Vito Scotti

Vito Giusto Scozzari, known professionally as Vito Scotti, was born on January 26, 1918, in San Francisco, California, to Giusto and Virginia Ambroselli Scozzari. His father died in Tunis while Scotti was still an infant. The family spent the early 1920s in Naples before returning to the United States on July 4, 1924, settling briefly in Philadelphia at 802 South 8th Street before relocating to New York City the following year. By 1925, his mother had established herself as a diva in New York City theater circles. Before pursuing acting, Scotti worked the nightclub circuit as a stand-up magician and mime artist, performing primarily in the Commedia dell'arte tradition.

Scotti made his Broadway debut in Pinocchio, playing a small role, and went on to appear in the plays Steel and They Knew What They Wanted during his Broadway tenure from 1938 to 1939. His stage work encompassed both dramatic and comedic roles, a range that would define his career across multiple performance mediums for the next five decades.

Following service in World War II, Scotti transitioned to film and television, making his screen debut with three uncredited film roles in 1949. By 1953, he had taken over the role of Luigi Basco, an Italian immigrant operating a Chicago antique store, from J. Carrol Naish on the television adaptation of the radio program Life with Luigi. He subsequently appeared on Andy's Gang, the Andy Devine children's series, where he portrayed Rama from India in the live-action segment "Gunga Ram" and also played music teacher Pasta Fazooli. In 1955, Scotti sustained a concussion and a broken arm after an elephant named Emma, startled by artificial foliage on a film set, threw him and fellow actor Nino Marcel from her back.

Scotti accumulated an extensive television filmography across genres. He appeared in four episodes of The Rifleman and in multiple episodes of Gunsmoke between 1965 and 1970. On Gilligan's Island, he appeared four times during the 1960s: twice as a Japanese sailor unaware that World War II had ended, in season one episodes 15 and 31, and twice as the mad scientist Dr. Boris Balinkoff in seasons two and three. He played one of the Penguin's henchmen in two episodes of Batman and appeared in six episodes of Columbo in roles including a maître d', a clothing store salesman, an undertaker, a street bum, and a soybean wholesaler, with an additional appearance as a character named Vito when the series was revived in 1989. His other television credits include The Twilight Zone, The Addams Family, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Hogan's Heroes, Get Smart, The Flying Nun, The Monkees, The Wild Wild West, Ironside, The Bionic Woman, and two episodes of The Golden Girls between 1988 and 1989. He was cast as French Duclos in the 1959 NBC Western series The Californians episode "Deadly Tintype," and in 1963 portrayed Italian farmer Vincenzo Peruggia in the CBS series General Electric True episode "The Tenth Mona Lisa," in which the character steals the Mona Lisa from the Louvre and is later apprehended attempting to sell it. Scotti also appeared as Jules in the 1958 How to Marry a Millionaire episode "Loco and the Gambler," as a Mexican bandit in two episodes of Zorro alongside Gilbert Roland, and as an Italian restaurant owner in season one, episode 35 of Bewitched. He played Geppetto in Geppetto's Workshop during the 1980s, and appeared with Lindsay Wagner on her 1977 television special Another Side of Me.

His film work included a prominent role as an Italian train engineer in Von Ryan's Express, in which his character leads escaped prisoners to Switzerland. He portrayed Nazorine in The Godfather in 1972, Colonel Enrico Ferrucci in The Secret War of Harry Frigg in 1968, and Señor Arturo Sánchez in the Academy Award-winning comedy Cactus Flower in 1969, opposite Ingrid Bergman. He appeared as a scene-stealing cook in How Sweet It Is! in 1968, in a sequence opposite Debbie Reynolds, and as Vittorio in Chu Chu and the Philly Flash in 1981. Scotti provided the voice of the Italian Cat in Walt Disney's animated feature The Aristocats in 1970. His final screen appearance was as the manager at Vesuvio's in the 1995 film Get Shorty.

Throughout a career spanning roughly fifty years, Scotti was recognized for his ability to portray a wide range of ethnic characters across more than 200 screen appearances, a versatility that earned him the informal designation of a man of a thousand faces. Of Italian heritage himself, his roles included a Mexican bandit, a Russian doctor, a Japanese sailor, and an Indian travel agent, among many others.

In his personal life, Scotti married former Peruvian flamenco dancer Irene A. Scozzari in 1949. They had two children, Carmen Antoinette, born in 1953, and Ricardo Antonio, born in 1956. Irene died on April 15, 1979, at age 54. Scotti subsequently married Beverly Scotti, who survived him. He was a dedicated fundraiser for the Carmen Fund, established by the Joaquin Miller High School Parents Guild to support students with special needs; the fund was named after his daughter Carmen, who was among the first patients to undergo pioneering spinal implant surgery. Outside of acting, Scotti was regarded as an accomplished cook with a particular affinity for Italian recipes, and he also pursued painting.

Scotti died of lung cancer on June 5, 1996, at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He was interred alongside his first wife Irene at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in the Abbey of the Psalms Mausoleum.