Oscar-Nominated Actor Robert Loggia Dies at 85
By Dave McNary
Robert Loggia, durable star of movies and TV shows including Brian De Palma’s 1986 Scarface and 1988′s Big, died Friday in Los Angeles, his widow Audrey confirmed to Variety. He was 85.
Loggia had been battling Alzheimer’s Disease for the past five years, according to his widow. They had been married for 33 years.
He was nominated for a Supporting Actor Academy Award for Jagged Edge in 1986 for his portrayal of blunt private detective Sam Ransom.
His most notable film credits included An Officer and a Gentleman, Prizzi’s Honor, Independence Day, Problem Child, and Big, in which he played a toy company owner and performed a memorable duet on a giant foot-operated piano with Tom Hanks. He played a Miami drug lord in Scarface.
He was nominated for an Emmy in 1989 for his portrayal of FBI agent Nick Mancuso in the series Mancuso FBI and again in 2000 for his guest star role in Malcolm in the Middle.
Loggia was a versatile supporting actor, assembling credits on three different episodes of The Rockford Files as three different characters. He also appeared in three different Pink Panther movies as three different characters.
Loggia played Anwar Sadat in the 1982 TV movie A Woman Called Golda opposite Ingrid Bergman. He also portrayed a fearsome mobster-bakery owner Feech La Manna on several episodes of The Sopranos.
Loggia was a native of Staten Island, born to Italian immigrants. He received a football scholarship to Wagner College and transferred to the University of Missouri.
After serving two years in the U.S. Army, he began classes with Stella Adler and at The Actors Studio.
“He loved being an actor,” his widow told Variety. “He used to say that he never had to work. He never had to wait tables.”
“I loved Bob like a father,” Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns told Variety. “I will miss him a lot.”
He broke into the entertainment business in 1958 as lawman Elfego Baca in a series of Walt Disney TV shows in 1958. His TV credits included The Untouchables, Columbo, Gunsmoke, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Big Valley, Rawhide, Little House on the Prairie, Starsky and Hutch, Charlie’s Angels, Magnum, P.I., Kojak, Hawaii Five-0, The Bionic Woman, Frasier, and Monk.
His film roles include Revenge of the Pink Panther, Over The Top, Necessary Roughness, Return to Me, and Armed and Dangerous.
Loggia is survived by his widow; three children, Tracy, John and Kristina, and a stepchild, Cynthia.
His family has asked that donations be made to the Motion Picture and Television Fund. Loggia was an active supporter of the fund.
Funeral services will be private.
(Photo: ITV/REX Shutterstock, 20th Century Fox)
