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Joe Dallesandro

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Joe Dallesandro
Dallesandro at the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival.
Born
Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro III

(1948-12-31) December 31, 1948 (age 75)
Pensacola, Florida, U.S.
Other namesJoe Catano
Joe Dallessandro
OccupationActor
Years active1967–present
Spouse(s)Leslie (1967-1969)
Terry (1970-1978)
Kim (2011-present)
Children2
Websitehttp://www.joedallesandro.com/

Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro III (born December 31, 1948), better known as Joe Dallesandro, is an American actor and Warhol superstar. Although he never became a mainstream film star, Dallesandro is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex symbol of gay subculture.[1]

Dallesandro starred in Flesh as a teenage street hustler. Rolling Stone magazine in 1970 declared his second starring vehicle, Trash, the "Best Film of the Year", making him a star of the youth culture, sexual revolution and subcultural New York art collective of the 1970s.

Early life

He was born in Pensacola, Florida and raised in New York. His father, Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro II, was in the U.S. Navy, and his mother was 16-year-old Thelma Testman. By the time Dallesandro was five, his mother was serving five years in a Federal Penitentiary for interstate auto theft. Dallesandro and his brother, Bobby, were taken to New York with their father, who worked as an electrical engineer. Both boys were eventually placed into the Angel Guardian Home in Harlem, prior to being fostered by a couple in Brooklyn. The family later moved to North Babylon. The senior Dallesandro would visit them about once a month at their foster parents' home. Dallesandro was initially happy living with his foster parents, but he began to resent them thinking that they were preventing him from living with his father.[2]

Dallesandro began acting out and became aggressive. He repeatedly ran away from his foster home until his father finally relented and allowed him to live with him.[2] At the age of 14, Dallesandro and his brother moved to Queens to live with their paternal grandparents and their father.[3] At 15, he was expelled from school for punching the principal, who had insulted his father. After his expulsion, Dallesandro began hanging out with gangs and started stealing cars. In one such instance, Dallesandro panicked and smashed the stolen car he was driving through the gate of the Holland Tunnel. He was stopped by a police roadblock and shot once in the leg by police who mistakenly thought he was armed. Dallesandro managed to escape being caught by police, but was later arrested when his father took him to the hospital for his gunshot wound. He was sentenced to Camp Cass Rehabilitation Center for Boys in the Catskills in 1964.[4]

The following year, Dallesandro ran away from Camp Cass. He supported himself by nude modeling, appearing most notably in short films and magazine photos for Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild.[5]

Career

Underground film career

Dallesandro met Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey in 1967 while they were shooting Four Stars, and they cast him in the film on the spot.[6] Warhol would later comment "In my movies, everyone's in love with Joe Dallesandro."[7]

Dallesandro played a hustler in his third Warhol film, Flesh (1968), where he had several nude scenes. Flesh became a crossover hit with mainstream audiences, and Dallesandro became the most popular of the Warhol stars. New York Times film critic Vincent Canby wrote of him: "His physique is so magnificently shaped that men as well as women become disconnected at the sight of him."[8]

As Dallesandro's underground fame began to cross over into the popular culture, he graced the cover of Rolling Stone in April 1971. He was also photographed by some of the top celebrity photographers of the time: Francesco Scavullo, Annie Leibovitz, Richard Avedon.[9]

Dallesandro also appeared in Lonesome Cowboys (1968), Trash (1970), Heat (1972), a sardonic re-imagining of Sunset Boulevard with Sylvia Miles, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and Andy Warhol's Dracula (both 1974) also directed by Morrissey. These last two films were shot in Europe. After filming was complete, Dallesandro chose not to return to the U.S.[10] He also appeared in Serge Gainsbourg feature film Je t'aime moi non plus (France, 1976) with British actress Jane Birkin.

Mainstream career

He continued to star in films made mainly in France and Italy for the rest of the decade, returning to America in the 1980s. He made several mainstream films during the 1980s and 1990s. One of his first notable roles was that of 1920s gangster Lucky Luciano in Francis Coppola's The Cotton Club. Working with manager/attorney Stann Findelle, his career enjoyed a resurgence. He had roles in Critical Condition (1987) opposite Richard Pryor, Sunset (1988) with Bruce Willis and James Garner, Cry-Baby (1990) with Johnny Depp, Guncrazy (1992) with Drew Barrymore, and Steven Soderbergh's 1999 film The Limey.

In addition to films, Dallesandro has also worked in television. In 1986, he co-starred in the ABC drama series Fortune Dane. The series lasted only five episodes. Dallesandro has also made guest appearances on Wiseguy, Miami Vice, and Matlock.

Personal life

Dallesandro is bisexual,[11] has married three times, and has two children.[12] He first married in 1967, to Leslie, the daughter of his father's girlfriend, and their son, Michael, was born circa 1968, but they divorced in 1969.[13] His second marriage was to Terry (Theresa), in 1970, and their son, Joseph A. Dallesandro, Jr., was born November 14, 1970. The couple divorced in early 1978. He has a grandson and a granddaughter by Michael and a grandson by Joseph. In 1987, he married a third time, to Kimberly and divorced and remarried again in 2011.[14]

Dallesandro is semi-retired from acting, and currently manages an apartment building in Los Angeles.[15]

