Joseph Calleia, actor and opera singer

To many film buffs, actor and opera singer Joseph Calleia is no stranger. Born in Malta in 1897, and starting out as a musician and singer, he later became a stage and film actor. He appeared in many classic films, playing gangsters, night club owners, and numerous character/ethnic roles, as well. He served with the British in WWI and led the Malta War Relief during WWII. His films include After the Thin Man, Riff Raff, Gilda, and Touch of Evil, which many consider his greatest role. In 1972 he received a telegram from Francis Ford Coppola, offering him the role of Don Vito Corleone, a role he was born to play, and he would have done a magnificent job. (You can see from this photo how Marlon Brando's and especially Robert De Niro's "looks" may haven been inspired by Calleleia. He DOES look the part.) But as these things go, due to ill health he had to turn down the offer. He died in 1975, and was buried in Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery in Paola, Malta. (My Dad was baptized in Santa Maria Addolorata Church, here in Chicago, in 1919.) It was a different world decades ago, and the lives of many actors and actresses were far more interesting and adventurous than many of us could ever know.