cooking veal cutlets
interior subway train, day. suddenly sam notices that something odd is happening. one of the riders at the other end ofthe car is walking toward him. with unholy fury, the new ghost charges into sam. - like trains? - unexpected power of the ghost grabs hold of him and slams him into the subway door. sam surges through the door at the endof the train. the subway ghost stares at him through the window
with a wild, insane look. - stay out! this is mine! ever since i first saw ghost when i was young i recognized this man as simply thesubway ghost. other people described him as the manwith the sad eyes. but his actual name was vincent schiavelli. and for almost 40 years he was one ofthe busiest actors in the business. known for his unique droopy face and tall, slender build he has 157 credits to his name on imdb.
i can't tell you how many times i wouldsee vincent pop up in a movie. i always enjoyed him, and you know something? i don't think i ever saw him play the lead in a movie. he was a secondary character but alwaysmanage to leave an impression. this is why i have chosen vincent schiavelli to be the focus of this episode of no small parts. vincent schiavelli was born on november11, 1948 to a sicilian american family in brooklyn, new york. he grew up in an area he's described as bruculinu,
an area of brooklyn was heavilypopulated by italian immigrants who made their way to america at theturn of the century. he studied acting in a theater program at new york university and performed on stage throughout the1960s. before i get into vincent's film and television roles i want to focus on three certain qualities he had that i think may have helped him throughout his career in episode one i talked about how anne ramsey
was heavy set with a smoker's voice. and although it helped her fit certain roles, in the eyes of a casting director it also must have limited her to all the other parts she could have easily played. vincent, on the other hand, had qualities that not only helped him, but didn't necessarily limit him. first off, he suffered from a diseasecalled marfan syndrome. marfan syndrome affects the heart.
it pretty much weakens the tissue in the aorta. and over time after all the blood pumpingthrough it, it can eventually rupture and cause other complications.but the most visually noticeable but the most visually noticeable symptom of marfan syndrome is how it affects the skeleton. those with the disease tend to have long faces and fingers and disproportionate limbs. at a height of 6' 6'', this is why vincent looked the way he did. he's on record attributing his uniquelook to marfan syndrome.
as a result, vincent already had an advantage when he went out for eccentric, unusual roles. secondly, vincent, born and bred inbrooklyn, new york to sicilian immigrants, was also italian and looked italian. rightfully so. he was also fluent in an old version of sicilian, which he learned from his grandfather. lastly, there was vincent's voice. something about it always struck me.
he had this smooth and calming tone to him that helped no matter what kind of character he played. - rodney's the name. solving mystery is my game. - if he was supposed to be friendly it came off as warm and inviting. - please, only positive energy allowed. - i've been hearing fabulous things about the special. what, did we hit a little speed bump?
- on the other hand, if his character was meant to give a feeling of unease, it was almost more effective. - whoever you are, wherever you're from, greetings. welcome to minos, the arsenal of freedom, where we live by the motto, peacethrough superior firepower. - it's these three qualities that ithink casting directors noticed the most. as a character actor, i think it'simportant to obviously have theatrical training and experience as much as you can get but it's the technical things that helpas well.
how you look and how you sound. which brings me back to one important quality i think every character actor should have, andthat's self-awareness. i think vincent knew who he was, where he came from, how he looked, how he sounded, and that comes from experience. in my opinion, the more you get in front of a camera and the more you watch yourself in the finalproduct, the more it helps you realize who you are and how other peopleperceive you. vincent was successful in film andtelevision from the very beginning.
his first role ended up being a big one, a counselor in the 1971 milos forman film, taking off. his scene is probably the best one in the film in which he teaches rich parents of runaway teens how tosmoke weed so that they might better understand their troubled kids. - as you inhale, curl up the edges of your mouth so that you let in a lot of oxygen along with the smoke. it is very important to get a mixture of grass and oxygen. - this role would actually be the start of frequent collaborations
vincent and director milos forman, whichi'll get into later. oh, and one more thing. look what other character actor popped up in this movie. - into a world full of angels and kings. yeah, that's a 23-year-old kathy bates. she was credited as bobo bates for some reason. the next project vincent worked on immediately after taking off was a recurring character in ashort-lived television show called the corner bar in 1972.