  • Dallesandro has a "homemade" scroll tattoo which he did himself on his upper right arm that reads "Little Joe".[16] Dallesandro's nickname was used in Lou Reed's hit 1972 song "Walk on the Wild Side", which was about the characters Reed knew from Warhol's studio, The Factory.[17]
  • A Warhol photograph of the crotch bulge of Dallesandro's tight blue jeans graces the famous cover of the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers. Dallesandro explained to biographer Michael Ferguson, “It was just out of a collection of junk photos that Andy pulled from. He didn't pull it out for the design or anything, it was just the first one he got that he felt was the right shape to fit what he wanted to use for the fly.”[18]

Selected filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1967 Four Stars College Wrestler Alternative title: The 24 Hour Movie
1968 San Diego Surf Joe
1968 The Loves of Ondine College Wrestler
1968 Flesh Joe, the hustler Alternative title: Andy Warhol's Flesh
1968 Lonesome Cowboys Little Joe Alternative title: Ramona and Julian
1970 Trash Joe Smith Alternative title: Andy Warhol's Trash
1972 Heat Joey Davis
1973 Andy Warhol's Frankenstein Nicholas, the stableboy Alternative title: Flesh for Frankenstein
1974 Blood for Dracula Mario Balato, the Servant Alternative title: Andy Warhol's Dracula
1975 The Climber Aldo, the Climber Alternative title: L'ambizioso
1975 Black Moon Brother Lily
1975 The Savage Three Ovidio Mainardi Alternative title: Fango bollente
1975 Season for Assassins Pierro Giaranaldi Alternative title: Il tempo degli assassini
1976 Born Winner Perikles Alternative title: L'ultima volta
1976 Je t'aime moi non plus Gary Alternative title: I Love You, I Don't or I Love You... Neither Do I
1978 Safari Rally Joe Massi Alternative title: 6000 km di paura
1979 Killer Nun Dr. Patrick Roland Alternative titles: Suor Omicidi
Deadly Habits
1980 Madness Joe Brezzi Alternative title: Vacanze per un massacro
1981 Merry-Go-Round Ben
1982 Queen Lear Joseph Kunz, the father
1984 The Cotton Club Charles "Lucky" Luciano
1986 Fortune Dane 'Perfect' Tommy Nicautri 5 episodes
1987 Critical Condition Stucky
1987 Miami Vice Alfredo Giulinni Episode: "Down for the Count: Part 2"
1987 Wiseguy Paul 'Pat the Cat' Patrice 5 episodes
1988 Sunset Dutch Schultz
1988 The Hitchhiker Gerard Episode: "Fashion Exchange"
1988 Double Revenge Joe Halsey
1989 The Hollywood Detective Eddie Northcott Television movie
1990 Matlock Bobby Boyd 2 episodes
1990 Almost an Angel Bank Hood Leader
1990 Cry-Baby Mr. Hackett
1991 Inside Out Richard Segment: "The Diaries"
1991 Wild Orchid II: Two Shades of Blue Jules
1992 Guncrazy Rooney
1992 Love Is Like That Boss
1994 Sugar Hill Tony Adamo
1995 Theodore Rex Rogan Direct-to-video release
1998 L.A. Without a Map Michael
1999 The Limey Uncle John Credited as Joe Dallessandro
2002 Pacino Is Missing Sal Colletti
2008 3 Stories About Evil Jean Maries Short film

References

  1. ^ Gary Morris (2010-03-31). "Bright Lights Film Journal :: Books: Little Joe, Superstar: The Films of Joe Dallesandro". Brightlightsfilm.com. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
  2. ^ a b Watson, Steven (2003). Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 22. ISBN 0-679-42372-9.
  3. ^ Watson, Steven (2003). Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 23. ISBN 0-679-42372-9.
  4. ^ Watson, Steven (2003). Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 1962. ISBN 0-679-42372-9.
  5. ^ Watson, Steven (2003). Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties. Random House Digital, Inc. pp. 237–238. ISBN 0-679-42372-9.
  6. ^ "Interview with Joe Dallesandro". Manner of Man Magazine.
  7. ^ Greenberg, Jan; Jordan, Sandra (2009). Andy Warhol, Prince of Pop. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 120. ISBN 0-307-51306-8.
  8. ^ Hawkins, Joan (2000). Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-garde. University of Minnesota Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-816-63413-0.
  9. ^ Man To Man: A History Of Gay Photography. Vendome Press. 2007. p. 78.
  10. ^ Ferguson, Dr, Michael (2004). dol Worship: A Shamless Celebration of Male Beauty in the Cinema (2 ed.). STARbooks Press. p. 162. ISBN 1-891-85548-4.
  11. ^ Ferguson, Michael; Dallesandro, Joe (1998). Little Joe, Superstar: The Films of Joe Dallesandro. Companion Press. p. 82. ISBN 1-889-13809-6.
  12. ^ Lyons, Tina (1998). "Joe Dallesandro,1998". indexmagazine.com. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  13. ^ Ferguson, Michael; Dallesandro, Joe (1998). Little Joe, Superstar: The Films of Joe Dallesandro. Companion Press. pp. 19–20. ISBN 1-889-13809-6.
  14. ^ "Joe Dallesandro". warholstars.org. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  15. ^ O'Brien, Glenn. "Joe Dallesandro". interviewmagazine.com. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  16. ^ Watson, Steven (2003). Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 162. ISBN 0-679-42372-9.
  17. ^ Roberts, Chris (2004). A Walk On The Wild Side: The Stories Behind the Songs : Lou Reed. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 44. ISBN 0-634-08032-6.
  18. ^ "Album Cover Joe". Joedallesandro.com. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
  19. ^ Grønstad, Asbjørn; Vagnes, Oyvind (2010). Cover Scaping: Discovering Album Aesthetics. Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 104. ISBN 8-763-50774-9.
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