Dead Frank Vallelonga Jr. is found dead. Green Book actor on a Bronx pier

NYPD found him unconscious on a sidewalk in the Bronx and after help arrived, it was announced that actor Frank Vallelonga Jr., 60, had died at the scene. Police also confirmed the arrest of a 35-year-old man, Stephen Smith, on charges of concealing the body. The police also announced that the investigation into the death of Vallonga Jr., known for his participation in the movie “Green Book”, is still ongoing and that the coroner will determine the cause of death.

Frank Vallelonga, Jr. was the son of the late actor Tony Lip, whose real name was Frank Vallelonga. In director Peter Farrelly’s 2018 film Green Book, Vallelunga Jr. played his uncle, Rudy Vallelunga, while actor Viggo Mortensen played his father, Tony Lipp, in the Best Picture Oscar winner. Vallelonga Jr. also appeared in the 2021 movie The Birthday Cake and in episodes of the TV series Gravesend and The Neighborhood.

Green Book tells the true story of a 1962 tour through the racially segregated southern United States by black pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and his Italian-American chauffeur and bodyguard Tony Lip. Vallelunga Jr. played real-life uncle Rudy Vallelunga in the film, which was nominated for five Academy Awards at the 2019 ceremony and won three: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Ali, and Best Original Screenplay.

Lieb worked in the 1960s in the Copacabana nightclub in New York, where he came into contact with the artists of the time (Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett) and also with the gangsters who later marked his acting career. Throughout his acting career, he has played Carmine Lupertazzi in the TV series The Sopranos, Philippe Giacone in Donnie Brasco, and Francesco Manzo, one of the Lucchese family in Goodfellas, as well as a small role in Francis’s The Godfather. Ford Coppola.