The LA Times has a good obituary. But, even though he's famous because of Hollywood, it's not really fitting to let LA talk about Farina.
He was the quintessential Chicago man. Let the Tribune have its say.
Played mobsters, cops, detectives, and most recently the con man, dead beat dad of Nick, the hapless roommate of Zooey Deschanel in New Girl. Which goes to show, while the man never really strayed from the same character, he had a way of fitting perfectly into a wide variety of parts.
He's been around Hollywood almost as long as I've been alive, but before he got called up for stardom, he was a Chicago detective, working in robbery. The real deal.
I've been a particular fan of his since his ill-fated show Buddy Faro was on the air.
He was an actor who made whatever he was in always a fair bit better. That's a pretty good claim to fame.
note: if you're going to write a post honoring a man, get his name spelled correctly all the way through, especially in the post title. Lesson learned.
18 comments:
Godspeed, Dennis.
Crime Story intro
He was great in "New Girl" as loser Nick's Dad.
If you have ever hung around a track you know a bunch of guys like that guy.
Hell you could even be that guy.
Or something.
I'd like to see that movie. I'm sure he was perfect. And Deschanel is such a cutie.
Crack had this too, but I love it...
Actually I should say I fucking love it.
Troop, I can think of a couple.
He was an actor who made whatever he was in always a fair bit better.
He did that in Get Shorty (1995)
With a cast full of stars.
The Score is Red Sox 3, Tampa Bay 2.
We need this game. We are virtually tied with Tampa.
Tazawa just got the call top of the seventh.
Nobody had a more classic Chicago accent and demeanor.
Yeah, I really loved this guy. He was so good in that Scorcese movie. I can't think of the title right now but I remember MS originally wanted to call it Wise Guys but someone just beat him to it. So he ended up calling it....crap I can't remember.
Anyway, this reminds me of the Whitey Bulger trial in Boston. CNN has a writer, a stringer I think, who's been covering it sometimes and it just sounds amazing, so incredibly dramatic. I know a lot of people probably aren't interested in that kind of thing but this stuff is just fascinating - like it's real old school. Like Cagney or Bogart movies brought to life in the 80s and 90s.
This gangster who was a partner of Whitey's has been on the stand for several days. Real high drama as he's testifying against WB - he testified how WB killed his, Flemmi's, girlfriend because she knew too much. Flemmi couldn't do it himself so Bulger killed her as he followed down the stairs while Flemmi listened.
One of the jurors - a woman - was crying and looking rather distraught as Flemmi testified to this. She kept looking at her watch like she was wishing it would be over. The CNN writer knows how to write those kind of details into her story. Or maybe the details just write themselves in, it's so compelling to read.
YMMV.
The way Nick's Farina's character taunted Joe Pesci's in Goodfellas was a work of art. He died well I guess.
phx, that was not Farina. That was Frank Vincent (who also played Phil Leotardo on the Sopranos).
Google it phx. that's what I do.
Well, I never saw the Sopranos. Don't they look alike? At least from that picture?
Thanks for the correction ELB.
@Lem I only got so many googles in me. But you're right.
I first noticed him in "Crime Story," an 80s tv show where he played the usual hard-bitten, put-upon police lieutenant but still a good guy after the bad guys who were almost Dick Tracy cartoons.
"Crime Story" was the first long-arc TV show that caught my attention. It was mostly episodic, but there was a season-long plot percolating away.
It's worth a look if you like that kind of thing. I did.
Yes! Crime Story was where I first noticed him too.
RIP
Crime Story used to follow Miami Vice
That Brandon Tartikoff...
Crime Story was top notch.
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