Dennis Farina

Dennis Farina
Farina at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	February 29, 1944 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
Cause of death	pulmonary embolism
Occupation	Actor, Chicago Police Officer
Years active	1981–2013
Spouse(s)	Patricia Farina (1970–1980) (divorced)
Partner(s)	Marianne Cahill
Children	3

Dennis Farina (February 29, 1944 – July 22, 2013) was an American actor of film and television and former Chicago police officer. He was a character actor, often typecast as a mobster or police officer. His most known film roles are those of mobster Jimmy Serrano in the comedy Midnight Run and Ray "Bones" Barboni in Get Shorty. He starred on television as Lieutenant Mike Torello on Crime Story and as NYPD Detective Joe Fontana on Law & Order. He also hosted and narrated a revived version of Unsolved Mysteries. His last major television role was in HBO's Luck, which premiered on January 29, 2012.

Early life

Farina was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Sicilian-American parents Joseph Farina, a doctor, and his wife Yolanda Donati. His father was from Villalba, Sicily. He had three brothers and three sisters.

Before becoming an actor, Farina served three years in the United States Army, followed by 18 years in the Chicago Police Department's burglary division, from 1967 to 1985.

Career in show business

Farina began working for director Michael Mann as a police consultant, which led Mann to cast him in a small role in the 1981 film Thief. Farina moonlighted as an actor in Chicago-based films (like Code of Silence, a 1985 Chuck Norris film) and theater before Mann chose him for his Crime Story series, which aired on NBC from 1986-88. Farina played mobster Albert Lombard in Mann's previous hit television show, Miami Vice. He later starred as the title character in Buddy Faro, a 1998 private-detective series on CBS.

Two of his best-known movie characters are Jimmy Serrano, the mob boss from Midnight Run, and Ray "Bones" Barboni, a rival criminal to Chili Palmer in Get Shorty. Farina also played FBI Agent Jack Crawford in the first Hannibal Lecter crime film, Michael Mann's Manhunter.

Other movies include Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (as Lieutenant Colonel Walter Anderson) and in various cops-and-robbers stories including Striking Distance, Another Stakeout, Snatch, The Mod Squad, Reindeer Games, Men of Respect, Big Trouble and Out of Sight. He played a baseball manager in Little Big League and a basketball coach in Eddie.

In a leading-man role and a departure from his usual parts, Farina co-starred with Bette Midler in a romantic comedy, That Old Feeling, directed by Carl Reiner in 1997.

Farina had a flair for comedy. He won an American Comedy Award for his performance in Get Shorty and starred in a television sitcom, In-Laws, from 2002 until 2003. He appeared in 2002's Stealing Harvard, a comedy in which he played a detective. He also had a comic role opposite Ed Harris and Helen Hunt in the HBO production of Empire Falls in 2005 and opposite Alan Rickman in 2008's Bottle Shock.

His distinctive voice was put to use in early 2005, when Farina provided the voice of aging boxer-turned-superhero Wildcat on Justice League Unlimited. In early 2013, he voiced the father of Daffy Duck's girlfriend on The Looney Tunes Show, and played himself in an April 13, 2014 episode of the animated series Family Guy called "The Most Interesting Man in the World," aired posthumously, one of his final acting roles.

In 2004, the producers of the television series Law & Order hired Farina as Det. Joe Fontana; following the departure of longtime cast member Jerry Orbach. Farina stayed on the show for two seasons, but his character was not as popular as Orbach's Det. Lennie Briscoe had been. In May 2006, it was announced Farina was leaving Law & Order for other projects, including 2007's You Kill Me opposite Ben Kingsley and 2008's What Happens in Vegas with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.

His role of Detective Lt. Mike Torello on Crime Story was as a Chicago police officer, who was assigned to the U.S. Justice Department. Farina's Law & Order character, Detective Fontana, worked for Chicago Homicide before his transfer to the NYPD. Fontana shared a number of other characteristics with the actor who played him; they came from the same Chicago neighborhood, attended the same parochial school, and had the same tastes in clothes and music and were fans of the Chicago Cubs.

Also on television, Farina appeared in two network miniseries based on Joe McGinniss true-crime books, Blind Faith (1990) and Cruel Doubt (1992). He made a rare western, portraying legendary lawman Charlie Siringo in a 1995 television movie, Bonanza: Under Attack, a followup to the hit 1960s series.

In October 2008, he became the new host of Unsolved Mysteries when it returned to television with a new five-season, 175-episode run on Spike TV. Farina replaced Robert Stack, who had hosted the series for its prior 15-year run. This version featured re-edited segments from previous incarnations on NBC, CBS, and Lifetime .

Farina played the title role in a 2011 independent film, The Last Rites of Joe May, written and directed by Joe Maggio, shot on location in Chicago. He was among the stars of a 2014 release, Authors Anonymous, playing a wanna-be novelist with a fantasy of becoming another Tom Clancy.

On television, Farina co-starred in the 2012 HBO horse-race gambling series Luck, with Dustin Hoffman, directed by Michael Mann. He had a recurring guest role in 2013 in the television comedy series New Girl, though his character was killed off prior to the actor's death.

Personal life

Farina in May 2007

Farina was married to Patricia Farina from 1970 until their divorce in 1980. They have three sons together: Dennis Jr, Michael and Joseph. His youngest son, Joseph, is also an actor. He has two granddaughters, Brianna and Olivia, and four grandsons: Michael, Tyler, Matthew and Eric. He lived with his longtime girlfriend Marianne Cahill in Chicago and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Farina was a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and played in this role in a 1988 revival of the successful 1977 Organic Theater Company stage play Bleacher Bums, which was written by and starred fellow Chicago actors Joe Mantegna and Dennis Franz.

