Biography
Michael V. Gazzo was an American playwright and actor. Born in Hillside, New Jersey, he served in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War and trained at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School and the Actors Studio.
Gazzo achieved success as a playwright with the Broadway drama A Hatful of Rain (1955), which ran for nearly 400 performances and was later adapted for film. He also wrote the screenplay for the Elvis Presley film King Creole (1958).
He later turned to acting in film and television, appearing in an uncredited role in On the Waterfront (1954) and gaining wider recognition as Frank Pentangeli in The Godfather Part II (1974), for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Gazzo continued working until his death in Los Angeles in 1995.
