Nick Apollo Forte

Nick Apollo Forte (born Nicola Antonio Forte, June 14, 1938 in Waterbury, Connecticut), is an American musician and actor.

Early life

At age 12, Forte won a local talent contest playing "Lady of Spain" on piano. At 18, he got his first break playing second billing to Della Reese at the famed Apollo Theatre; this led him to change his performing name to "Nick Apollo Forte" and drop out of high school to pursue a music career.

After many years of Forte singing in lounges and producing and distributing his own records, a casting agent for Woody Allen discovered one of Forte's albums, Images, in a record store on Broadway. Allen cast the singer as Lou Canova in his 1984 film Broadway Danny Rose. For his work, he received positive reviews. Forte also appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show on February 16, 1984.

Career

Forte was cast in a TV pilot, Mr. Success, in which he played a "loveable shlump" who worked in a department store. Although the show was tailor-made for Forte, the program was beset by problems, and he was replaced by James Coco. (The pilot aired on CBS on June 23, 1984, but did not sell.) Forte returned to working lounges, but has made a few screen appearances in subsequent years: a guest spot on The Ellen Burstyn Show in 1987 and the Showtime series Billions in 2016 -- both times (as in Broadway Danny Rose) basically playing himself.

Forte spends most of his time with his family and fishing. He sings his famous songs and still plays music, and is known to sing sea shanties as well while dancing the jig. He is well known for his radio commercials for Goodyear Tires.

Family

In 1958, he married Rosalie Trapasso who worked at a shoe store he managed. They have been married over 60 years and have seven children and 22 grandchildren.

External links

• Nick Apollo Forte at IMDb
• Official site