first a movie, then a show? that's a great start to an acting career. unfortunately i can't find any footage of the show, but apparently vincent's character, peter panama, was notable for being the first openlygay character on television. that's pretty cool. in 1975 vincent played fredrickson, just one of many mental patients in the film one flew over the cuckoo's nest, directed by milos forman.
little tangent here but this film is packed full of character actors, many of whom probably consider this movie theirfirst big break. i guess if you make a movie that takesplace in a mental asylum, you're going to have some unique looking characters. besides vincent schiavelli, there'sdanny devito, christopher lloyd, sydney lassick, even brad dourif, aka the voice of chuckie. all these guys, including vincent, wereamazing in this movie and they all went on to have long,healthy careers character actors. and every once in a while milos formanwould come back to them to cast them
in his projects or work with them inanother capacity. for example, forman directed man on the moon, produced by and co-starring danny devito, with vincent schiavelli and sydney lassick showing up in supporting roles and christopher lloyd appeared playing himself. no actor worked more with forman than vincent shiavelli though. he was already in taking off, and after cuckoo's nest, forman directed him in amadeus. - if you don't open this door,
we're gonna everything and we're gonnaleave nothing for you. and i'm never gonna come and see you again. - valmont. - just resting, sir, just resting. shall i? - the people vs. larry flynt. hey larry, come on man, move over. - and man on the moon. - the viewer must be able to see the program.
- this is a great example of when a director obviously enjoyed working with an actor,knows his or her strengths, and keeps them in mind for futureprojects or business ventures. same thing with danny devito and vincent schiavelli. i can't say for sure, but i'm pretty certain these two were friends because they were consistently popping up in projects together. although this is hollywood, so just because they worked together a lot doesn't mean they were friends, but look at this.
there's one flew over the cuckoo's nest, which they both acted in. then a year later devito wrote anddirected a short film called the selling of vince d'angelo and castvincent as a thug. they were both in the gong show movie, then danny devito had his series regular role on taxi, where vincent schiavelli had a recurring character as the priest married latka and simka. they both appeared in johnny dangerously, batman returns man on the moon, which devito produced,
and death to smoochy, which devito directed. - want a drink, buggy? - vodka. i do this thing tonight and the spot is mine, right? with a bow on it. that's eight projects where they ended up working together. maybe some of their earlier projects werecoincidence, but it seems like devito just really liked vincent and wanted to work with him, especially later on
when he really took off as a director and producer and probably had more clout. 25 years of history as to account for something. throughout the '70s and '80s vincent made appearances on almost every popular show on television. you got starsky and hutch, wkrp in cincinnati, taxi, cagney and lacey night court, moonlighting, punky brewster, who's the boss, the list goes on.
even if his film career had completely come to an end, he would have made a healthy living justdoing guest appearances on tv. as for film, the next big project heworked on was fast times at ridgemont high as mr. vargas, the biology teacher. - and here is the human heart, which you can see is actually located in the center of your chest. - oh, gnarly! - this is a role he would actually play again four years later when universal tried
their best to make television adaptation of the same movie called fast times. it only lasted seven episodes. in 1985 he also played a geometry teacher in the classic 80s movie, better off dead. mr. meyer. please join us at the blackboard and show us your solution to this paltry geometric dilemma. in 1990 vincent played the subway ghost in the academy award winning film, ghost.
everyone's probably familiar with this movie so i'm not going to spend too much time talking about the plot patrick swayze plays sam, who was murdered in the first 10 minutes, becomes a ghost, and with the help of a clairvoyant he's trying to figure out who murdered him and why. as sam is chasing a suspect onto a subway train he's confronted by another ghost, vincent schiavelli, who seemingly haunts the subway tunnels.
