Robert Pastorelli

Beefy, roughhewn actor 'Robert Pastorelli' (qv) was a former boxer and an admitted drug addict before he cleaned up his act and pursued theater work in New York in such 1970s productions as "Rebel Without a Cause," "The Rainmaker," and "Death of a Salesman," he headed west and turned to film and TV in 1982, soon finding a fairly comfortable niche playing ballsy, streetwise characters often with a Runyonesque feel and truck driver mentality. Supporting 'Bette Midler' (qv) and 'Shelley Long' (qv) in _Outrageous Fortune (1987)_ (qv) and 'Eddie Murphy' (qv) in _Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)_ (qv), his first meaty film role came with 'Kevin Costner' (qv)'s _Dances with Wolves (1990)_ (qv). But it was TV that would be his claim to fame as 'Candice Bergen' (qv)'s gruff but mushy-hearted house painter in _Murphy Brown (1988)_ (qv), staying with the show for seven seasons. With that came more visible roles in _Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)_ (qv), _Michael (1996)_ (qv), and _Modern Vampires (1998)_ (qv). He played the role of salty Luther Billis in the mini-movie remake of _South Pacific (2001)_ (qv) with 'Glenn Close' (qv), then appeared as Mitch with Ms. Close on stage in "A Streetcar Named Desire" a year later. Sadly, drugs once again took hold of Pastorelli in full force in later years. In 2004, the 49-year-old died of a heroin overdose and was found at home with a syringe in his arm in the bathroom by his assistant.::Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net