Alex Rocco, the Emmy-winning character actor best known for playing wise guys like the Las Vegas casino owner Moe Green in “The Godfather,” died Saturday at age 79.
His daughter Jennifer Rocco announced the news on her Facebook page; no cause of death was mentioned.
He won an Emmy Award in 1990 for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for playing an abrasive Hollywood agent Al Floss in the short-lived CBS sitcom “The Famous Teddy Z.”
The show starred Jon Cryer and was based on the true story of Jay Kantor’s up-from-the-mailroom rise in the agency world.
A native of Boston who studied acting with fellow Massachusetts native Leonard Nimoy, Rocco made his name portraying fast-talking, cigar-chomping gangster and other heavies.
In addition to his showy role as the Jewish mobster Moe Green in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” his film credits include “Detroit 9000,” “The Stunt Man” with Peter O’Toole, the animated hit “A Bug’s Life” and “Smokin’ Aces.”
He has been a mainstay on TV as well, with recurring roles on “The George Carlin Show,” “The Facts of Life,” the Starz period mob drama “Magic City” and “The Simpsons,” on which he voiced the studio boss behind “The Itchy and Scratchy Show.”