Al Checco

Al Checco (July 21, 1921 – July 19, 2015) was an American actor whose career spanned film, television, and theatre across several decades. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Checco worked extensively in Hollywood while also maintaining a presence on Broadway from 1948 to 1993.

During World War II, Checco served in Special Services, where he performed as an entertainer for soldiers alongside actor Don Knotts. That wartime experience preceded a long professional career that took him from the Broadway stage to film and television work in Los Angeles.

His Broadway credits included Lend an Ear, Buttrio Square, Damn Yankees, and Crazy for You, the last of which extended his stage career into the early 1990s. The span of those credits — from 1948 to 1993 — reflects a sustained engagement with the theatre over more than four decades.

In film, Checco accumulated a substantial list of screen appearances beginning in the mid-1960s. He took on supporting and character roles in productions including The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), Hotel (1967), and Bullitt (1968). His most prominent film role came in Blake Edwards's The Party (1968), in which he played Bernard Stein. Additional film credits included Angel in My Pocket (1969), There Was a Crooked Man... (1970), I Love My Wife (1970), Skin Game (1971), Pete's Dragon (1977), and How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980), among others.

Checco died on July 19, 2015, two days before his 94th birthday, of natural causes at his home in Studio City, California.