Sam Coppola

Sam Coppola (July 31, 1932 – February 5, 2012) was an American character actor of stage, film, and television, appearing in more than 35 films and nearly 40 television shows, since 1968.

Coppola was an alumnus of the Lee Strasberg acting studio.

Coppola's film roles include, a Cop (uncredited) in Serpico (1973),[citation needed ] Dan Fusco, owner of the hardware and paint store who gave John Travolta's character Tony Manero advice in Saturday Night Fever (1977), and Fuselli in Fatal Attraction (1987).

On television, Coppola's appearances include roles in the series Ryan's Hope (1975-76), The Equalizer (1986), The Practice (1997), The Wire (2006), The Good Wife (2011), and on shows in the Law & Order franchise.

On The Sopranos (1999), Coppola made a brief appearance as the idiosyncratic family therapist of Jennifer Melfi.

In the 2001 A&E television movie The Big Heist, Coppola portrayed mob boss Paul Castellano.

Coppola played a nursing home resident in a Chevy commercial that aired during 2011's Super Bowl and a hot dog vendor in a Ball Park Franks spot starring Michael Jordan.

On stage, Coppola portrayed Aaronow, an aging real estate salesman in a 2000 production of Glengarry Glen Ross at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ, and in a 2005 off-Broadway production of Waiting for Godot he portrayed the hobo Vladimir.

Coppola resided in Leonia, New Jersey for 38-years. He was predeceased by his wife, and survived by two children, Jason and Samantha, and by three grandchildren.

Sam Coppola is not related to Francis Ford Coppola, the film director.

Coppola died February 5, 2012, from an aneurysm.