Jews playing Italians and Italians playing Jews

One unusual aspect of film and television history is the frequency with which Jews play Italians and Italians play Jews. Also that some of the main Italian film gangsters have been played by Jews.

 Let’s go through them.

Italians portraying Jews:

Alex Rocco – Moe Green – The Godfather

 This was only a small part but memorable. Moe is shot in the eye by Michael Corleone’s hitman after refusing an ‘offer’ made to him for the Corleone Family to take over the Las Vegas hotels.

He has the line: “Do you know who I am? I’m Moe Greene. I made my bones while you were going out with cheerleaders.”

 Alex Rocco was a hugely talented actor who had parts in many television shows, including the Simpsons. Interestingly enough, in his youth he was involved in Boston-based gangs.

Danny DeVito – George Shapiro – Man on the Moon

 George Shapiro is a multiple Emmy and Golden Globe winning television producer, who is best known for having managed Andy Kaufman, who was well known in the States for his role in Saturday Night Live and a sitcom called Taxi. Kaufman’s unusual life was made the subject of a biographical film called Man in the Moon, with Jim Carrey, and Danny DeVito as Shapiro.

 Danny DeVito is, of course a Hollywood A-list actor and producer, but in terms of trivia, he played alongside the real Kaufman in Taxi as taxi dispatcher Louie DePalma, for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.

Al Pacino – Shylock

Well, this is no great shakes. After all who hasn’t played Shylock? However, it does seem appropriate that an Italian should play an Italian Jew.

Al Molinaro – Murray the Cop – The Odd Couple

In the TV spinoff from the film The Odd Couple there is a policeman called Murray Greshler, always poking his nose into the apartment.

 Murray the Cop was an instant hit, and led to Molinaro getting the part of Al, the owner of Arnold's on Happy Days, for which he is probably the best known. 

Sal Mineo – Dov Landau – Exodus

 Salvatore ‘Sal’ Mineo, Jr, who tragically died in an attempted robbery where he was stabbed to death, was a very well-known actor, twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his roles in Rebel Without a Cause and Exodus.

 In Exodus he played Dov Landau, survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz, who joins the Irgun with a thirst for revenge, but later becomes a major in the new Israeli Army. Dov has a tragic relationship with a fellow Holocaust survivor.

Lorraine Bracco – Karen Hill – Goodfellas

Lorraine Bracco was nominated for an Academy Award after her portrayal of the flaky Karen Hill. Karen was married to Henry Hill who was involved with the Lucchese crime family, and from whose life with the Mob the film Goodfellas was made.

Jews portraying Italians:

Chico Marx (every film he was in)

Leonard ‘Chico’ Marx and his brothers Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo, not to mention Gummo, were very successful in the ‘30s in films like Duck Soup. The Marx Brothers were brought up in the then-poor Yorkville section of New York City's Upper East Side, between the Irish, German and Italian quarters, which may explain Leonard’s ease with the Italian accent.

Henry ‘The Fonz’ Winkler – Happy Days 

His family arrived in the USA from Berlin in 1939, and he was brought up in the Orthodox tradition. He has had a long career in acting, and unusually has an honorary OBE for services to charity. He is best known for his portrayal of Arthur ‘The Fonz’ Fonzarelli in the TV sitcom Happy Days.

Rhea Perlman – Carla Tortelli – Cheers

Winning the Emmy four times, in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1989, playing the hot-tempered barmaid Carla in the popular sitcom Cheers, Rhea Perlman became a fixture on our screen in the eighties.

Jewish Italian gangsters

Some of the best known fictional Italian gangsters have been played by Jews.

Eli Wallach as Don Altobello in Godfather III

 Perhaps best known for his role of Tucos in the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (he was the Ugly), Eli Herschel Wallach’s career spanned more than six decades and in fact he played the role of Don Altobello when he was already 75. Don Altobello is the erstwhile ally of Michael Corleone, head of the Tattaglia family, who betrays him and is poisoned by Conny at the end of the film.

Abe Vigoda – Salvatore ‘Sal’ Tessio – The Godfather I & II

 One of the Godfather’s oldest friends, Salvatore Tessio, ultimately betrays Michael Corleone and pays the Ultimate Price. In The Godfather movies he was played by Abraham ‘Abe’ Vigoda.

Paul Muni Scarface

 Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund, otherwise known as Paul Muni, was a product of the Yiddish Theatre in the ‘20s. He moved into films and had a hugely successful career with four Oscar nominations and one Oscar (for The Life of Emile Zola).  

In Scarface, produced by Howard Hughes and Howard Hawks, Muni played Antonio ‘Tony’ Camonte, a recent immigrant from Italy, who becomes Gang Boss of Chicago, the film charting his rise and ultimate downfall.

Edward G Robinson – Little Caesar and Key Largo

 Another product of the Yiddish Theatre, in a 50-year career Emanuel Goldenberg played a variety of roles from Dathan in The Ten Commandments to Dr Paul Erlich.His acting in the part of Johnny Rico in Little Caesar is accepted as one of the greatest portrayals of a gangster in the history of film, and his parting words: “Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?” always figure highly in lists of famous film quotes. 

As well as that, he was to revisit the role of gangster in the film noir Key Largo, where he played a character called Johnny Rocco. Rocco is generally recognised as one of film’s greatest villains.  

In real life Robinson was a cultured, soft-spoken man, a million miles away from the characters he played. 

One extra piece of trivia. In the film Some Like It Hot, a gangster comes out of a cake and sprays ‘Spats’ Columbo (played by George Raft) with bullets. The gangster was Robinson’s son, Edward G Robinson Jr (well-known in his own right as an actor) who sadly died just one year after his father passed away.

 Talk of Some Like It Hot neatly brings us to Nehemiah Persoff.

Nehemiah Persoff – Little Napoleon

In Some Like It Hot, there is a banquet laid on by the mob boss, Little Bonaparte, played by Nehemiah Persoff. At the banquet he criticises a gangster called Spats (played by George Raft), and ultimately has him murdered. His characterisation is reminiscent of a cross between Mussolini and Rico (Little Caesar).

 Nehemiah Persoff, born in Jerusalem, was a well-respected Jewish actor whose family moved to the States for economic reasons. He also played another Italian gangster, Johnny Torrio, in the film Al Capone.

James Caan – Sonny Corleone

 Saving the best to the last.

According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Caan grew up in the working-class neighbourhood of Sunnyside, Queens, New York City, home to a mix of Italian, Irish, and Jewish families. Therefore, playing the fiery and hot-headed Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, the muscular James Caan was a perfect fit. It is almost impossible to think of another actor playing the role.  

He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.

 Caan once said: “I was denied in a country club once. Oh, yeah, the guy sat in front of the board, and he says, ‘No, no, he’s a wiseguy, been downtown. He’s a made guy (mafia soldier).’ I thought, ‘What? Are you out of your mind?”

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These books are available from Amazon:

Kosher Foxtrot
Jews and the Sea
The Definitive Guide to Jewish Miscellany and Trivia