Ben Piazza (July 30, 1933 – September 7, 1991) was an American actor.

Life and career

Piazza made his film debut in

Sidney J. Furie Sidney Joseph Furie (born February 28, 1933) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his extensive work in both British and American cinema between the 1960s and early 1980s. Like his contemporaries Norman Jewison ...

's Canadian film '' A Dangerous Age'' (1959) followed by his Hollywood debut in '' The Hanging Tree'' (1959). Though he signed contracts with Warner Bros. and Gary Cooper's production companies for five years, he did not make another film until '' No Exit'' (1962). A prolific television and film character actor, Piazza is perhaps most widely recognized as the wealthy restaurant patron in John Landis' 1980 comedy hit '' The Blues Brothers'' from whom Jake ( John Belushi) offers to purchase his wife and daughter. Prior to that, he also played the violent boyfriend who scars

Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy ...

's character's face in Otto Preminger's '' Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon'' (1970). Piazza's other film appearances include ''

The Candy Snatchers ''The Candy Snatchers'' is a 1973 American Exploitation film, exploitation crime film directed by Guerdon Trueblood. The film was unofficially inspired by the kidnapping of Barbara Jane Mackle. It stars Susan Sennett as a teenager who is kidnappe ...

'' (1973); Piazza played a dramatic role in an episode of'' Barnaby Jones'', titled “Bond of Fear” (04/15/1975),'' The Bad News Bears'' (1976), '' I Never Promised You a Rose Garden'' (1977), ''

Nightwing Nightwing is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character has appeared in various incarnations; the identity was adopted by Dick Grayson when he left his role as Batman's vigilante partner Robin. Although ...

'' (1979), Peter Bogdanovich's '' Mask'' (1985), '' Clean and Sober'' (1988), and '' Guilty by Suspicion'' (1991), in which he portrayed

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

film director/mogul Darryl F. Zanuck. In 1986, Piazza had a three-month stint on the daytime soap opera '' Santa Barbara'' as Dr. A.L. Rawlings. Piazza also played the role of Walt Driscoll in the sixth season of Dallas (1978 TV series), between 1982 and 1983. Piazza also wrote plays and a novel, ''The Exact and Very Strange Truth'' (1964), a coming-of-age story about an Italian-American boy in Little Rock, Arkansas, which was Piazza's hometown. However, Ben wrote in the book's introduction that any resemblance between the characters and real people was “irrelevant”, although the parallels to his own life were unmistakable. Piazza dedicated the book to openly gay

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...

, who was a close friend.

Personal life and death

Piazza was married to actress Dolores Dorn from 1967 until 1979. Piazza was in a committed relationship with Wayne Tripp, from 1973 until Piazza died of AIDS-related cancer in 1991.

Filmography

References

Demetria Fulton; reviewed Piazza in Barnaby Jones episode “Bond of Fear”.

External links

* * * (juvenile credits) *
Ben Piazza
at the University of Wisconsin'
Actors Studio audio collection
1933 births 1991 deaths American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from Little Rock, Arkansas LGBT male actors American LGBT actors AIDS-related deaths in California 20th-century American male actors Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Little Rock Central High School alumni LGBT people from Arkansas 20th-century LGBT people {{US-screen-actor-1930s-stub