Vincent Gardenia

Vincent Gardenia (born Vincenzo Scognamiglio; January 7, 1920 – December 9, 1992) was an Italian-American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, first for Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) and again for Moonstruck (1987). He also portrayed Det. Frank Ochoa in Death Wish (1974) and its 1982 sequel, Death Wish II, and played "Mr. Mushnik" in the musical film adaptation of Little Shop of Horrors (1986). Gardenia's other notable feature films include Murder Inc. (1960), The Hustler (1961), The Front Page (1974), Greased Lightning (1977), Heaven Can Wait (1978), and The Super (1991). In 1990, Gardenia was awarded the Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a television movie or television series for the HBO production Age Old Friends. Gardenia was twice honored for his performances on Broadway. In 1972, he won the Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Prisoner of Second Avenue, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Musical in 1979 for Ballroom. Off-Broadway, he was twice awarded with the Most Distinguished Performance Award by an actor, 1960 for Machinal, and again in 1969 for Passing Through From Exotic Places.