but this ghost somehow has the abilityto interact with physical objects. at a later point sam decides to go backto the subway and confront the ghost, asking him to teach him how to do it. - what are you doing? what the hell you doing? you're trying to move with your finger. you can't push it with your finger, you're dead! you ain't got a body no more, son! it's all up here now.
you wanna move something, you gotta move it with your mind. - i love the ghost's explanation of how to use this power. - how did you do that? - you gotta take all your emotions, all your anger, all your love, all your hate. and push it way down here in the pit of your stomach and then let it explode like a reactor, pow! - i like to think that he spent years alone as this lost soul, haunting subway cars and had enough time on his hands to figure out how to do this and get better at it.
he probably freaked people out all thetime and maybe passengers would hear rumors never to ride one particular linebecause weird stuff happens. there's a lot of depth to this role and the movie in general. vincent's character is a perfect portrayal of a soul that's been wandering the earth for way too long. he's quick to rage, has some weird mood swings, and seems to be at a point where he's not really sure what's reality and what's not. i like to think that sam sees a bit himself in the subway ghost, like if he ends up a ghost forever hecould end up like this guy,
living in a limbo of sorts, tortured,angry, and afraid. it's awesome. i'd like to say that this role gave vincent his big break and he worked more than he ever did, but really when you look at it he justcontinued working a lot like he did before. his workload didn't really get lighter or heavier. i mean, i'm sure he got some here and there because casting directors were more aware of him, but i don't know, i get the feeling that evenif he was never in ghost
his career would have been just fine. ah, the '90s. vincent continued to appear in everytelevision show you've ever seen. erie indiana, tales from the crypt,highlander, the x files, baywatch nights, although i guess nobody really saw that. buffy the vampire slayer, dharma and greg, sabrina the teenage witch the list again goes on. this was also the decade that vincent, thanks to his unique voice, got into voice over work,
popping up in shows like aaahh!!! real monsters, - and now with the help of the beautiful tiffany. - and hey arnold! - there's a christmas party down the hall. go, have some eggnog. - the '90s also brought with them a new generation of video games, which vincent also dabbled in. you can hear him in blade runner for the pc. - that a bonafide blaster under your coat or are you just happy to be here?
- and you can see him in full-motion video in lands of lore: guardians of destiny. - i beg your pardon, sir, i need your help. i carry a curse made of ancient magic. i doubt that, son, but tell me, what fable of ancient glory directedyou all the way here? - and emperor: battle for dune. - why are you hovering there? step forward. what have you brought me?
- it is the replacement you requested, my lord baron. - doesn't look like much. - i never played any of these games but i did play ssx tricky for the playstation 2 and i remember vincent making a small cameo. in the game one of the techno songs in the background as you play was called move it with your mind and they sampledsome audio from ghost. - it's all in your mind.
also, before we close out the '90s i think his role as dr. kaufman in tomorrow never dies deserves anhonorable mention. - i have a clear shot at your head, mr. bond. stand up slowly. drop your gun and kick it toward me, yeah? - as we get into the 2000's you might notice on vincent's imdb page that he started to work less and the projects he did work on were alittle more italian. now why is that?
the answer to that question lies in a documentary called once upon a time in polizzi. - in 2004, character actor vincent schiavelli decided to leave his hollywood life andmove to a small town in sicily. the town which his grandparents had left a century earlier for brooklyn, new york. this is the first year in vincent's new sicilian life. - first of all, "skeeavelli?" i guess that's how it's properly pronounced in italian
and i've just been saying it wrong. second of all, you heard it right. in 2004 vincent moved permanently to a small sicilian town called polizzi generosa. in this documentary he tells stories of his childhood growing up in brooklyn, his family, his grandfather who taughthim how to speak sicilian and also taught him old italian recipes that he knew. and that's a big focus on the documentary, food. vincent loved food, especially italian food.
