John Aprea, ‘Godfather Part II’ and ‘Full House’ Actor, Dies at 83

John Aprea, whose acting career landed him roles on “Godfather Part II” and “Full House,” died on Monday of natural causes in Los Angeles. He was 83.

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His death was confirmed by Will Levine, Aprea’s manager.

Born in 1941 to Italian immigrants in Englewood, N.J., Aprea spent part of his early years in Italy before his family resettled back in the States. In the early 1960s, he set out to pursue his passion, acting, enrolling in Joshua Shelley’s acting classes (who also taught Mia Farrow and Jon Voight) in New York. Eventually, he would land a role in the 1968 Steve McQueen classic film Bullitt, playing Killer.

After his splashy debut, Aprea found acting work on sets for the 1970s TV series “Mannix,” the 1970s film “The Grasshopper,” and Jonathan Demme’s 1974 feature, “Caged Heat.”

John’s career took off when he was cast as the young Tessio in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather Part II.” Before taking on the role, he reportedly reached out to Abe Vigoda, who played the older version of the character in the first film, for advice. According to his manager, Vigoda’s response, “I don’t know what I did. Just have a good time, kid,” became a guiding principle for John’s career.

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After a lead role in the 1975 comedy TV series “The Montefuscos” (centered around the weekly Sunday dinners for an Italian-American family living in Connecticut), he went on to play a major role as the brother of Ray Sharkey’s character in Taylor Hackford’s debut film, “The Idolmaker.”

From 1981 to 1987, Aprea was a regular on the ABC series “Matt Houston,” playing Lt. Vince Novelli. He eventually returned to New York City to work on the soap opera “Another World” for six years as the character Lucas Castigliano (until his character was killed off). During this time, Aprea would also earn a “Soap Opera Digest” award nomination for outstanding villain in a prime-time series for his role on “Knots Landing.”

Aprea also played the father of John Stamos’ character Uncle Jesse on “Full House” and recently reprised this role for the Netflix reboot. The actor continued working late into his career including playing Don Armeteo in the 1991 feature “New Jack City,” directed by Mario Van Peebles, and landing roles on “NYPD Blue,” “CSI,” and “The Sopranos.”

Aprea was predeceased by his sister, Rosanna Sole. He is survived by his wife and partner of 25 years, Betsy Graci, his daughter Nicole from a previous marriage, and his stepchildren Marika Parker and Valentino Graci. A private service will be held to honor his life.

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