Leo Rossi

Last updated

Leo Rossi
Leo Rossi at Cinema City Film Festival 1.jpg
Rossi at Cinema City film festival in 2008
Born (1946-06-26) June 26, 1946 (age 78)
Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actor
  • producer
  • screenwriter
Years active1975–present

Leo Rossi (born June 26, 1946) is an American actor, writer and producer. A character actor with over 100 credits to his name, he is known for his role as foul-mouthed EMT Vincent "Budd" Scarlotti in the 1981 horror film Halloween II , as the serial killer Turkell from the 1990 horror sequel Maniac Cop 2 , and as Detective Sam Dietz in the Relentless franchise. His other films include Heart Like a Wheel (1983), River's Edge (1986), The Accused (1988), Analyze This (1999), One Night at McCool's (2001), and 10th & Wolf (2006).

Contents

Career

Rossi began his career with small roles in films including the Rick Rosenthal-directed – John Carpenter-scripted – Halloween II (1981) with Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence, in which he falls victim to the suburban maniac Michael Myers. [1] Subsequent roles in Jonathan Kaplan's Heart Like a Wheel (1983) opposite Bonnie Bedelia and Beau Bridges, Tim Hunter's River's Edge (1986) with Dennis Hopper and Keanu Reeves, and Bob Rafelson's Black Widow (1987) – also with Hopper, Theresa Russell and Debra Winger – paved the way for a starring role opposite Jodie Foster and Kelly McGillis in Kaplan's The Accused (1988) as the film's central antagonist, Cliff "Scorpion" Albrect. The Accused in turn led to Rossi winning a starring role in William Lustig's Relentless (1989), a serial killer film which co-stars Judd Nelson and Robert Loggia; however, this time Rossi plays the central protagonist – Detective Sam Deitz – a role he would reprise in three sequels. [2] Rossi followed up Relentless with Lustig's Maniac Cop 2 (1990), a horror film sequel starring Bruce Campbell and scripted by Larry Cohen.

During the 1980s, Rossi made guest appearances in the police procedural Hill Street Blues (1982), a recurring role; the science fiction series Amazing Stories by Steven Spielberg (1985); the crime drama 21 Jump Street with Johnny Depp (1988); and the Vietnam War drama Tour of Duty (1989).

Rossi began the 1990s with a performance in the 1991 action comedy Fast Getaway , about a father (Rossi) and son (Corey Haim) who rob banks together until the former is caught and imprisoned, and the latter is forced to break him out. Rossi then took a supporting role in Where the Day Takes You (1992), played a detective in the Pamela Anderson vehicle Raw Justice (1994), a street preacher in the teen comedy Dream a Little Dream 2 (1995) starring Corey Feldman and Corey Haim, and reprised his role opposite Haim in Fast Getaway 2 (1994). Rossi had a supporting role in the Harold Ramis comedy Analyze This (1999), in which he plays the evil cousin to Robert De Niro's character; other co-stars include Billy Crystal, Chazz Palminteri, and Lisa Kudrow.

His television appearances during the 1990s included Murder She Wrote (1992), Frasier (1997), JAG and a recurring role in ER (TV series) (1999). He portrayed a special agent in Kaplan's adaptation of Truman Capote's psychological drama In Cold Blood (1996); the latter – a miniseries set in 1950s America – co-stars Sam Neill and Eric Roberts.

In the 2000s saw Rossi took a supporting role in the Harald Zwart comedy One Night at McCool's (2001), The same year he accepted a role in the mobster thriller One Eyed King (2001). Next came a supporting role in the experimental drama The Business of Fancydancing (2002) and a part in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), a live action-animation comedy directed by Joe Dante. Rossi then both produced and starred in the thriller 10th & Wolf (2006), in which he plays an FBI Agent partnered with Brian Dennehy who attempt to infiltrate a Sicilian Mafia family business. 10th & Wolf is loosely based upon the real-life Philadelphia crime family mafia war in the 1990s.[ citation needed ]

In TV, Rossi starred in another drama based on the life of Joseph D. Pistone, the 2000 CBS series Falcone , which is based on Pistone and Richard Woodley's book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia . [3] He also appeared in Judging Amy (2001) and Without a Trace (2006).