Arrest

Farina was arrested on May 11, 2008, for carrying a loaded .22 caliber pistol through Los Angeles International Airport security. Farina was taken to the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division and booked on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon, and bail was set at $25,000. He claimed he had simply forgotten the weapon was still in his briefcase and had never intended to take it on a plane. After police determined the weapon was unregistered, the charges were upgraded to a felony and bail was increased to $35,000.

On July 17, 2008, after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors, Farina pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years' probation.

Death

Farina died on July 22, 2013, in a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona after suffering a pulmonary embolism. Farina is buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1981	Thief	Carl
1985	Code of Silence	Dorato
1986	Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling	Freddy
1986	Manhunter	Jack Crawford
1988	Midnight Run	Jimmy Serrano
1990	Men of Respect	Bankie Como
1992	We're Talking Serious Money	Sal
1992	Mac	Mr. Stunder
1992	Street Crimes	Brian
1993	Another Stakeout	Brian O'Hara
1993	Romeo Is Bleeding	Nick Gazzara	Uncredited
1993	Striking Distance	Capt. Nick Detillo
1994	Little Big League	George O'Farrell
1995	Get Shorty	Ray "Bones" Barboni
1996	Eddie	Coach John Bailey
1997	That Old Feeling	Dan De Mora
1998	Out of Sight	Marshall Sisco
1998	Saving Private Ryan	Lt. Col. Walter Anderson
1999	The Mod Squad	Capt. Adam Greer
2000	Reindeer Games	Jack Bangs
2000	Preston Tylk	Dick Muller
2000	Snatch	Abraham "Avi" Denovitz
2001	Sidewalks of New York	Carpo
2002	Big Trouble	Henry Desalvo
2002	Stealing Harvard	Mr. Warner
2004	Paparazzi	Det. Burton
2004	Scrambled Eggs	Dr. Carlson	Short film
2007	You Kill Me	Edward O'Leary
2007	Purple Violets	Gilmore
2007	National Lampoon's Bag Boy	Marty Engstrom
2008	The Grand	L.B.J. Deuce Fairbanks
2008	Bottle Shock	Maurice
2008	What Happens in Vegas	Banger
2010	Knucklehead	Memphis Earl
2011	Last Rites of Joe May	Joe May
2014	Authors Anonymous	John K. Butzin

Television

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Through Naked Eyes	Patrolman	TV film
1984	Hard Knox	April	TV film
1984–1989	Miami Vice	Albert Lombard	3 episodes
1985	American Playhouse	Supervisor	Episode: "The Killing Floor"
1985	Hardcastle and McCormick	Ed Coley	Episode: "Undercover McCormick"
1985	Hunter	Vic Terranova	Episode: "The Snow Queen" 1 & 2
1985	Remington Steele	Cop	Episode: "Steele Trying"
1985	Final Jeopardy	Policeman #2	TV film
1986	The Birthday Boy		TV film
1986	Jack and Mike		Episode: Pilot
1986	Lady Blue	Joe Kaufman	Episode: "Sylvie"
1986	Triplecross	Ernie (Veteran Cop)	TV film
1986–1988	Crime Story	Lt. Mike Torello	44 episodes
1987	Six Against the Rock	Robert Stroud	TV film
1988	Open Admissions	Fred	TV film
1989	China Beach	Lt. Col. Edward Edward Vincent	Episode: "All About E.E.V."
1989	The Case of the Hillside Stranglers	Angelo Buono, Jr.	TV film
1990	Blind Faith	Prosecutor Kelly	TV film
1990	People Like Us	Elias Renthall	TV film
1991	Perfect Crimes	Armand Zaro	TV film
1992	Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel	Mike Cerone	TV film
1992	Cruel Doubt	Tom Bereton	Miniseries
1992	Tales from the Crypt	Antoine	Episode: "Werewolf Concerto"
1993	The Disappearance of Nora	Denton	TV film
1993	A Stranger in the Mirror		TV film
1994	One Woman's Courage	Craig McKenna	TV film
1994	The Corpse Had a Familiar Face	Det. Harry Lindstrom	TV film
1995	Out of Annie's Past	Charlie Ingle	TV film
1995	Bonanza: Under Attack	Charley Siringo	TV film
1997	Bella Mafia	Don Roberto Luciano	TV film
1998	Buddy Faro	Buddy Faro	13 episodes
2002–2003	In-Laws	Victor Pellet	15 episodes
2004–2006	Law & Order	Det. Joe Fontana	46 episodes
2005	Law & Order: Trial by Jury	Det. Joe Fontana	Episode: "Skeleton"
2005	Justice League Unlimited	Wildcat (voice)	Episode: "The Cat and the Canary"
2005	Empire Falls	Walt Comeau	Miniseries
2008–2010	Unsolved Mysteries	Host/narrator	Lifetime
2011–2012	Luck	Gus Demitriou	HBO
2012	New Girl	Walt Miller	2 episodes
2012	Doc McStuffins	Riggo	Episode: "Stuck Up"
2013	The Looney Tunes Show	Frank Russo (voice)	Episode: "Daffy Duck, Esquire"
2014	Family Guy	Himself, final role	Episode: The Most Interesting Man in the World

External links

• Dennis Farina at the Internet Movie Database
• Dennis Farina At Find A Grave