Date of Birth : Jun 20th 1931
Gardenia was a jowly comic player who excelled in ethnic types, particularly hassled husbands, fathers, and businessmen. He was born in Naples, Italy, but grew up in New York, where he studied acting at the Italian Theatre, making his professional Manhattan debut in 1955. He played minor roles in dramas until the late 1960s, when he established himself as an adept comic actor. Among Gardenia’s most? remembered performances were the frantic father Carol Newquist in Little Murders (1969), the overcautious brother Harry Edison in The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971), the Job?like manufacturer Joe Benjamin in God’s Favorite (1974), the widower Alfred Rossi in an autumnal romance in Ballroom (1978), and the Italian?restaurant owner Lou Graziano in Breaking Legs (1991).
CAREER
Moonstruck ( 1987 )
