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Ben Piazza is a Actor and Casting American born on 30 july 1934
Ben Piazza (July 30, 1933 – September 7, 1991) was an American actor.
He made his film debut in Sidney J. Furie's Canadian film A Dangerous Age (1959) followed by his Hollywood debut in The Hanging Tree (1959). Though signed to contracts with Warner Bros. and Gary Cooper's production companies for five years he didn't 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'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 (1973), The Bad News Bears (1976), I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), Nightwing (1979), Peter Bogdanovich's Mask (1985) and Guilty by Suspicion (1991). He was married to actress Dolores Dorn.
Source : Wikidata
Ben Piazza
Birth name Benito Daniel Piazza
Nationality USA
Birth 30 july 1934
Death 7 september 1991 (at 57 years)
Nationality USA
Birth 30 july 1934
Death 7 september 1991 (at 57 years)
Ben Piazza (July 30, 1933 – September 7, 1991) was an American actor.
He made his film debut in Sidney J. Furie's Canadian film A Dangerous Age (1959) followed by his Hollywood debut in The Hanging Tree (1959). Though signed to contracts with Warner Bros. and Gary Cooper's production companies for five years he didn't 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'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 (1973), The Bad News Bears (1976), I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), Nightwing (1979), Peter Bogdanovich's Mask (1985) and Guilty by Suspicion (1991). He was married to actress Dolores Dorn.
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Filmography of Ben Piazza (16 films)
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Guilty by Suspicion (1991)
, 1h40Directed by Irwin Winkler
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller
Themes Political films
Actors Robert De Niro, Annette Bening, George Wendt, Sam Wanamaker, Martin Scorsese, Patricia Wettig
Roles Darryl Zanuck
Rating64%
David Merrill (De Niro), a director in 1950s Hollywood, returns from abroad to find that a rising tide of McCarthyism and the Red Scare has led to his not being allowed to work in films. He will only be allowed to direct once he implicates colleagues as Communist agents. He must decide whether to turn informant, or to stick to principle at the cost of his life's work.
Rocky V (1990)
, 1h51Directed by Sylvester Stallone, John G. Avildsen
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Action
Themes Sports films, Martial arts films, Boxing films, Le boxe anglaise
Actors Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Sage Stallone, Richard Gant, Burgess Meredith
Roles le docteur avec les lunettes
Rating54%
Shortly after Rocky Balboa's victory over Ivan Drago in Moscow, he, his wife Adrian, his brother-in-law Paulie, and his trainer Tony "Duke" Evers return to the U.S., where they are greeted by Rocky's son Robert. At a press conference, boxing promoter George Washington Duke attempts to goad Rocky into fighting his boxer Union Cane for the World Heavyweight Championship in Tokyo, but Rocky declines the offer. Upon returning home, it is discovered that Paulie unknowingly had Rocky sign a "power of attorney" over to Rocky's accountant, who had squandered all of his money on real estate deals gone sour; in addition, the accountant had failed to pay Rocky's taxes over the past six years, and the mansion is discovered to be unpaid by $400,000.
Clean and Sober (1988)
, 2h4Directed by Glenn Gordon Caron
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Films about alcoholism, Medical-themed films, Films about drugs
Actors Michael Keaton, Kathy Baker, M. Emmet Walsh, Morgan Freeman, Tate Donovan, Claudia Christian
Roles Kramer
Rating66%
Daryl Poynter is a successful but self-destructive Philadelphia real estate salesman who is addicted to cocaine. He embezzles $92,000 of his company's money from an escrow account and then loses $52,000 to his addiction and the stock market. Waking up one morning next to a girl who suffered a heart attack from a cocaine overdose, he tries to cover up the drug use, but the police make it clear that they know what happened. There is also the matter of the company's money. Daryl goes to the airport to try to flee the country but his credit card is declined and he has no cash. His colleague Martin also refuses to put him up for a couple of weeks. Daryl then learns of a drug rehabilitation program which lasts about a month and which guarantees anonymity. He checks in, figuring he can hide out there. While in rehab he meets Craig, a tough but supportive drug rehabilitation counselor. With great difficulty, Craig helps Daryl to realize he is an addict and that his life is complete chaos. He says to him, "The best way to break old habits is to make new ones.
