Vincent Gardenia, the Italian-born performer who had an award-winning career as a character actor on stage, films and television, was found dead Wednesday morning, his publicist said. He was 71.
Gardenia, who was in Philadelphia for the play "Breaking Legs" at the Forrest Theater, apparently suffered a heart attack in his room at the Benjamin Franklin House, said Jeffrey Richards, his spokesman in New York.Gardenia earned two Oscar nominations for his roles as a baseball manager in "Bang the Drum Slowly" in 1973 and as the father in a quirky Brooklyn family in the 1987 film "Moonstruck."
He won a Tony for his performance in "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" in 1972 and an Emmy in HBO's "Age Old Friends" in 1990.
Gardenia estimated he played 500 roles.