Richard Castellano

Richard Salvatore Castellano (September 4, 1933 – December 10, 1988) was an American actor born in the Queens borough of New York City. His parents, Mariantonia Angello and Filippo Castellano, were Italian immigrants from Castrofilippo, Sicily. His middle name honored an older brother, Salvatore, who had died two years before Richard's birth. He is best remembered for his stage work in Lovers and Other Strangers and for portraying Peter Clemenza in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather.

Castellano began his career in small television roles, including work as an extra on Naked City, before establishing himself on the Broadway stage. His Broadway career spanned 1966 to 1970 and encompassed five productions. He appeared in The Investigation, Peter Weiss's play dramatizing the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, and in Frank D. Gilroy's That Summer – That Fall, which featured Tyne Daly and Irene Papas in the cast. He also performed in Mike Downstairs, in Art Buchwald's comedy Sheep on the Runway, and in Lovers and Other Strangers. His work in the latter earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1969.

The 1972 film adaptation of Mario Puzo's The Godfather brought Castellano widespread recognition. Directed by Coppola, the film became the highest-grossing release of its time, and Castellano's portrayal of gangster Peter Clemenza contributed one of its most quoted lines: "Leave the gun; take the cannoli." His wife later stated that he had partially ad libbed the line. Creative differences with Coppola led to Castellano's absence from The Godfather Part II in 1974, in which the younger version of Clemenza was portrayed by Bruno Kirby. Castellano had previously received an Academy Award nomination for the film version of Lovers and Other Strangers in 1970.

On television, Castellano took the lead role of Joe Girelli, superintendent of a New York City apartment building, in the sitcom The Super, which ran for ten episodes in 1972. His real-life daughter, Margaret Castellano, played the character's daughter, Joanne, in the series. He later starred as Joe Vitale in the sitcom Joe and Sons, which aired from 1975 to 1976.

After his death, Castellano's widow, Ardell Sheridan — who had herself appeared in The Godfather as Clemenza's wife — claimed that Castellano had been a nephew of Gambino crime family boss Paul Castellano. Richard Castellano's sister disputed the claim directly, stating that the two were not related. Castellano's wife also disclosed that the couple had been collaborating on a book titled History of the Method, intended to chronicle the origins of method acting. Castellano died of a heart attack at his home in North Bergen, New Jersey, on December 10, 1988, at the age of 55.