Dennis Farina Biography

Dennis Farina (February 29, 1944 " July 22, 2013) was an American actor of film and television and former Chicago police officer. He was a character actor, often typecast as a mobster or police officer. His most known film roles are those of mobster Jimmy Serrano in the comedy Midnight Run and Ray "Bones" Barboni in Get Shorty. He starred on television as Detective Joe Fontana on Law & Order. He also hosted and narrated a revived version of Unsolved Mysteries. His last major television role was in HBO's Luck, which premiered on January 29, 2012.

Early life

Farina was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Sicilian-American parents Yolanda (née Donati), a homemaker, and Joseph Farina, a doctor. His father was from Villalba, Sicily. He was raised in a large family and had three brothers and three sisters.

Before becoming an actor, Farina served three years in the United States Army and then 18 years in the Chicago Police Department's burglary division, from 1967 to 1985.

Career in show business

Farina began his work in show business working for director Michael Mann as a police consultant, which subsequently led to an interest in acting when Mann cast him in a small role in the 1981 film Thief. Farina proceeded to moonlight as an actor in the Chicago theater scene before Mann chose him for his Crime Story series. Farina played the mobster Albert Lombard in Michael Mann's other television show, Miami Vice.

Two of his best known movie characters are Jimmy Serrano, the mob boss from Midnight Run, and Ray "Bones" Barboni, a rival criminal of Chili Palmer's in Get Shorty. He also played FBI Agent Jack Crawford in the first Hannibal Lecter crime film, Michael Mann's Manhunter.

Other movies in Farina's filmography include Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (as Army Lieutenant Colonel Walter Anderson), Striking Distance, Another Stakeout, Little Big League, Snatch, The Mod Squad, Big Trouble and Out of Sight. He co-starred with Bette Midler in the romantic comedy That Old Feeling.

Farina demonstrated a flair for comedy. He won an American Comedy Award for his performance in Get Shorty and starred in a television sitcom, In-Laws, from 2002 until 2003. He had a comic role opposite Ed Harris and Helen Hunt in the HBO production of Empire Falls in 2005 and opposite Alan Rickman in 2008's Bottle Shock.

In early 2005, Farina provided the voice of aging boxer-turned-superhero Wildcat on Justice League Unlimited.

The producers of the long-running television series Law & Order hired Farina as Det. Joe Fontana after the retirement of Jerry Orbach's character Lennie Briscoe. Farina stayed with the show for two years, but his character was not as popular with viewers as Orbach's Lennie Briscoe had been. As a result, in May 2006, it was announced that Farina was leaving Law & Order to pursue other projects, including 2007's You Kill Me opposite Ben Kingsley and 2008's What Happens in Vegas with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.

His role of Detective Lt. Mike Torello on Crime Story was as a Chicago police officer, who was later seconded to the U.S. Justice Department. Farina's Law & Order character, Joe Fontana, worked for Chicago Homicide before his transfer to the NYPD. As is common on Law & Order, Fontana shared a number of other characteristics with the actor who played him: they hailed from the same Chicago neighborhood, attended the same parochial school, and had the same tastes in both clothes and music and were even fans of the Chicago Cubs.

In October 2008, Farina became the new host of Unsolved Mysteries when it returned to television with a new five-season, 175-episode run on Spike TV. Farina replaced Robert Stack, who had hosted the series for its entire original 15-year run before his death in 2003. This version featured re-edited segments from previous incarnations on NBC, CBS, and Lifetime (all originally hosted by Stack).

Farina played the title role in a 2011 independent film, The Last Rites of Joe May, written and directed by Joe Maggio, shot on location in Chicago.

He co-starred in the 2012 HBO horse-race gambling series Luck, with Dustin Hoffman, directed by Michael Mann. He also had a recurring guest role in 2013 in the television comedy series New Girl, though his character was killed off prior to the actor's death.

Personal life

Farina was married to Patricia Farina from 1970 until their divorce in 1980. They have three sons together: Dennis Jr, Michael and Joseph. His youngest son, Joseph, is also an actor. He has two granddaughters, Brianna and Olivia, and four grandsons: Michael, Tyler, Matthew and Eric. He lived with his longtime girlfriend Marianne Cahill in Arizona.

Farina was a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and played in this role in a 1988 revival of the successful 1977 Organic Theater Company stage play The Bleacher Bums, which was written by and starred fellow Chicago actors Joe Mantegna and Dennis Franz.

Arrest

Farina was arrested on May 11, 2008, for carrying a loaded .22 caliber pistol through Los Angeles International Airport security. Farina was taken to the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division and booked on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon, and bail was set at $25,000. He claimed he had simply forgotten the weapon was still in his briefcase and had never intended to take it on a plane. After police determined the weapon was unregistered, the charges were upgraded to a felony and bail was increased to $35,000.

On July 17, 2008, after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors, Farina pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years' probation.

