Robert Loggia was an actor best known for his role as Detective Sam Ransom in the 1985 film Jagged Edge, which followed the story of a man accused of his wife’s murder. The film starred Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close and garnered one Oscar nomination – for Loggia’s performance in a supporting role. He also notably appeared in 1983’s Scarface, as Tony Montana’s (Al Pacino) doomed mentor Frank Lopez.
Loggia got his first film role (as Frankie Peppo, an uncredited part) in 1951’s Somebody Up There Likes Me, starring Paul Newman. Seven years later he appeared in his first starring roles, in the science-fiction film The Lost Missile, about a projectile from outer space that circles the Earth and destroys everything in its path. And Cop Hater, as Det. Steve Carelli, one of the hardworking detectives investigating a wave of seemingly random murders of policemen. In 1956, he made his stage debut in an off-Broadway production of The Man With the Golden Arm, as the title character.
Additionally, Loggia appeared in the films Che!, starring Omar Sharif; Revenge of the Pink Panther and Trail of the Pink Panther, both with Peter Sellers; Curse of the Pink Panther, with David Niven and Robert Wagner; S.O.B., with Julie Andrews and William Holden; An Officer and a Gentleman, starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger; Prizzi’s Honor starring Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner; Armed and Dangerous, with John Candy and Meg Ryan; That’s Life!, with Jack Lemmon and Andrews; Big, starring Tom Hanks; Triumph of the Spirit, with Willem Dafoe and Edward James Olmos; The Marrying Man, with Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin; Independence Day, starring Will Smith; and Return to Me, with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver.
He also worked extensively in television, including a role as Anwar Sadat in the 1982 telefilm A Woman Called Golda, alongside Ingrid Bergman. Additionally, he worked on the series Studio One in Hollywood, Wagon Train, Naked City, The Untouchables, Rawhide, Route 66, Gunsmoke, The Wild Wild West, Kojak, McMillan & Wife, Columbo, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Rockford Files, Starsky and Hutch, Hawaii Five-O, Quincy M.E., Charlie’s Angels, Fantasy Island, Little House on the Prairie, Falcon Crest, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Frasier, The Outer Limits, Touched by an Angel, Dharma & Greg, Malcolm in the Middle, Monk, Men of a Certain Age and he voiced himself on an episode of the Fox animated series Family Guy.
He also held several recurring roles, including one on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color as Elfego Baca, otherwise known as “The man who couldn’t be killed.” Loggia played a fictionalized version of the real-life western gunfighter of the same name. He also had a recurring role as Russian Admiral Yuri Bukharin on Emerald Point N.A.S. and in 2004, he appeared on four episodes of The Sopranos as the character Feech La Manna, a gangster who moved to New Jersey after he was “made” in Italy. In 1991, he played the patriarch on the short-lived CBS Norman Lear sitcom Sunday Dinner. He also directed several episodes for the series Quincy M.E., Hart to Hart and Magnum, P.I.
Loggia died December 4, 2015, in Los Angeles. He was 85.
