Robert Loggia, R.I.P.
Actor Robert Loggia passed away on Friday of complications of Alzheimer's. He was 85.
Loggia's career spanned more than six decades. Usually he was cast as a mobster or a cop/private detective. Loggia appeared as a mobster in several of The Pink Panther movies, Scarface, Prizzi's Honor as well as TV's The Sopranos. Loggia would earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Jagged Edge and would receive an Emmy nomination for the short-lived CBS TV series Mancuso, FBI. He also appeared on many TV shows includingThe Bionic Woman, The Rockford Files and Columbo. Other film credits include An Officer and a Gentleman, Independence Day and Big.
It is this last film from which I will remember him best. Loggia plays the benevolent owner of FAO Schwarz who takes Tom Hanks' 12-year character trapped in a 30-year old body under his wing. This scene with Loggia and Hanks playing "Chop Sticks" and "Heart & Soul" on a walking piano is absolutely priceless.