredited role in an episode of Punky Brewster
. He wrote a number of cookbooks and food articles for various magazines and newspapers.
He received a James Beard Foundation
Journalism Award in 2001 and was nominated on several other occasions.
Schiavelli served as honorary co-chair of the National Marfan Foundation, an organisation which serves those affected by Marfan syndrome
, from which Schiavelli suffered.
from 1985 until their 1988 divorce. He guest-starred as the love interest of Beasley's character on one episode of Moonlighting
. Their son, Andrea Schiavelli, was born in 1987. In 1992 Schiavelli married American harpist Carol Mukhalian and they remained together until his death in 2005. He and Mukhalian also had a child together.
on December 26, 2005, aged 57, at his home in Polizzi Generosa
, the Sicilian
town where his grandfather came from, and about which he wrote in his 2002 book Many Beautiful Things: Stories and Recipes from Polizzi Generosa (ISBN 0-7432-1528-1).
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
noted for his work on stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, screen
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
often described as "the man with the sad eyes." He was notable for his numerous and often critically acclaimed cameo appearances.
Early life
Schiavelli was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a SicilianSicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
-American family. He attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School is a Roman Catholic Christian Brothers university-preparatory secondary school serving students in grades 9 through 12 in Brooklyn, New York. The school is under the jurisdiction of the Brooklyn diocese.-History:...
as a teen. He studied acting through the theatre programme at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. He began performing on stage in the 1960s.
Career
Schiavelli's first movie role occurred in Miloš FormanMiloš Forman
Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for...
's 1971 production Taking Off
Taking Off (film)
Taking Off is a 1971 film comedy. It was Czech director Milos Forman's first American film. It tells the story of a group of parents whose children have run away from home...
, in which he played a counselor who taught parents of runaway teens to smoke marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
in order to better understand their children's experiences. Schiavelli's aptitude and distinctive angular appearance soon provided him with a steady stream of supporting roles, often in Miloš Forman films, namely One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman and based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey....
, Amadeus
Amadeus (film)
Amadeus is a 1984 period drama film directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer. Adapted from Shaffer's stage play Amadeus, the story is based loosely on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two composers who lived in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the...
, The People vs. Larry Flynt
The People vs. Larry Flynt
The People vs. Larry Flynt is a 1996 American biographical drama film directed by Miloš Forman about the rise of pornographic magazine publisher and editor Larry Flynt, and his subsequent clash with the law. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, and Edward Norton.The film was written by...
, Valmont
Valmont (film)
Valmont is a 1989 drama film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos. It was adapted for the screen with a screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière...
, and the 1999 biopic Man on the Moon.
He played Mr. Vargas, the biology teacher in the 1982 hit comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a 1982 American coming-of-age teen comedy film written by Cameron Crowe and adapted from his 1981 book of the same name...
, a role he reprised in the 1986 television spin-off Fast Times
Fast Times
Fast Times is a seven-episode 1986 television sequel to the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High that was produced by Amy Heckerling, who directed the original film. Cameron Crowe, who penned the original Fast Times novel and film screenplay, served as creative consultant. Moon Unit Zappa...
. He was cast in a similar role in the cult hit Better Off Dead in which he played Mr. Kerber, a geometry teacher.
In 1987, he starred alongside Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...
in the short film comedy, Dorf on Golf
Dorf on Golf
Dorf on Golf is a 1987 comedy film starring Tim Conway, Vincent Schiavelli and Michele Smith. The film is the first in a series of eight films released by Conway using the Dorf sporting theme...
, and Dorf and the First Games of Mount Olympus
Dorf and the First Games of Mount Olympus
Dorf and the First Games of Mount Olympus is a 1988 comedy film starring Tim Conway and Vincent Schiavelli....
in 1988. In 1990, he played the Subway Ghost in Ghost
Ghost (film)
Ghost is a 1990 romantic drama film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. It was written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Jerry Zucker.-Plot:...
and in 1992, he played in Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
's Batman Returns
Batman Returns
Batman Returns is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the sequel to Burton's Batman , and features Michael Keaton reprising the title role, with Danny DeVito as the Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.Burton originally did not...
as the "Organ Grinder", one of the Penguin
Penguin (comics)
Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot III is a DC Comics supervillain and one of Batman's oldest, most persistent enemies. The Penguin was introduced by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, making his debut in Detective Comics #58 .The Penguin is a short, rotund man known for his love of birds and his...
