John Aprea, the charismatic character actor who portrayed the young Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather Part II and the father of John Stamos’ character on Full House, has died. He was 83.
Aprea died Aug. 5 of natural causes in Los Angeles, his manager, Will Levine, announced.
The New Jersey native appeared for director Jonathan Demme in Caged Heat (1974), Crazy Mama (1975) and The Manchurian Candidate (2004), played the brother of Ray Sharkey’s up-and-coming music promoter in Taylor Hackford’s The Idolmaker (1980) and was a mob guy in Mario Van Peebles’ New Jack City (1991).
Aprea also played another crook, Lucas Castigliano, as well as a multimillionaire shipping magnate, Alexander Nikos, during two stints on the NBC soap opera Another World over a course of a decade (1989-98). Both characters ended up getting shot to death by women.
He starred as the patriarch of a multi-generational Italian American family on NBC’s The Montefuscos, but the comedy, created by Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, lasted just nine episodes in 1975.
While tending bar in Los Angeles, Aprea met Francis Ford Coppola and auditioned for the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972). Al Pacino got the part, of course, but Aprea did land on the first sequel as Tessio, the mobster played by Abe Vigoda in the original.
He phoned Vigoda for insight into the character and reportedly was told: “I don’t know what I did. Just have a good time, kid.” The gig was the highlight of his career, he said.
Aprea recurred as the exterminator dad of Stamos’ Jesse Katsopolis on ABC’s Full House from 1988-91 and reprised the role for the 2017 Netflix reboot.
Jonathan Aprea was born to Italian immigrants on March 4, 1941, in Englewood, New Jersey. After he and his family lived in Italy for a few years, they settled again in New Jersey, and he graduated in 1959 from Dwight Morrow High School, where he played football.
Aprea moved to New York City in the early 1960s to pursue acting, then came to Los Angeles and played a hitman in the Steve McQueen classic Bullitt (1967). He followed with roles in such films as The Grasshopper (1970) and Curtis Hanson’s Sweet Kill (1972).
Aprea later stood out as the mob boss Albert Anastasia on the acclaimed 1981 NBC miniseries The Gangster Chronicles.
He played Lt. Vince Novelli on the first two seasons (1982-84) of the ABC action series Matt Houston and had prominent story arcs on a pair of CBS primetime soaps: as Sheriff Jack North on Falcon Crest in 1987 and as the villainous Manny Vasquez on Knots Landing in 1988.
His acting résumé also included guest spots on Mannix, The Rookies, The F.B.I., Wonder Woman, Silk Stalkings, The Sopranos, Cold Case, NYPD Blue and CSI and work in the films The Stepford Wives (1975), American Anthem (1986) and The Game (1997).
Survivors include his third wife, Betsy (they were together for 25 years); his daughter, Nicole, from a previous marriage to actress Ninon Aprea; and stepchildren Marika and Valentino. He was predeceased by his sister, Rosanna.