Following the surprising news that veteran celebrity Danny Aiello had passed away Thursday night, Robert De Niro has reflected on the loss of his friend and four-time co-star.
In a statement to Folks, De Niro said that” I am really saddened to hear of Danny’s passing.
I have known him for almost 50 years. I’m sad.
” The Irishman celebrity closed using a simple” I will see you in heaven.”
De Niro’s careers overlapped a variety of occasions with Aiello’s over three years. The two first shared the display in the 1973 sports drama Bang the Drum Slowly, which some consider being a breakout role for the two actors.
The next year, the pair co-starred in The Godfather Part II.
They also appeared together in Sergio Leone’s (almost) four-hour crime play Once Upon a Time in America in 1984, in addition to the 1992 thriller Mistress.
Together with the actor’s many lovers, De Niro was united in his mourning by Cher, who co-starred with Aiello in the 1987 rom-com Moonstruck, who called him a” genius comedic actor.” She signed it as Loretta, their personalities, and even addressed Aiello.
Together with Moonstruck, Aiello’s best-known role was as the pizzeria owner Salvatore” Sal” Fragione in Spike Lee’s Do The Ideal Thing.
His performance earned him an Academy Award nomination, though he lost to Denzel Washington for his part in the Civil War epic Glory.
Of course, some fans will always consider him as the eponymous disapproving dad out of Madonna’s 1986 video for” Papa Don’t Preach.”
De Niro’s latest mob movie epic, The Irishman, is currently flowing on Netflix.
Clocking in at whopping hours, the film reunites the celebrity with director Martin Scorsese.
The two worked together on some revolutionary films over the years, including Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, and Goodfellas.
The two last worked together on the extended offense drama Casino, which hit theaters in 1995.
Aiello is survived by his wife of nearly 65 decades in addition to children Jaime Rick and Stacey Aiello. His son died in 2010 of pancreatic cancer.
