Michael V. Gazzo

A broad-playing, gravel-voiced character player best known as Frankie Pentangeli, capo of the old neighborhood, in "The Godfather, Part II" (1974), Gazzo was also a renowned acting teacher and award-winning playwright. He began working simultaneously as a stage director and actor at the Great Neck (NY) Playhouse. From 1946-49, while studying at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research, he directed several shows and acted in numerous productions, including "The Little Foxes" and "Juno and the Paycock." After graduating, Gazzo began a life-long association with the Actors Studio out of which developed his acclaimed play "A Hatful of Rain" (1955), a portrait of a lower-middle-class man attempting to break his addiction to drugs. It was filmed in 1957, co-written by Gazzo, with a cast that included Don Murray as the addict, Eva Marie Saint as his pregnant wife and Anthony Franciosa (repeating his stage role) as his brother. His second play, "Night Circus," was produced in New York in 1958, with less stellar results. That same year he also wrote "King Creole," a movie starring Elvis Presley.