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Joseph Bologna
Bologna in 1974
Born	(1934-12-30)December 30, 1934 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	August 13, 2017(2017-08-13) (aged 82) Duarte, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Brown University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970–2012
Spouse	Renée Taylor ​(m. 1965)​
Children	1

Joseph Bologna (December 30, 1934 – August 13, 2017) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter notable for his roles in the comedy films My Favorite Year, Blame It on Rio, and Transylvania 6-5000.

Life and career

Bologna was born in the Parkville section of Brooklyn, New York to an Italian-American family. He attended St. Rose of Lima school and Brown University, where he majored in art history. Bologna served with the United States Marine Corps. Bologna was hired to produce and direct Manhattan-based TV commercials.

Bologna enjoyed a long run in film and television. His breakthrough film Lovers and Other Strangers adapted with his wife Renée Taylor from a play they co-wrote, was based on the true-life circumstances of organizing a wedding on short notice with the involvement of his Italian extended family and her Jewish clan. Several relatives performed as extras in the final cut. The couple shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. A year later, in 1971, the couple again collaborated to write and perform in the film Made for Each Other.

Bologna stayed close with his old-neighborhood aunts and uncles after becoming successful. Two of them were slightly famous on their own: His Uncle Pat was Blacky the Bootblack, whom Joseph Kennedy credited as his main influence when he sold all of his stock holdings in the summer of 1929 (the market crashed in October); his aunt Pauline was one of the better-known celebrity chefs, working for Jackie Gleason, Burt Reynolds and others.

Bologna's aunt Pauline chastised him for starring in Blame It on Rio (starring Michael Caine), which contained some nudity; Bologna remarked "Blame it on me. It's the last time I invite Aunt Pauline to a film premiere." In 1976, he starred in the television drama What Now, Catherine Curtis? with Lucille Ball. Other film roles for Bologna include:

• playing the brother of James Caan's widowed protagonist in Neil Simon's 1979 romance Chapter Two
• portraying the Sid Caesar-based character King Kaiser in the 1982 comedy hit My Favorite Year (which starred Peter O'Toole in the role of drunken film star Alan Swann, modeled after Errol Flynn)
• as Lenny Koufax, the frustrated father of perpetual slacker Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) in the 1999 comedy Big Daddy

In 1987, Bologna starred in the TV musical sitcom Rags to Riches as Nick Foley, a millionaire mogul turned adoptive father.

He played the mad scientist Dr. Malavaqua in the 1985 comedy Transylvania 6-5000.

From 1996 to 1998, Bologna voiced Inspector Dan Turpin in Superman: The Animated Series. In 2006, he voiced Mr. Start in Ice Age: The Meltdown.

He and his wife Renée Taylor had a son Gabriel. Gabriel became an actor, writer and director, and directed his father in his last film, "Tango Shalom". Taylor and Bologna starred together on stage and on television. Bologna played a love interest for his wife in the episode "Maternal Affairs" of the sitcom The Nanny in the sixth and final season, in which Taylor plays Sylvia, the mother of Fran Drescher's character. He also appeared in the first-season episode "The Gym Teacher" as a famous actor for whom Maxwell Sheffield once interned.

From 2012 until before his death in 2017, Bologna appeared in numerous roles on TV and in motion pictures, including roles on Funny or Die, stage productions, and national commercials.

In 2017, Bologna received the Night of 100 Stars Oscar Gala Lifetime Achievement Award from actor comedian Richard Lewis and his peers to celebrate his 60-year career and to recognize his efforts to save the Motion Picture Home and Hospital in 2012.

Death

Bologna died on August 13, 2017, at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California from pancreatic cancer at age 82.

Filmography

Film

Television

Notes

1. ^ Although some sources have claimed that Bologna had two children with his wife, Renée Taylor, a son and a daughter, the couple stated in a 1996 interview that they had only one child, a son. The other child who is claimed to be theirs is actually the wife of their son.

References

1. ^ Gates, Anita (August 14, 2017). "Joseph Bologna, Onscreen Tough Guy with a Sense of Humor, Dies at 82". The New York Times.
2. ^ Barnes, Mike (August 13, 2017). "Joseph Bologna, 'My Favorite Year' Actor and Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter, Dies at 82". The Hollywood Reporter. ISSN 0018-3660.
3. "A TAYLOR-MADE MARRIAGE WORKING WITH MY HUSBAND HAS PAID OFF FOR 30 YEARS, SAYS 'NANNY' STAR RENEE". New York Daily News. October 13, 1996. Retrieved September 14, 2021. "At 15, our son met the girl who is now his wife," says Bologna about his 27-year-old only child.
4. "'Tango Shalom' dances its way through cross-cultural tale of community". The Daily Bruin. October 13, 1996. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
5. ^ "Joseph Bologna, Actor and Playwright Known for 'My Favorite Year,' Dies at 82". Variety.com. 14 August 2017.
6. "Actor, director and Oscar-nominated writer Joe Bologna dies at 82". Los Angeles Times. 15 August 2017.
7. "'You're Right, Dear.' 'If You Say So, Dear.'". The New York Times. 5 August 2001.
8. "Joe Bologna, 'My Favorite Year' actor and Oscar-nominated writer, dies at 82". Washington Post. 2023-04-08. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
9. "Writers Guild of America, USA (1972)". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
10. ^ "Joseph Bologna (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 6, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
11. ^ "Joseph Bologna". Television Academy. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
12. "Browser Unsupported - Academy Awards Search | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences".
13. "Writers Guild of America, USA (1971)". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-03-14.

External links

• Joseph Bologna at IMDb
• Joseph Bologna at the TCM Movie Database
• Joseph Bologna at the Internet Broadway Database
• Joseph Bologna at AllMovie

• 1934 births
• 2017 deaths
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• American male film actors
• American male screenwriters
• American male stage actors
• American male television actors
• American writers of Italian descent
• Brown University alumni
• Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California
• Primetime Emmy Award winners
• Male actors from Brooklyn
• United States Marines
• Screenwriters from New York (state)