Godfather actor Alex Rocco dies at 79

Actor Alex Rocco, who played casino owner Mo Greene in the first “Godfather” film, has died.

A 1970s publicity shot of actor Alex Rocco.

In “The Godfather”, he had the famous line, “Do you know who I am?”

Rocco had small roles in such films as “The St Valentine’s Day Massacre” (1967) and “The Boston Strangler” (1968), and appearances on TV shows like “Batman” and “That Girl”, before landing the noted role of Moe Greene in Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic classic “The Godfather“. Using the thick-framed glasses the character wore, special effects man A.D.

Rocco was born Alexander Federico Petricone in Cambridge Massachusetts. He “stole” his first job when, working at a bar on Santa Monica Blvd., he picked up a phone call from 20th Century Fox trying to track down an actor and talked himself into the job instead. He had his film debut in Russ Meyer’s Motorpsycho! and would eventually rack up more than 160 acting credits in his name. He also played Charlie Polniaczek on “The Facts of Life” from 1981 to 1988. He also played the father of McKeon’s characters in the sitcom “Can’t Hurry Love” and the police series “The Division”.

On television, his voice was heard in The Simpsons as the “Itchy & Scratchy” studio owner Roger Meyers Jr, notes The Hollywood Reporter.

According to Vincent Teresa’s book, “My Life In The Mob”, Rocco also had his share of fascinating behind the scenes experiences in the Boston underworld before going to Hollywood in the mid-’60s. Based on the legendary Vegas mobster Bugsy Siegel, Rocco’s blustery Moe Greene made the fatal mistake of getting on the bad side of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone, slapping around Michael’s woebegone brother Fredo once too often.