's henchmen. He appeared as another villain in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Bruce Feirstein wrote the screenplay, and it was directed by Roger Spottiswoode. It follows Bond as he tries to stop a media mogul from engineering...
(1997), as a silent monk in The Frisco Kid
The Frisco Kid
The Frisco Kid is a 1979 movie directed by Robert Aldrich. The movie is a Western comedy featuring Gene Wilder as Avram Belinski, a Polish rabbi who is traveling to San Francisco, and Harrison Ford as a bank robber who befriends him.-Plot:...
(1979), and as John O'Connor, one of the evil Red Lectroids in the 1984 cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!, often shortened to Buckaroo Banzai, is an American spoof science fiction film that was released in 1984. It was directed and produced by W. D. Richter, and concerns the efforts of the multi-talented Dr...
. In 1997, he was named one of America's best character actors by Vanity Fair magazine. He also made several voice appearances in the animated television show Hey Arnold!
Hey Arnold!
Hey Arnold! is an American animated television series created by Craig Bartlett for Nickelodeon. The show's premise focuses on a fourth grader named Arnold who lives with his grandparents. Episodes center on his experiences navigating big city life while dealing with the problems he and his friends...
. In 2002, he played a children's television show host turned heroin addict named Buggy Ding Dong in Death To Smoochy
Death to Smoochy
Death to Smoochy is a 2002 American dark comedy film directed by and starring Danny DeVito and starring Robin Williams, Edward Norton, Catherine Keener, and Jon Stewart.-Plot:...
.
His first television role came in 1972 as Peter Panama in The Corner Bar
The Corner Bar
The Corner Bar is a short-lived American situation comedy that aired on ABC from 1972–1973. The Corner Bar revolved around the lives of the patrons of a tavern called Grant's Toomb. The series is notable for its inclusion of the first recurring gay character on American television, Peter Panama...
, the first sustained portrayal of a gay character on American television. His other television credits include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Taxi
Taxi (TV series)
Taxi was an American sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982 on ABC and from 1982 to 1983 on NBC. The series, which won 18 Emmy Awards, including three for "Outstanding Comedy Series", focuses on the everyday lives of a handful of New York City taxi drivers and their abusive dispatcher...
as the priest who marries Latka and Simka. He appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
episode, "The Arsenal of Freedom
The Arsenal of Freedom (TNG episode)
"The Arsenal of Freedom" is the 21st episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Plot:The Enterprise is searching the Lorenze Cluster for the USS Drake which had mysteriously vanished while surveying the planet Minos, the long-abandoned home of the arms merchants Minoans that...
", as a holographic salesman and an uncredited role in an episode of Punky Brewster
Punky Brewster
Punky Brewster was an American sitcom about a girl named Punky Brewster being raised by her foster parent...
. He wrote a number of cookbooks and food articles for various magazines and newspapers.
He received a James Beard Foundation
James Beard Foundation
The James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...
Journalism Award in 2001 and was nominated on several other occasions.
Marfan syndrome
Marfan syndrome is a genetic disorder of the connective tissue. People with Marfan's tend to be unusually tall, with long limbs and long, thin fingers....
, from which Schiavelli suffered.
Personal life
Schiavelli was married to actress Allyce BeasleyAllyce Beasley
Allyce Beasley is an American actress. She is known for her role as rhyming, love-struck receptionist Agnes DiPesto in the television series Moonlighting. For several years , she has been the announcer on Playhouse Disney, a morning lineup of programming for toddlers on The Disney Channel...
from 1985 until their 1988 divorce. He guest-starred as the love interest of Beasley's character on one episode of Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...
. Their son, Andrea Schiavelli, was born in 1987. In 1992 Schiavelli married American harpist Carol Mukhalian and they remained together until his death in 2005. He and Mukhalian also had a child together.
Death
Schiavelli succumbed to lung cancerLung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
on December 26, 2005, aged 57, at his home in Polizzi Generosa
Polizzi Generosa
Polizzi Generosa is a town and comune in the Province of Palermo on the island of Sicily, southern Italy...
, the Sicilian
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
town where his grandfather came from, and about which he wrote in his 2002 book Many Beautiful Things: Stories and Recipes from Polizzi Generosa (ISBN 0-7432-1528-1).