The New Jersey native also featured in the brief series ‘The Montefuscos,’ had two appearances on ‘Another World,’ and distinguished himself in ‘The Idolmaker’ and ‘New Jack City.’
John Aprea, the flamboyant character actor known for his role as the young Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather Part II and as the father of John Stamos’ character on Full House, has passed away. He was eighty-three years old.
Aprea passed away on August 5 from natural causes in Los Angeles, as revealed by his manager, Will Levine.
The New Jersey native collaborated with director Jonathan Demme in Caged Heat (1974), Crazy Mama (1975), and The Manchurian Candidate (2004), portrayed the sibling of Ray Sharkey’s emerging music promoter in Taylor Hackford’s The Idolmaker (1980), and depicted a mobster in Mario Van Peebles’ New Jack City (1991).
Over a ten-year period (1989–1998), Aprea also appeared in two stints on the NBC serial opera Another World, playing a multimillionaire shipping magnate named Alexander Nikos and another thief named Lucas Castigliano. In the end, women shot both characters to death.
On NBC’s The Montefuscos, a comedy series produced by Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, he played the father of a multigenerational Italian American family. However, the show ran for only nine episodes in 1975.
Aprea first met Francis Ford Coppola in Los Angeles while working as a bartender, and he later tried out for the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972). Naturally, Al Pacino was cast in the lead role, but Aprea did end up in the first sequel as Tessio, the crime boss from the first film portrayed by Abe Vigoda.
When he called Vigoda to ask about the persona, he supposedly got the response, “I don’t know what I did.” Just enjoy yourself, young one. He claimed that the gig was the pinnacle of his career.
From 1988 to 1991, Aprea appeared in ABC’s Full House as Stamos’s exterminator father. He later returned to the show for the 2017 Netflix revival.
Jonathan Aprea was born in Englewood, New Jersey, on March 4, 1941, to Italian immigrants. He and his family first resided in Italy for a few years before moving back to New Jersey, where he played football and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1959.
Initially, Aprea relocated to New York City in order to continue her acting career. She later traveled to Los Angeles and appeared as a hitman in the iconic Steve McQueen film Bullitt (1967). He went on to play parts in movies including Curtis Hanson’s Sweet Kill (1972) and The Grasshopper (1970).
Later, in the critically acclaimed 1981 NBC miniseries The Gangster Chronicles, Aprea made a name for himself as crime boss Albert Anastasia.
In the first two seasons (1982–84) of the ABC action series Matt Houston, he portrayed Lt. Vince Novelli. He also starred in two major storylines on CBS primetime serial operas, one as Sheriff Jack North on Falcon Crest in 1987 and the other as the evil Manny Vasquez on Knots Landing in 1988.
His acting credits also included work in the films The Stepford Wives (1975), American Anthem (1986), and The Game (1997), as well as cameo appearances on Mannix, The Rookies, The F.B.I., Wonder Woman, Silk Stalkings, The Sopranos, Cold Case, NYPD Blue, and CSI.
His third wife, Betsy, with whom he shared 25 years of marriage, his daughter Nicole from a previous union with actress Ninon Aprea, and his stepchildren, Marika and Valentino, are among his survivors. He was predeceased by Rosanna, his sister.