Mask (1985)
, 2hDirected by Peter Bogdanovich
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Biography
Themes Transport films, Motocyclette, Films about disabilities
Actors Cher, Eric Stoltz, Sam Elliott, Laura Dern, Estelle Getty, Harry Carey, Jr.
Roles Mr. Simms
Rating71%
In 1978 Azusa, California, Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz), who suffers from a skull deformity, is accepted without question by his freewheeling biker mother's boyfriends, his "extended motorcycle family," and his maternal grandparents, who share his love of baseball card collecting; but is treated with fear, pity, awkwardness, and teasing by those unaware of his humanity, humor, and intelligence. Rocky's mother, Florence "Rusty" Dennis (Cher), is determined to give Rocky as normal a life as possible, in spite of her own wild ways as a member of the Turks biker gang, as well as her strained relationship with her parents. She fights for Rocky's inclusion in a mainstream junior high school, and confronts a principal who would rather classify Rocky as mentally retarded and relegate him to a special education school, despite the fact that his condition hasn't affected his intelligence.
The Blues Brothers (1980)
, 2h7Directed by John Landis
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Action, Adventure, Musical, Crime
Themes Films about families, Films about music and musicians, Transport films, Films about automobiles, Le blues, Musical films, Road movies, Buddy films, Chase films
Actors John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, James Brown, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Steve Lawrence, Murphy Dunne
Roles Father
Rating78%
"Joliet" Jake Blues (John Belushi) is released from prison after serving three years for armed robbery. Jake is irritated at being picked up by his brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) in the Bluesmobile, a battered former Mount Prospect police car, instead of the Cadillac the brothers used to own. The brothers visit their childhood home, a Roman Catholic orphanage, and learn that it will be closed unless $5,000 in property taxes is collected. The brothers visit an evangelical church service where Jake has an epiphany: they can legitimately raise the funds by re-forming their rhythm and blues band. Elwood calls the quest "a mission from God.
Nightwing (1979)
, 1h45Directed by Arthur Hiller
Origin USA
Genres Horror
Themes Films about animals, Natural horror films
Actors Nick Mancuso, David Warner, Kathryn Harrold, Dr. Stephen Macht, Ben Piazza, Strother Martin
Roles Roger Piggott
Rating52%
Youngman Duran, a deputy on a Hopi Indian reservation in New Mexico, begins to investigate a series of mysterious cattle mutilations. Abner Tasupi, an ancient and embittered medicine man who raised Youngman after his parents died, tells him he has cast a spell to end the world that very night, but Youngman assumes he simply is babbling while under the influence of datura root. The following morning, Youngman finds Abner's bloodless body on the floor of his shack, and nearby he discovers a dead shepherd and most of his flock.
, 1h40Directed by Dan Curtis
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Actors Dean Jones, Andrew Duggan, Louise Sorel, Chris Petersen, Katy Kurtzman, Harris Yulin
Roles Herman Grasser
Rating72%
It's the summer of 1937 in Bridgeport, Connecticut and 12-year-old Daniel Cooper (Chris Petersen) along with his 10-year-old sister Sarah (Katy Kurtzman) are looking forward to summer vacation, most particularly, the annual 4th of July festivities. Sarah soon befriends the town's gentle misfit, Albert Cavanaugh, known by the town's children as "Snowman" (Geoffrey Lewis), a highly decorated and now brain-damaged World War I veteran, after she defends him from the town's resident bully, "Red" Doyle (Eric Shea). When Snowman finds himself accused of a terrible murder, Sarah, believing him to be innocent, convinces her successful attorney father, Ed Cooper (Dean Jones) to defend him. Amid courtroom allegations of communism and insinuations of a potentially inappropriate relationship with Sarah, Ed Cooper and the town's children must try to prove Snowman's innocence, before he can be sentenced to jail for the murder.
, 1h36Directed by Anthony Page
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy-drama
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about psychiatry, Films set in psychiatric hospitals
Actors Kathleen Denise Quinlan, Bibi Andersson, Lorraine Gary, Ben Piazza, Sylvia Sidney, Martine Bartlett
Roles Jay Blake
Rating63%
The film was directed by Anthony Page. It follows a girl who is ill with schizophrenia. A doctor is asked to help her out of her state.
