Emmy-winning character actor Alex Rocco, best known for playing the bespectacled Las Vegas mobster Moe Greene in The Godfather, has died aged 79.

Rocco’s career spanned five decades and he remained active up until his death. His most famous role came in 1972’s The Godfather, where he played the humbled casino owner who meets his fate on a massage table.

The tough-talking, Boston-born Rocco voiced the cigar-smoking studio head of Itchy and Scratchy on The Simpsons. He also played Charlie Polniaczek on the 1980s sitcom The Facts of Life. He won an Emmy in 1990 for the short-lived Jon Cryer sitcom The Famous Teddy Z.

Rocco is survived by his wife, actress Shannon Wilcox, his daughter Jennifer, son Lucien and a grandson.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.