JOSEPH CAMPANELLA

Written by Michael Darvell
 

(21 November 1924 - 16 May 2018)

Joseph Campanella

You may not know the name but will recognise the face of the Sicilian-American actor Joseph Campanella, who has died aged 93 from Parkinson’s disease. Early teenage work as a radio sports announcer led to his studying drama at Columbia University. He moved to Hollywood in 1952 and worked on many TV shows including Naked City, The Untouchables, Route 66, The Big Valley, The Fugitive, Mission: Impossible, The Virginian, Mannix, Gunsmoke, Ironside, Quincy M.E., The Colbys and too many more to mention. There were occasional feature films with him usually playing crooks, policemen, doctors, soldiers or priests, the first being Murder, Inc in 1960. His film career mainly rested on minor titles such as The Young Lovers, Roger Corman’s St Valentine’s Day Massacre, Ben, Love Child, Defiance, Hangar 18, Veliki Transport, Café Romeo, and many others that have long disappeared from view. His last film was Lost Dream in 2009. Campanella was married to the singer and dancer Kathryn Jill Bartholomew and they have seven sons.

MICHAEL DARVELL

 
Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

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