Oscar-nominated actor Robert Loggia, who was known for gravelly voiced gangsters from “Scarface” to “The Sopranos” but who was most endearing as Tom Hanks’ kid-at-heart, toy-company boss in “Big,” has died. He was 85.
Loggia’s wife, Aubrey, said he died Friday at his home in Los Angeles after a five-year battle with Alz heimer’s. “His poor body gave up,” she said. “He loved being an actor and he loved his life.”
Hanks expressed his grief on Twitter.
“A great actor in heart and soul,” Hanks wrote. “A sad day.”
A solidly built man with a rugged face and rough voice, Loggia fit neatly into gangster movies, playing a Miami drug lord in “Scarface,” which starred Al Pacino, and a Sicilian mobster in “Prizzi’s Honor,” with Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner. He played wise guys in David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” the spoofs “Innocent Blood” and “Armed and Dangerous,” and again on David Chase’s “The Sopranos,” as the previously jailed veteran mobster Michele “Feech” La Manna.
It was not as a gangster but as a seedy detective that Loggia received his only Academy Award nomination, as supporting actor in 1985’s “Jagged Edge.” He played gumshoe Sam Ransom, who investigated a murder involving roles played by Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges.
Loggia gave an endearing comic performance in Penny Marshall’s 1988 “Big,” when he danced with Hanks on a giant piano keyboard.
Loggia also appeared in five films for comedy director Blake Edwards, including three “Pink Panther” films and the dark comedy “S.O.B.”
He also portrayed the Virgin Mary’s husband, Joseph, in George Stevens’ biblical epic, “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”
In 1966, Loggia had the rare opportunity for stardom, taking the lead role in the NBC television drama “T.H.E. Cat.”
Among his later roles was as a general and presidential adviser in the 1996 sci-fi thriller “Independence Day.”
The son of Sicilian immigrants, Loggia was born in 1930 in New York City’s borough of Staten Island. He grew up in Manhattan’s Little Italy section.
First inclined toward newspaper work, he studied journalism at the University of Missouri but was drawn to acting and returned to New York to study at the Actors Studio.
Loggia married Marjorie Sloane in 1954, and they had three children, daughters Tracey and Kristina and son John.
After their divorce, Loggia married Audrey O’Brien in 1982.
