Robert Pastorelli(1954-2004)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Beefy, roughhewn actor Robert Pastorelli was a former boxer and an
admitted drug addict before he cleaned up his act and pursued theater
work in New York in such 1970s productions as "Rebel Without a Cause,"
"The Rainmaker," and "Death of a Salesman," he headed west and turned
to film and TV in 1982, soon finding a fairly comfortable niche playing
ballsy, streetwise characters often with a Runyonesque feel and truck
driver mentality. Supporting Bette Midler and Shelley Long in Outrageous Fortune (1987) and Eddie Murphy
in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), his first meaty film role came with Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990). But
it was TV that would be his claim to fame as Candice Bergen's gruff but
mushy-hearted house painter in Murphy Brown (1988), staying with the show for seven
seasons. With that came more visible roles in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), Michael (1996), and
Revenant (1998). He played the role of salty Luther Billis in the mini-movie
remake of South Pacific (2001) with Glenn Close, then appeared as Mitch with Ms. Close
on stage in "A Streetcar Named Desire" a year later. Sadly, drugs once
again took hold of Pastorelli in full force in later years. In 2004,
the 49-year-old died of a heroin overdose and was found at home with a
syringe in his arm in the bathroom by his assistant.