his passion for food and the italian culture comes across so much in this film. i also learned that vincent had been a writer for years. since 1993 he had been writing books, all true stories and anecdotes from his childhood and adulthood, all having something to do with the townof polizzi generosa. snd because italian food is supposedlyso intertwined with the italian culture, after every short story you read there's a recipe for a meal that was somehow included in the story. for example in one story he talks about when he was a boy his
grandfather didn't come home one night from the local club. worried, he and his and went to the clubto make sure he was ok and he found his grandfather staying late cooking veal cutlets for all of his friends. on the next page, bam, the recipe for the very same veal cutlets his grandfather was cooking over 50 years ago. and you can cook it yourself. what a great way to immerse yourself into a story. it'd be cool if movies did that.
like what if you could eat the exact same dish that paulie was cooking everyone ingoodfellas when they were in prison. the way he talks about how the garlic iscuts so thin it melts into the pan. sounds so good. and hey, look on the back at these books that vincent wrote. glowing reviews from danny devito. one thing that was certain from watching this documentary was that vincent late in his life wasgetting back in touch with his roots. it seemed to be a fixation for him.
he looks so happy. he's just smiling the whole time. love that laugh. you know, i gotta say, vincent's career asan actor is definitely fascinating to me but what surprised me when i was making this episode was how much more i was interested in all this. i loved this documentary. i've watched it four times. i could've watched five hours of this.
i didn't want it to end. i wish i could just edit in the entiredocumentary for you to watch, but that'd just be stupid. vincent has such a charm and wit abouthim, such charisma that whenever he was telling a story, i was captivated. and after reading vincent's books, i realized why i was more fascinated with vincent's obsession with polizzi. and that's because it seemed to meanmore to him than anything else, including his acting career.
in his book many beautiful things, he says, "as years passed, polizzi generosa became to me more mythic than real. i could never find it on any map. college, relationships, working as an actor in los angeles, and all the other joys and responsibilities of life served to postpone a sicilian quest." you know, after reading that i realize that i did this whole episode wrong. with this in mind i'd like to start over from the beginning. vincent andrews schiavelli was born in brooklyn, bruculinu, new york
to his father pasqualle giovanni schiavelli and his mother katie schiavelli, formerly katie coco. as a boy, vincent grew very close with his grandfather papa andrea coco, his mother's father. he loved his family more than anything and he enjoyed sitting at the kitchen table and hearing everyone exchange stories about a magical, far off place called polizzi generosa. his grandfather andrea, speaking in alost, arcane version of sicilian,
would teach vincent all of his secret italian recipes. later in his life, vincent made a living as an actor in film and television. through his work he met his first wife, actress allyce beasley, and had one son with her whom he named andrea, presumably after his grandfather. the two divorced in 1988. he married a second time the same year to a professional harpist, carol mukhalian. shortly after the wedding, vincent traveled with carol to visit polizzi for the very first time.
he instantly fell in love with the city described by his family for years. over the years the visits to polizzi grew more and more frequent. in 2001, vincent's mother katie passed away, along with all of his aunts and uncles. vincent would cite this year as an important catalyst in his decision to finally give into hispassion for polizzi and move there permanently in 2004. - in 2001 my entire family died. my aunts and uncles, my mother.
they all died in 2001. between january and november. an entire generation. which was the glue that held our family together. there he met and fell in love with another woman, katia, and spent the rest of his days in polizzi,acting with her in plays he had written, eating and drinking with good friends,laughing, telling stories, telling jokes, sharing old recipes from his grandfather. the distant fantasy of his childhood had finally became a reality.
on december 26, 2005, vincent schiavelli died of lung cancer in polizzi generosa at the age of 57. he was buried at polizzi generosa cemetary in palermo, sicily. his tombstone reads in italian, "when a great artist lives inside a bigman, his soul will remain eternal."
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