Filmography

Films

TV appearances

  • Hill Street Blues – Domestic Beef – Season 3, episode 2 (1982) – Jon Gennaro
  • Hill Street Blues – Heat Rash – Season 3, episode 3 (1982) – Jon Gennaro
  • Hill Street Blues – Rain of Terror – Season 3, episode 4 (1982) – Jon Gennaro
  • T.J. Hooker – Lady in Blue – Season 2, episode 22 (1983) – Joe Tate
  • Mike Hammer, Private Eye – Satan, Cyanide and Murder – Season 1, episode 10 (1984)
  • Partners in Crime – Season 1, episodes 1–13 (1984) – Lieutenant Ed Vronsky
  • Cagney & Lacey – Victimless Crime – Season 3, episode 3 (1984) – Moslovsky
  • ABC Afterschool Specials – One Too Many – Season 13, episode 7 (1985) – Mr. Jenkins
  • Hunter – Case X – Season 2, episode 1 (1985) – Tony Cochran
  • Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories – Mr. Magic – Season 1, episode 8 (1985) – Murray
  • Hardcastle and McCormick – In the Eye of the Beholder – Season 3, episode 20 (1986) – Marvin
  • T.J. Hooker – Into the Night – Season 5, episode 17 (1986) – Salvatore Martel
  • Cagney & Lacey – Role Call – Season 6, episode 5 (1986) – Public Relations Man
  • Stingray – Anytime, Anywhere – Season 2, episode 13 (1987) – Johnny
  • CBS Summer Playhouse – Reno and Yolanda – Season 1, episode 13 (1987) – Ricky Barron
  • A Year in the Life – Goodbye to All That – Season 1, episode 15 (1988) – Mel
  • The Bronx Zoo – Career Day – Season 2, episode 5 (1988) – Tauber
  • Simon & Simon – Simon & Simon and Associates – Season 8, episode 2 (1988) – Al Krantz
  • 21 Jump Street – Slippin' Into Darkness – Season 3, episode 2 – (1988)- Sergeant Walker
  • Tour of Duty – Saigon: Part 1 – Season 2, episode 1 (1989) – Jake Bridger
  • Tour of Duty – Saigon: Part 2 – Season 2, episode 2 (1989) – Jake Bridger
  • Murder, She Wrote – Murder on Madison Avenue – Season 8, episode 22 (1992) – Lieutenant Hornbeck
  • Mr. & Mrs. Smith – The Impossible Mission Episode – Season 1, episode 11 (1996) – Shelley
  • In Cold Blood (miniseries) (1996) – Agent Harold Nye
  • Frasier – Liar! Liar! – Season 4, episode 10 (1997)
  • Early Edition – Mob Wife – Season 1, episode 13 (1997) – Frank Pirelli
  • JAG – Dungaree Justice – Season 4, episode 12 (1999) – Peter Reardon
  • Sons of Thunder – Lost & Found – Season 1, episode 4 (1999) – Anthony Cardone
  • ER – Humpty Dumpty – Season 6, episode 7 (1999) – Detective Cruson
  • ER – Family Matters – Season 6, episode 10 (2000) – Detective Cruson
  • Falcone – Pilot – Season 1, episode 1 (2000) – Noah Dietrich
  • Falcone – Double Exposure – Season 1, episode 4 (2000) – Noah Dietrich
  • Falcone – But Not Forgotten – Season 1, episode 7 (2000) – Noah Dietrich
  • Falcone – Paying the Piper – Season 1, episode 9 (2000) – Noah Dietrich
  • Judging Amy – Rights of Passage – Season 3, episode 8 (2001) – Mr. Schmeltzer
  • Without a Trace – Candy – Season 5, episode 2 (2006) – Leo

Writer

Producer

Music department

Self

Awards and nominations

YearAssociationNominated workCategoryResultRef(s)
Golden Raspberry Awards Gotti Worst Screenplay Nominated [4]

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References

  1. ↑ The Official John Carpenter.Com [accessed] May 4, 2012
  2. ↑ Rossi, Leo, Eastman-Rossi Productions.Com [accessed] May 4, 2012
  3. ↑ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present . Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 385. ISBN   0-345-45542-8.
  4. ↑ "39th Razzie Nominations!". YouTube: Razzie Channel. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021.
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