Burt Young of Rocky fame is done.

[Dmitry]

I didn't know he was Italian. What a pseudonym for a boy from Corona. Burt Young sounds like a Jewish radio broadcaster. I wish they'd asked him why he chose a name like that.

Edited October 20, 2023 by Dmitry

[HutchFan]

Interesting video.  I had no idea that he'd been a boxer.

R.I.P.

 

[sonnymax]

2 hours ago, HutchFan said:

...I had no idea that he'd been a boxer...

I didn't know he was a musician.

Edited October 20, 2023 by sonnymax

[JSngry]

I never watched any of the Rocky movies and didn't recognize the name. But the face, yes. Immediately. From... everywhere else? 

[Dmitry]

He was remarkably memorable in the short role of Bobby Bacala Sr. in the Sopranos. His portrayal of  a person dying from lung cancer is enough to make anyone quit smoking.

[sgcim]

6 hours ago, Dmitry said:

I didn't know he was Italian. What a pseudonym for a boy from Corona. Burt Young sounds like a Jewish radio broadcaster. I wish they'd asked him why he chose a name like that.

Back then there was a lot of prejudice against Italians. They were even lynched in New Orleans. In NYC, they're still listed as an oppressed group, legally.

My father changed his professional last name to Carter, and his best friend, who was responsible for the New Yorker hotel designs on the headstock of D'Angelico New Yorker guitars, changed his name to Duke Martin. His real name was Hugo Ciamarelli, a very talented guitarist and jeweler,

No one likes to discuss this:

https://www.history.com/news/the-grisly-story-of-americas-largest-lynching

Edited October 20, 2023 by sgcim

[T.D.]

RIP. Interesting guy. I always assumed he was Italian, never bothered to research.

As an actor he had pretty much one routine, but did it very well.

[mjzee]

I remember him in Rodney Dangerfield's "Back To School."  He played Rodney's right-hand man in a severely underwritten part that basically called on him to show up in scenes and nod.  I see that he was also in a very good Peter Falk movie, "All The Marbles."

[sonnymax]

2 hours ago, sgcim said:

...In NYC, they're still listed as an oppressed group, legally...

I searched and searched but couldn't come up with any information to substantiate this claim. Would you please direct me to the right place?

My Dad grew up in "The Point", an Italian-Black neighborhood in Newport, RI. He used to joke that he was the first "person of color" to become a member of the Newport Country (Golf) Club. 

[sgcim]

21 hours ago, sonnymax said:

I searched and searched but couldn't come up with any information to substantiate this claim. Would you please direct me to the right place?

My Dad grew up in "The Point", an Italian-Black neighborhood in Newport, RI. He used to joke that he was the first "person of color" to become a member of the Newport Country (Golf) Club. 

My brother found this out when he applied for a job teaching at a CUNY school. I'll ask him where it's written down the next time I see him.

[Dmitry]

On 10/20/2023 at 5:00 PM, sgcim said:

Back then there was a lot of prejudice against Italians. They were even lynched in New Orleans. In NYC, they're still listed as an oppressed group, legally.

My father changed his professional last name to Carter, and his best friend, who was responsible for the New Yorker hotel designs on the headstock of D'Angelico New Yorker guitars, changed his name to Duke Martin. His real name was Hugo Ciamarelli, a very talented guitarist and jeweler,

No one likes to discuss this:

https://www.history.com/news/the-grisly-story-of-americas-largest-lynching

That's interesting to me. Almost thirty years back, when I was in professional school at NYU, a hands-on National Board exam needed to be passed in order to progress to graduation. The organization administering these exams strove for impartiality, and the people overseeing these exams were hired from outside. Many of them were retired professionals in the same field I was learning. I spoke to one of them at some length. He, obviously seeing that I was an immigrant, made a suggestion to change my name to an "American" one. He said that his father changed their family name to...Carter from their  original Italian name. The Italian Carter was from Ohio and of swarthy, Mediterranean appearance. Speaking with gravitas, he assured me that the only way to succeed was to blend in. I can absolutely see that an Italian kid in a waspy area in the 1940s would have a tough time. Just like it would be otherwise...

I remember a scene in the Untouchables, where Sean Connery's character grilled Andy Garcia's, as to who he was. Garcia said his family name was Stone. Connery called him a wop and that he wasn't fooling anyone with that name.

[GA Russell]

RIP.

Am I the only one who used to confuse Burt Young with Richard Castellano?

[sonnymax]

On 10/21/2023 at 4:49 PM, sgcim said:

My brother found this out when he applied for a job teaching at a CUNY school. I'll ask him where it's written down the next time I see him.

Thanks a lot. I learn a lot of interesting things from my brother, too.

[mjzee]

3 hours ago, GA Russell said:

RIP.

Am I the only one who used to confuse Burt Young with Richard Castellano?

Richard Castellano was great in Lovers And Other Strangers.  I think he and Young were about a decade apart.

[Brad]

4 hours ago, GA Russell said:

RIP.

Am I the only one who used to confuse Burt Young with Richard Castellano?

I don’t know about the only one but I never confused them. 

[sgcim]

20 hours ago, sonnymax said:

Thanks a lot. I learn a lot of interesting things from my brother, too.

My brother said he came across it only when applying for a CUNY teaching job as part of their affirmative action program.

[sonnymax]

2 hours ago, sgcim said:

My brother said he came across it only when applying for a CUNY teaching job as part of their affirmative action program.

So I checked it out and found this on the CUNY website: "the Chancellor of CUNY designated Italian Americans as a protected group in 1976 and CUNY prepares a separate Italian American affirmative action plan." It's still active: 2022-2023 Central Office Affirmative Action Plan: Italian Americans. Now I've got to tell my brother.

Edited October 23, 2023 by sonnymax

[sgcim]

5 hours ago, sonnymax said:

So I checked it out and found this on the CUNY website: "the Chancellor of CUNY designated Italian Americans as a protected group in 1976 and CUNY prepares a separate Italian American affirmative action plan." It's still active: 2022-2023 Central Office Affirmative Action Plan: Italian Americans. Now I've got to tell my brother.

Yeah, it's wild, isn't it?

[Dmitry]