Robert Pastorelli's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Murphy Brown Eldin Berne… Double Rush Johnny Verona Cracker Gerry 'Fitz…

Main Movie Roles 2005 - Be Cool 2000 - Bait 1997 - A Simple Wish 1996 - Michael 1996 - Eraser 1993 - Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit 1993 - Striking Distance 1992 - Folks! 1992 - FernGully: The Last Rainforest 1990 - Dances with Wolves 1987 - Outrageous Fortune 1987 - Beverly Hills Cop II

BIOGRAPHY:

Beefy, roughhewn actor Robert Pastorelli was a former boxer and an admitted drug addict before he cleaned up his act and pursued theater work in New York in such 1970s productions as "Rebel Without a Cause," "The Rainmaker," and "Death of a Salesman," he headed west and turned to film and TV in 1982, soon finding a fairly comfortable niche playing ballsy, streetwise characters often with a Runyonesque feel and truck driver mentality. Supporting Bette Midler and Shelley Long in Outrageous Fortune (1987) and Eddie Murphy (I) in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), his first meaty film role came with Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990). But it was TV that would be his claim to fame as Candice Bergen's gruff but mushy-hearted house painter in "Murphy Brown" (1988), staying with the show for seven seasons. With that came more visible roles in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), Michael (1996), and Modern Vampires (1998) (TV). He played the role of salty Luther Billis in the mini-movie remake of South Pacific (2001) (TV) with Glenn Close, then appeared as Mitch with Ms. Close on stage in "A Streetcar Named Desire" a year later. Sadly, drugs once again took hold of Pastorelli in full force in later years. In 2004, the 49-year-old died of a heroin overdose and was found at home with a syringe in his arm in the bathroom by his assistant.


TRIVIA:

• Has a daughter Giannina Marie, born March 6, 2000, with long-time ex-girlfriend Jalee Carder, a former fashion designer and co-owner of Stone Marten.
• (15 March 1999) Girlfriend, 25 year old Charemon Jonovich, was found dead in their home. Police think she accidentally shot herself.
• His drug overdose death occurred at the time the authorities were in the stages of reopening the investigation into the shooting 1999 death of his girlfriend. Pastorelli. Not a suspect but a "person of interest", the case, initially ruled an accident or suicide, was subsequently closed after his death.
• Daughter, Gianna, with Jonovich, born on February 6, 1998.
• Father of Gia Pastorelli.