Mancuso F.B.I.

Background:

Veteran character actor Robert Loggia, an Italian American raised in Manhattan's Little Italy, has frequently played roles in gangster films, including "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (1956), "Scarface" (1983), "Innocent Blood" (1992), "Lost Highway" (1997), "The Don's Analyst" (1997) and the Showtime miniseries "Bonanno: A Godfather's Story" (1999). He also played Feech La Manna (2004), a mafia wise guy, on the HBO drama series "The Sopranos."

The Academy Award and Emmy Award nominated actor has starred in the films "The Lost Missile" (1958), "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965), "The Three Sisters" (1966), "Che!" (1969), "Revenge of the Pink Panther" (1978), "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982), "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982), "Curse of the Pink Panther" (1983), "Prizzi's Honor" (1985), "Jagged Edge" (1985), "Gaby: A True Story" (1987), "Big" (1988), "Independence Day" (1996), "The Deal" (2005) and "Funny Money" (2006). He will next be seen in the upcoming films "The Least of These," "Shrink," "Room and Board" and "Nano Dogs the Movie."

On television, Loggia has starred in a number of made-for-television movies, most notably with Laura Dern in the HBO production of “Afterburn” (1992) and the Oliver Stone produced miniseries “Wild Palms” (1993). He also starred in numerous television series, including “The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca,” “T.H.E. Cat,” “Sunday Dinner” and the miniseries “Favorite Son.”

On Broadway, this 5' 10" thespian starred in “Toys in the Attic,” “The Three Sisters” and “The Boom Boom Room.”

American Italian

Childhood and Family:

Son of Italian parents Elena Loggia, a homemaker, and Benjamin Loggia, a shoemaker, Salvatore Loggia (last name is pronounced “Loh-jha”), who would later be well known as Robert Loggia, was born on January 3, 1930, in New York, New York, and grew up in Manhattan's Little Italy. He graduated from New Dorp High School, in Staten Island, New York, in 1947.

After studying journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia (class of 1951) and serving in the army as a news reporter for the Caribbean Forces Network in Panama, he studied acting at the Actors Studio, in New York, New York, during the mid 1950s.

In 1954, Loggia married Marjorie Sloan and they have three kids, Kristina Loggia (married to actor James Le Gros), Tracey Loggia, and John Loggia (produced and directed "Live Free and Die,” 1998). After divorcing Sloan, Loggia married his present wife, Audrey O'Brien, on December 27, 1982. Loggia became the stepfather of O'Brien's daughter, Cynthia Marlette.

Loggia was a close friend of television host and media mogul Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007).

Jagged Edge

Career:

Initially planning of becoming a journalist, Robert Loggia turned his direction to performing following college and a stint in the military. Making his stage debut as Petruchio in "The Taming of the Shrew" at Wagner College in 1948, Loggia honed in on his craft at the Actors Studio in New York and began his acting career on Broadway in the 50s.

Loggia made his Off-Broadway debut in "The Man With the Golden Arm" (1955). The following year, he made his film debut with an unaccredited role in director Robert Wise's Academy Award-winning drama film based on the life of middleweight boxing legend Rocky Graziano (portrayed by Paul Newman), "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (1956). He also made early TV appearances on the CBS long-running dramatic radio-television anthology series "Studio One" (1957) and CBS’ 90-minute dramatic television anthology series "Playhouse 90" (1958).

In 1958, Loggia landed his first starring film role, that of tragic hero Dr. David Loring, in William Berke's sci-fi movie "The Lost Missile." That same year, he made his TV series debut in a 10-part series broadcast of ABC's "Walt Disney Presents," "The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca," playing the title character.

Entering the 1960s, Loggia acted in an Off-Broadway production of Lillian Hellman's "Toys in the Attic" and made his Broadway debut as Solyony in an Actors Studio production of Anton Chekhov's "The Three Sisters" (1963), which he would recreate on the London stage and in the subsequent film version in 1966 which was directed by Paul Bogart and starred Geraldine Page, Shelley Winters, and Kim Stanley.

