Joe Grifasi
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Joseph G. "Joe" Grifasi (born June 14, 1944) is an American character actor of film, stage and television. Grifasi was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Patricia (née Gaglione) and Joseph J. Grifasi, a skilled laborer. Grifasi graduated from Bishop Fallon High School, a now defunct Catholic high school in Buffalo. He played football and acted in many of the school's plays. Grifasi briefly attended Canisius College in Buffalo before joining the United States Army. He went on to study at the Yale School of Drama. While at the Yale School of Drama, he met his future wife, the jazz soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom. Grifasi has played two separate members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who played for the New York Yankees. In 61, set in 1961, he played Phil Rizzuto; in The Bronx Is Burning, set in 1977, he played Yogi Berra. Paul Borghese played Berra in 61, while actual 1977 broadcast recordings of Rizzuto were used in The Bronx Is Burning.
Joseph G. "Joe" Grifasi (born June 14, 1944) is an American character actor of film, stage and television. Grifasi was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Patricia (née Gaglione) and Joseph J. Grifasi, a skilled laborer. Grifasi graduated from Bishop Fallon High School, a now defunct Catholic high school in Buffalo. He played football and acted in many of the school's plays. Grifasi briefly attended Canisius College in Buffalo before joining the United States Army. He went on to study at the Yale School of Drama. While at the Yale School of Drama, he met his future wife, the jazz soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom. Grifasi has played two separate members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who played for the New York Yankees. In 61, set in 1961, he played Phil Rizzuto; in The Bronx Is Burning, set in 1977, he played Yogi Berra. Paul Borghese played Berra in 61, while actual 1977 broadcast recordings of Rizzuto were used in The Bronx Is Burning.
Known for
Endgame
The Dreams of Rene Sendam
Me To Play
Radium Girls
I Know This Much Is True
Evil
Lodge 49
The Good Fight
Baked in Brooklyn
Bull
The American Side
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Elementary
The Front
The Last New Yorker
Canterbury's Law
The Bronx Is Burning
A Crime
Lewis Black: Red, White & Screwed
Conviction
Slow Burn
A Jersey Tale
13 Going on 30
Tarzan
Hope & Faith
Auto Focus
Changing Lanes
Queenie in Love
61*
Some of My Best Friends
Looking for an Echo
Deadline
The Other Me
The Beat
Switching Goals
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
The Out-of-Towners
The Naked Man
The Deal
Sunday
One Fine Day
Shadow of a Doubt
Early Edition
Undue Influence
Heavy
Money Train
Two Bits
Batman Forever
Jack Reed: A Search for Justice
ER
Chicago Hope
Natural Born Killers
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
The Hudsucker Proxy
Moon Over Miami
Taking the Heat
Benny & Joon
Class of '96
Sinatra
Citizen Cohn
Primary Motive
City of Hope
WIOU
Law & Order
Presumed Innocent
Kojak: Ariana
Perfect Witness
The Feud
Chances Are
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Roseanne
The Appointments of Dennis Jennings
Big Business
Ironweed
Moonstruck
Matewan
One Police Plaza
L.A. Law
F/X
Bad Medicine
The Equalizer
Brewster's Millions
Moonlighting
The Flamingo Kid
The Pope of Greenwich Village
Splash
Will There Really Be a Morning?
Still of the Night
The Elephant Man
Honky Tonk Freeway
The Gentleman Bandit
Hill Street Blues
Hide in Plain Sight
Something Short of Paradise
The Deer Hunter
On the Yard
Secret Service
Great Performances