Actor John Aprea has died at his home in Los Angeles , California, aged 83. The star’s manager Will Levine confirmed to TMZ he died of natural causes on August 5, surrounded by his family. John was born on March 4, 1941, in Englewood, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants.
In the early 1960s, he attempted to pursue stardom and signed up for acting classes in New York . In 1968, John nabbed his first feature-film role in the 1968 classic Bullitt. After starring alongside Steve McQueen in the action feature as ‘The Killer’, the actor appeared in 1970’s The Grasshopper and The Dark Side of Tomorrow.
It’s said that whilst tending a bar in Los Angeles, John met Francis Ford Coppola and auditioned for the role of protagonist Michael Corleone in The Godfather. He lost the role to Al Pacino however he was later cast as a Young Salvatore ‘Sal’ Tessio in the follow-up, The Godfather Part II. The Manchurian Candidate alumni later revealed he’d contacted Abe Vigoda—who plays the mobster in the original movie—for advice.
“I don’t know what I did,” he apparently responded. “Just have a good time, kid.” Following his starring role in the 1947 flick, John went on to appear as Mafia Boss Geppetti in 2000’s Brother, Nick Katsopolis in Full House and also as Arthur in Days of Our Lives.
Between 2020 and 2023, he appeared in nine episodes of the American crime-drama series, The Bay. Following the news of John’s death, the show’s creator Gregori J. Martin posted a .