The Bad News Bears (1976)
, 1h42Directed by Michael Ritchie
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Sports films, Baseball films, Children's films
Actors Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Chris Barnes, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Vic Morrow, Ben Piazza
Roles Councilman Whitewood
Rating72%
Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau), a former minor-league baseball player and an alcoholic who cleans swimming pools, is recruited by a city councilman and attorney who filed a lawsuit against a competitive Southern California Little League, which excluded the least athletically skilled children (including his son) from playing. To settle the lawsuit, the league agrees to add an additional team—the Bears—which is composed of the worst players.
The Candy Snatchers (1973)
, 1h34Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Horror, Crime
Themes Films about sexuality, Rape in fiction
Actors Tiffany Bolling, Ben Piazza, Dolores Dorn, Howard Shoup
Roles Avery
Rating62%
Candy Philips (Susan Sennett) is a 16-year-old girl who is kidnapped on her way home from her Catholic school. Her three kidnappers include Eddy (Vince Martorano), his partner Jessie (Tiffany Bolling), and Jessie's brother, Alan (Brad David), who bury her alive in a Southern California field. They give her a pipe for air, expecting they will soon gain a ransom from her father. Unbeknownst to them, Candy's burial is witnessed by a young mute child, Sean Newton (Christopher Trueblood), who tries to tell his intolerant parents, Dudley (Jerry Butts) and Audrey (Bonnie Boland), about what he saw.
The Outside Man (1972)
, 1h44Directed by Jacques Deray
Genres Thriller, Crime
Themes Gangster films
Actors Jean-Louis Trintignant, Ann-Margret, Roy Scheider, Michel Constantin, Angie Dickinson, Georgia Engel
Roles Desk Clerk
Rating64%
French hitman Lucien Bellon (Jean-Louis Trintignant) has been hired by mobsters to kill Victor (Ted de Corsia), a rival mobster. Bellon goes to Victor's home, in Los Angeles, and shoots him point-blank.
, 1h53Directed by Otto Preminger
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romance
Themes Films about disabilities
Actors Liza Minnelli, Robert Moore, Ken Howard, James Coco, Kay Thompson, Fred Williamson
Roles Jesse
Rating60%
The film stars Liza Minnelli as the title character Junie Moon, a girl whose face is scarred in a vicious battery acid attack by her boyfriend (Ben Piazza). Later in an institution, she meets a man with epilepsy (Ken Howard), and a gay paraplegic who uses a wheelchair (Robert Moore). Disabled, but not down, they live together in an older, rented house and bond, determined to prove themselves and to help each other.
No Exit (1962)
, 1h25Directed by Orson Welles, Tad Danielewski
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Films based on plays
Actors Viveca Lindfors, Rita Gam, Ben Piazza, Mirta Miller
Roles Camarero
Rating66%
The Valet (Manuel Rosón) enters a hotel room with Joseph Garcin (Morgan Sterne) in tow. The windowless room has a single entrance and no mirrors. Two women, Inès Serrano (Viveca Lindfors) and Estelle Rigault (Rita Gam), are then led in; afterwards, the Valet leaves and locks the door. Realizing that they are in hell, the trio expects to be tortured; however, no torturer is forthcoming. While waiting, they strike up a conversation and discuss each other's sins, desires, and unpleasant memories; they slowly realize that such probing is the form of torture they are meant to receive.
The Hanging Tree (1959)
, 1h47Directed by Delmer Daves, Karl Malden
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Western
Actors Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, Karl Malden, George C. Scott, Virginia Gregg, Karl Swenson
Roles Rune
Rating70%
Joseph Frail—doctor (Gary Cooper), gambler, gunslinger—rides into small town of Skull Creek, Montana, with miners in a gold rush, looking to set up a doctor's office. He passes by the "hanging tree," an old oak with a thick branch over which has been slung a rope with a frayed end, presumably a former noose.
A Dangerous Age (1957)
, 1h11Directed by Sidney J. Furie
Origin Canada
Genres Drama
Actors Ben Piazza, Kate Reid, Shane Rimmer, Barbara Hamilton
Roles David
Rating57%
Sidney J. Furie’s low-budget tale about young lovers (Ben Piazza and Anne Pearson) on the run from an uncaring adult world – they just want to get married but are thwarted at every turn – remains something of landmark in English-Canadian feature production.