Oscar-nominated actor Robert Loggia Dies at 85

Actor Robert Loggia, who played drug kingpin Frank Lopez in “Scarface,” is dead.
Loggia, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for “Jagged Edge,” died at his home at noon Friday.
Loggia’s wife, Audrey said her husband was struggling with Alzheimer’s for the last five years. She says things took a drastic turn for the worse Wednesday, he seemed to rebound and then died suddenly and peacefully at home.

Loggia was a radio and TV anchor in Southern Command Network in the Panama Canal Zone. Loggia first came to prominence playing the real-life American lawman Elfego Baca in a series of Walt Disney TV shows in 1958. He starred as the proverbial cat-burglar-turned-good in a short-lived series called T.H.E. Cat. In 1972, he played Frank Carver on the CBS soap opera The Secret Storm.

His many television credits include appearances on Overland Trail, Target: The Corruptors!, The Untouchables, The Eleventh Hour, Breaking Point, Combat!, Custer, Columbo, Ellery Queen, High Chaparral, Gunsmoke, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Big Valley, Rawhide, Little House on the Prairie, Starsky and Hutch, Charlie’s Angels, The Rockford Files (three times as three different characters), Magnum, P.I., Quincy, M.E., Kojak, Hawaii Five-0, The Bionic Woman, Frasier, The Sopranos, Monk, and Oliver Stone’s miniseries Wild Palms.

His film roles include Revenge of the Pink Panther, An Officer and a Gentleman, Mercy Mission: The Rescue of Flight 771, based on the Air New Zealand Flight 103 incident, Psycho II, Scarface, Prizzi’s Honor, Over The Top, Independence Day, Necessary Roughness, Return to Me, Armed and Dangerous, and Big (for which he won a Saturn Award).

In 1985, Loggia was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of crusty private detective Sam Ransom in the thriller Jagged Edge. He was nominated for an Emmy in 1989 for his portrayal of FBI agent Nick Mancuso in the TV series Mancuso, FBI, a follow up to the previous year’s miniseries Favorite Son. Loggia appeared as mobsters in multiple films including Sykes in Disney’s Oliver & Company (1988), Salvatore “The Shark” Macelli in John Landis’s Innocent Blood and Mr. Eddy in David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997) and The Don’s Analyst (1997).

In 1998, Loggia appeared in a television commercial lampooning obscure celebrity endorsements. In it, a young boy names Loggia as someone he would trust to recommend Minute Maid orange-tangerine blend. Loggia instantly appears and endorses the drink, to which the boy exclaims, “Whoa, Robert Loggia!” The commercial was later referenced in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle in which Loggia made a guest appearance as “Grandpa Victor” (for which he received his second Emmy nomination); Loggia drinks some orange juice, then spits it out and complains about the pulp. In a similar vein, Loggia voiced a parody of himself in an episode of the show Family Guy titled “Peter’s Two Dads” in which he had to spell out his name to an airport check-in clerk.

Loggia also played a violent mobster named Feech La Manna on a few episodes of the series The Sopranos. In addition to his role in Oliver & Company (1988), Loggia has had several other voice acting roles. A recurring role on the Adult Swim animated comedy Tom Goes to the Mayor, as crooked cop Ray Machowski in the video game Grand Theft Auto III, as Admiral Petrarch in FreeSpace 2, as the narrator of the Scarface: The World is Yours game adaptation, and in the anime movie A Dog of Flanders (1997).

In August 2009, Loggia appeared in one of Apple’s Get a Mac advertisements. The advertisement features Loggia as a personal trainer hired by PC to get him back on top of his game.

On October 26, 2009, TVGuide.com announced Loggia joined the cast of the TNT series Men of a Certain Age.

In 2010, he was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in recognition of his humanitarian efforts.[citation needed]

On December 17, 2011, Loggia was honored by his alma mater, the University of Missouri, with an honorary degree for his career and humanitarian efforts.

In 2012, Loggia portrayed Saint Peter during his final imprisonment in The Apostle Peter and the Last Supper.

Loggia partneed with Canadian entrepreneur Frank D’Angelo from 2013, appearing in three films (Real Gangsters, The Big Fat Stone, and No Depo$it) and with a fourth film under production (Sicilian Vampire) at his death.
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