On the Sweet Smelling Vincent Gardenia

Like everyone else who remembers him, I loved character actor Vincent Gardenia (Vincenzo Scognamiglio, 1920-1992) — but it wasn’t until I learned about his early years that I got super jazzed about doing a post on him, for his old-school roots indeed tie him to the themes of this blog.

Gardenia was born in Naples, where his father Gennaro Gardenia Scognamiglio was a stage star. Vincent was a toddler when the family moved to Brooklyn. His father established an Italian-American theatre troupe called the Gennaro Gardenia Company which performed original melodramas in all the Italian-American neighborhoods in and around New York City. You think that’s just Little Italy? Nah, in fact, today, Little Italy is very little indeed. But there are SCORES of Italian neighborhoods in all five boroughs of NYC and there were even more of them a century ago, and still more in nearby Westchester, New Jersey, and Long Island. Gardenia joined his family onstage when he was five years old, and remained with the company for about thirty years. Towards the end of that period, though, with movies and television as competition, bookings for the troupe began to dry up. By then, Vincent had become a member of the Actor’s Studio. He began getting English-speaking roles on stage, film and television in the 1950s.

Because he was so gifted at it, one tends to think of Gardenia primarily as a comic actor, but he was also effective in drama. He was inclined to stoutness and had a very expressive face. He was often cast as gangsters, cops, coaches, and bartenders.

1958 was a key year in his career. That year, he and an equally green Jerry Orbach supported Robert Loggia in an independent movie called Cop Hater. AND he had a small part in the Broadway premier of Friedrich Durrenmatt’sThe Visit, directed by Peter Brook. Talk about both ends of the American theatrical spectrum! Gardenia won two Obies, for his performance in a 1960 revival of Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal, directed by Gene Frankel, and the 1969 production of Ronald Ribman’sPassing Through From Exotic Places, again with Loggia, at the Sheridan Square Theatre. At the same time, he was often playing crooks and similar parts in the movies, things like Murder Inc (1960), Mad Dog Coll (1961, in which he played Dutch Schultz), The Hustler (1961), and the screen version of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge(1962).

Gardenia’s hot streak in all three media, film, tv and television, was the early to mid ’70s. He seemed to be everywhere. Movies included Jenny (1970) with Alan Alda and Marlo Thomas, the demented Carl Reiner picture Where’s Poppa? (1971) with Ruth Gordon and George Segal, the even MORE demented Jules Feiffer-Alan Arkin team-up Little Murders (1971) starring Elliot Gould, and the all-star Norman Lear comedy Cold Turkey (1971). Lear liked him so much he repeatedly cast him on his tv shows. Gardenia played a judge in an episode of Maude. Then he and Rue McClanahan played a couple of swingers in a memorable episode of All in the Family. And then he and Betty Garrett got recurring roles on that show as the Lorenzos, whose gender role reversal traits (Frank liked to cook, Irene was handy with tools) blew Archie Bunker’s mind. This is probably where I first saw him.

During these same years, Gardenia had parts in three consecutive Neil Simon shows on Broadway. He was Peter Falk’s brother in the original production of The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971 — their parts were played by Jack Lemmon and Gene Saks in the movie version), then he starred in the short-lived God’s Favorite (1975), and then went in as a replacement in California Suite (1977). Still not done! He was in several more notable movies: Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), which contained early career performances by Robert De Niro and Michael Moriarity and earned Gardenia an Oscar nomination; followed by Lucky Luciano (1974), then the action hit Death Wish (1974) with Charles Bronson; and Billy Wilder’s remake of The Front Page (1974). A couple of years later there were things like Alan Arkin’sFire Sale (1977), Greased Lightning (1977) with Richard Pryor, and Warren Beatty’sHeaven Can Wait (1978.)

Gardenia continued to be a welcome and familiar face over the next decade-plus. He was in the very last episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1977, and was cast as a regular in the tv sitcom version of Breaking Away in 1980 (in the Paul Dooley dad role, which is particularly eye-winking, given that the character is always exasperated by his son’s enthusiasm for speaking Italian). He was reunited with Elliott Gould in Disney’sThe Last Flight of Noah’s Ark (1980), and with Charles Bronson in Death Wish II (1982). He was well cast as J. Edgar Hoover in the tv mini series Kennedy (1983). He played Mr. Mushnik in the screen musical version of Little Shop of Horrors (1986), though no one could ever fill the shoes of Mel Welles. In 1986 Gardenia earned his second Oscar nom for his role in the monster hit Moonstruck (1987). His last screen performance was the part of Joe Pesci’s father in The Super (1990).

At the time of Gardenia’s death he was appearing in a Philadelphia production of the off-Broadway hit Breaking Legs. He died in his hotel room following the show’s final preview. His body was discovered the next day, still dressed, a telephone in his hand. He’d died of a heart attack, and expired before his call for help could be completed. His understudy, well-known character actor Harry Guardino, went on for him that night.

Contemplate the summation, though. Vincent Gardenia’s career lasted nearly 70 years, and he died between performances.