Nick Apollo Forte, Broadway Danny Rose, 1983.     The ex-Greyhound bus driver had a role in Woody Allen’s The Front, 1975 - so he was depressed for a fortnight after losing Frankie-cum-Dino Italian crooner Lou Canova. Hearing this, Woody made him Mia Farrow’s abusive husband in his next script, The Purple Rose of Cairo, 1984. And a hitman (kinda) in Radio Days, 1986.  Forte didn’t have such luck. This was his first and only movie. At age 70, Aiello cut his first album in 2004.

Mike Starr, Summer of Sam, 1997.    “The summer of '77 was a killer,” said Spike Lee.  The film not so much. 

Brian Doyle-Murray, JFK, 1991.