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Friday, February 28, 2020

Nick Apollo-Forte.

Nick Apollo-Forte died today.
He played a key role in Woody Allen's great film "Broadway Danny Rose".
He was Woody's "client", lounge singer Lou Canova.
It was an interesting acting career.
He had basically one acting role.
He was brilliant as Lou Canova.
From what I understand, Woody had to basically drag a performance out of Lou.
Lou was apparently not a natural actor.
If you'll notice, a lot of cutting went into putting together Lou's "performance".
It was worth it.
Danny Aiello was promised the part.
Then Woody found one of Nick's albums at the Colony Record Store and that was that.
It was an inspired choice.
I saw Nick at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut about two months after I first saw
"Broadway Danny Rose".
He owned the Lounge.
He of course sang "My Bambina" and "Agita" as you knew he would.
And did it on cruise ships for the rest of his life.
God bless him.
RIP Nick.

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My books, "Show Runner" and "Show Runner 2" can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store,
along with newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.,
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, there's my reading of my screenplay of my unmade "Laverne and Shirley" movie on "YouTube".

3 comments:

  1. I remember when Nick Apollo Forte was signed by NBC to do a sitcom pilot, titled "Mr. Success".
    This was right on the heels of "Broadway Danny Rose"; the big critics were still in love with Woody Allen, and raved over Nick's "brilliant performance" (little knowing that it had to be patched together).
    There followed a period of "heat", during which Mr. Forte was awarded a media blitz, leading to the NBC pilot deal.
    Then they started to make the pilot …
    … and learned, the hard way, that Mr. Forte was (using your own charitable phrase) "not a natural actor".
    NBC did complete the "Mr. Success" pilot - with James Coco in the role that had been projected for Nick Apollo Forte.
    It didn't sell - but that's another story …

    Not too long after this, Nick Apollo Forte picked up a one-day bit part on "All My Children".
    He was cast as a delivery man, bringing something fairly large to one of the main cast members.
    Being an AMC fan, I taped the show daily, and so I happened to see Mr. Forte's appearance that day.
    I noticed that Mr. Forte was on camera alone - as though his scene was taped separately from the show proper, then edited in after the fact.
    He had no direct interaction with any of the other players; what lines he had looked and sounded like whoever he was talking to wasn't there.
    Also, his scene had those jumps that you sometimes see on taped shows, when a special effects scene is cut into a show later.

    In both of these situations, everybody involved on the shows said as little as possible.
    "Everybody back in your bunks - like nothing happened."

    And so it goes …

    ReplyDelete

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About Me

Hi. I am, according to my Wikipedia entry,(which I did not create) a noted television writer, playwright, screenwriter, and occasional actor. You can Google me or go to the IMDB to get my credits, and you can come here to get my opinions on things, which I'll try to express eloquently. Hopefully I'll succeed. You can also e-mail me at macchus999@aol.com. Perhaps my biggest claim to fame is being responsible, for about six months in 1975, while Head Writer for the "Happy Days" TV series, for Americans saying to each other "Sit on it."