In 1964, Loggia co-starred in several unsold pilots for a proposed NBC dramatic series called "The Robert Taylor Show.” The pilots were revisions of the 1962 effort starring William Bendix called "330 Independence S.W." He also portrayed Joseph, opposite Max von Sydow, Dorothy McGuire, Charlton Heston, and Telly Savalas, in "The Greatest Story Ever Told," a United Artists 1965 film about the life of Jesus directed by George Stevens (with some scenes by Jean Negulesco and David Lean).

From 1966 to 1967, Loggia starred as the title role in the NBC half-hour television show "T.H.E. Cat," which marked his initial collaboration with director Boris Sagal. Afterward, he portrayed Faustino Morales in the Richard Fleischer-directed biopic of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, starring Omar Sharif as the Marxist revolutionary, "Che!" (1969; also starring Jack Palance as Fidel Castro).

During the 1970s, Loggia had the role of Frank Carver (1972) on the CBS soap opera "The Secret Storm" and joined the CBS soap opera "Search for Tomorrow" in 1973. He also co-starred with Kirk Douglas, Christopher Plummer, and Anne Baxter in NBC’s Primetime Emmy-winning miniseries based on Arthur Hailey's 1975 novel, "The Moneychangers" (1976), which was helmed by Boris Sagal, and acted in Sagal's dramatic NBC movie starring Raymond Burr, "Mallory: Circumstantial Evidence" (1976). Additionally, he made his first film with director Blake Edwards in "Revenge of the Pink Panther" (1978) and would later be featured in its sequels, "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982) and "Curse of the Pink Panther" (1983).

Loggia made his TV directorial debut in several 1979 episodes of ABC’s mystery series starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers, "Hart to Hart." He then directed a 1979 episode of the NBC drama series "Quincy M.E." He also helmed two 1981 episodes of CBS' dramatic show starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, "Magnum, P.I."

In 1981, Loggia teamed up again with writer/director Blake Edwards for his satire of the film industry and Hollywood society, "S.O.B.," alongside Julie Andrews, William Holden, Richard Mulligan, and Marisa Berenson. The next year, he portrayed Anwar Sadat in the Emmy-winning, syndicated miniseries biopic of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, "A Woman Called Golda" (1982; with Ingrid Bergman, Ned Beatty, and Judy Davis), and played Richard Gere's bullying, alcoholic father in Taylor Hackford's Academy Award-winning romantic drama "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982; starring Richard Gere, Debra Winger, and Louis Gossett, Jr.).

From 1983 to 1984, Loggia appeared as KGB spy Admiral Yuri Bukharin in CBS’ drama series "Emerald Point N.A.S.," which was canceled after one season. During this time, he also portrayed Miami drug lord Frank Lopez in Brian De Palma's critically-acclaimed gangster drama starring Al Pacino, "Scarface" (1983), and worked with Angie Dickinson in the dramatic CBS movie "A Touch of Scandal" (1984; also starring Tom Skerritt).

The mid 1980s saw Loggia rise to prominence when he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Sam Ransom, a two-bit detective, in Richard Marquand's box office hit courtroom thriller with a 1940s feel, "Jagged Edge" (1985; starring Glenn Close, Jeff Bridges, and Peter Coyote). Also that year, he played a Mafioso in John Huston's Academy Award-winning dark comedy film adapted from Richard Condon's novel, "Prizzi's Honor," alongside Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, and Anjelica Huston.

Loggia then made his fifth and last film (to date) with Edwards in his Academy Award-nominated "That's Life!" (1986; with Jack Lemmon and Julie Andrews), and displayed the gentle side of his nature as the compassionate father of a young woman with cerebral palsy in Luis Mandoki's Academy Award-nominated drama film "Gaby: A True Story" (1987; starring Liv Ullmann and Rachel Chagall), which won him a Best Actor Award at the Bogota Film Festival. He also portrayed attorney William Kuntsler in the HBO made-for-cable-TV docudrama "Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8" (1987), which earned him a CableACE Award nomination for Best Actor in a Theatrical or Dramatic Special, and delivered a solid turn as a toymaker in Penny Marshall's comedy film "Big" (1988), which won him a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.