Death

Farina died on July 22, 2013, in a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona after suffering a pulmonary embolism. Farina is buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1981	Thief	Carl
1985	Code of Silence	Dorato	portrayed CPD officer-filmed in Chicago
1986	Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling	Freddy
	Manhunter	Jack Crawford
1988	Midnight Run	Jimmy Serrano
1990	Men of Respect	Bankie Como
1992	We're Talking Serious Money	Sal
	Mac	Mr. Stunder
	Street Crimes	Brian
1993	Another Stakeout	Brian O'Hara
	Romeo Is Bleeding	Nick Gazzara	Uncredited Role
	Striking Distance	Capt. Nick Detillo
1994	Little Big League	George O'Farrell
1995	Get Shorty	Ray "Bones" Barboni
1996	Eddie	Coach John Bailey
1997	That Old Feeling	Dan De Mora
1998	Out of Sight	Marshall Sisco
	Saving Private Ryan	Lt. Col. Walter Anderson
1999	The Mod Squad	Capt. Adam Greer
2000	Reindeer Games	Jack Bangs
	Preston Tylk	Dick Muller
	Snatch	Abraham "Avi" Denovitz
2001	Sidewalks of New York	Carpo
2002	Big Trouble	Henry Desalvo
	Stealing Harvard	Mr. Warner
2004	Paparazzi	Det. Burton
	Scrambled Eggs	Dr. Carlson	Short film
2007	You Kill Me	Edward O'Leary
	Purple Violets	Gilmore
	National Lampoon's Bag Boy	Marty Engstrom
2008	The Grand	L.B.J. Deuce Fairbanks
	Bottle Shock	Maurice
	What Happens in Vegas	Banger
2010	Knucklehead	Memphis Earl
2011	Last Rites of Joe May	Joe May
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Through Naked Eyes	Patrolman	ABC TV-Movie
1984	Hard Knox	April	NBC TV-Movie/TV-Pilot
1984 "1989	Miami Vice	Albert Lombard	Episode: One Eyed Jack Episode: Lombard Episode: "World of Trouble"
1985	American Playhouse	Supervisor	Episode: "The Killing Floor"
	Hardcastle and McCormick	Ed Coley	Episode: "Undercover McCormick"
	Hunter	Vic Terranova	Episode: "The Snow Queen" 1 & 2
	Remington Steele	Cop	Episode: "Steele Trying"
	Final Jeopardy	Policeman #2	NBC TV-Movie
1986	The Birthday Boy		Short TV-Movie
	Jack and Mike		Episode: Pilot
	Lady Blue	Joe Kaufman	Episode: "Sylvie"
	Triplecross	Ernie (Veteran Cop)	ABC TV-Movie
1986 " 1988	Crime Story	Lt. Mike Torello	44 episodes
1987	Six Against the Rock	Robert Stroud	NBC TV-Movie
1988	Open Admissions	Fred	CBS TV-Movie
1989	China Beach	Lt. Col. Edward Edward Vincent	Episode: "All About E.E.V."
	The Case of the Hillside Stranglers	Angelo Buono, Jr.	NBC TV-Movie
1990	Blind Faith	Prosecutor Kelly	NBC TV-Movie
	People Like Us	Elias Renthall	NBC TV-Movie
1991	Perfect Crimes	Armand Zaro	NBC TV-Movie/Unsold TV-Pilot
1992	Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel	Mike Cerone	NBC TV-Movie
	Cruel Doubt	Tom Bereton	NBC Miniseries
	Tales from the Crypt	Antoine	Episode: "Werewolf Concerto"
1993	The Disappearance of Nora	Denton	CBS TV-Movie
	A Stranger in the Mirror		ABC TV-Movie
1994	One Woman's Courage	Craig McKenna	NBC TV-Movie
	The Corpse Had a Familiar Face	Det. Harry Lindstrom	CBS TV-Movie
1995	Out of Annie's Past	Charlie Ingle	TV-Movie
	Bonanza: Under Attack	Charley Siringo	NBC TV-Movie
1997	Bella Mafia	Don Roberto Luciano	CBS TV-Movie
1998	Buddy Faro	Buddy Faro	13 episodes
2002 " 2003	In-Laws	Victor Pellet	15 episodes
2004 " 2006	Law & Order	Det. Joe Fontana	46 episodes
2005	Justice League Unlimited	Wildcat	Voice Role Episode: "The Cat and the Canary"
	Empire Falls	Walt Comeau	HBO Miniseries
2008 " 2010	Unsolved Mysteries	Host/narrator	Lifetime
2011 " 2012	Luck	Gus Demitriou	HBO
2012	New Girl	Walt Miller	Episodes: 2.13 "A Father's Love", 2.23 "Virgins"
	Doc McStuffins	Riggo	Episode: "Stuck Up"
2013	The Looney Tunes Show (TV series)	Frank Russo (voice)	Cartoon Network