At the end of the decade, Loggia introduced the character of jaded FBI agent Nick Mancuso on the NBC Primetime Emmy-nominated thriller miniseries based on Steve Sohmer's novel, "Favorite Son" (1988), and provided the voice of Sykes in the Disney animated feature film inspired by the Charles Dickens novel "Oliver Twist," "Oliver and Company" (1988; alongside Joey Lawrence and Billy Joel). He also starred as the hardened veteran of the FBI in the NBC crime drama series "Mancuso, FBI" (1989-1990), for which he earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

The early 1990s saw Loggia star as Ben Benedict, a widowed 50-something businessman who falls in love with a 26-year-old lawyer (played by Teri Hatcher), in the CBS short-lived sitcom "Sunday Dinner" (1991), which was executive produced and created by Norman Lear. He also played Salvatore "Sal the Shark" Macelli in director John Landis' mobster-vampire spoof, "Innocent Blood" (1992; alongside Anne Parillaud and Anthony LaPaglia), and played Senator Anton Kreutzer, a messianic political leader who founded the Synthiotics religion and the inventor of New Realism, in ABC's futuristic miniseries "Wild Palms" (1993), in which he was reunited with Dickinson.

Loggia subsequently portrayed mobster Carlo Gambino, opposite Grant Show, in CBS’ romantic drama movie "Between Love and Honor" (1995), portrayed General William Grey in Roland Emmerich's summer blockbuster "Independence Day" (1996), and appeared as a gangster in David Lynch's psychological thriller "Lost Highway" (1997; with Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, and Balthazar Getty). He was also cast in Bille August's mystery film based on the 1992 novel by Danish author Peter Høeg, "Smilla's Sense of Snow" (1997; starring Julia Ormond, Gabriel Byrne, and Richard Harris), played Frank Torre in Showtime's biopic "Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way" (1997; starring Paul Sorvino), and starred as Don Vito Leoni, the clinically depressed Godfather, in the mob comedy "The Don's Analyst" (1997), which reunited him with Dickinson. Additionally, he delivered a subdued and amiable performance as Grandpa Beal in M Night Shyamalan's comedy-drama film "Wide Awake" (1998; with Joseph Cross, Rosie O'Donnell, Dana Delaney, and Denis Leary).

In 1999, Loggia appeared in commercials for Minute Maid orange juice. He was also cast as yet another gangster in the Showtime miniseries about mafia boss Joseph Bonann, "Bonanno: A Godfather's Story," starring Martin Landau, and contributed a cameo as Father Monet to the classy CBS two-part miniseries about the 15th century Catholic Saint, "Joan of Arc." He also narrated History Channel’s documentary, "Defeat at Waterloo: Napoleon vs. Wellington."

Hitting the new millennium, Loggia acted in Hugh Hudson's "I Dreamed of Africa" (2000; starring Kim Basinger as Kuki Gallmann, who escaped her monotonous life in Italy to become a leading wildlife advocate) and was part of the all-star supporting cast that included Carroll O'Connor, James Belushi, and David Allan Grier, in Bonnie Hunt's romantic movie "Return to Me" (2000; starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver).

The following year, Loggia made a guest appearance on the critically acclaimed Fox sitcom starring Frankie Muniz, "Malcolm in the Middle," which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He also starred as Zack in Cleve Nettles' "All Over Again" (filmed in 1999; released in 2001).

Loggia joined the cast of HBO’s mob drama series "The Sopranos" in 2004, playing Feech La Manna, a mafia wise guy released from prison. Afterward, he was cast opposite Christian Slater in Harvey Kahn's political thriller "The Deal" (2005; also featuring Tom Hanson, Selma Blair, and Colm Feore) and co-starred in "Funny Money" (2006; with Chevy Chase, Penelope Ann Miller, Armand Assante, and Christopher McDonald), Leslie Greif's film adaptation of the 1994 farce written by Ray Cooney.

Loggia's most recent film work includes "Rain" (2006), "Forget About It" (2006), "Wild Seven" (2006) and "Her Morbid Desires" (2008). He will next be seen in the upcoming films "The Least of These," "Shrink," "Room and Board," and "Nano Dogs the Movie."

Awards:

• Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films: Saturn Award - Best Supporting Actor, "Big," 1990

• Bogota Film Festival: Golden Precolumbian Circle - Best Actor, "Gaby: A True Story," 1988