Emmy Award winner Joseph Bologna was an actor, director, and writer. He was married to fellow Emmy Award-winning actress and writer Renee Taylor. In a time when failed marriages are at an all-time high, the two boasted of a 52-year relationship as man and wife. Their enviable romance was cut short in 2017 when Bologna died at the age of 82 after battling pancreatic cancer for some time.
Despite how demanding their job was, Joseph Bologna and his wife Renee still found time to collaborate to write plays and perform them together on stage. Their first work was Lovers and Other Strangers which earned them an Oscar nomination. He is remembered not only as an actor but also as a man whose relationship with his wife stood the test of time despite the scandal-filled film and theatre industry.
Joseph Bologna’s Early Life
Joseph Bologna a native of Brooklyn, New York, was born on December 30, 1934. His parents were Anthony and Josephine Bologna. The late Italian-American actor came from a family of devout Catholics who were shoe shiners. He learned the trade. To preserve the family’s rich business legacy, Joseph’s grandfather Giuseppe Bologna wrote At the Feet of the Mighty: A Bootblack’s Biography.
Not allowing his family background to limit him, the My Favorite Year star saw himself through college from the proceeds gotten from polishing shoes. He enrolled at Brown University and earned a degree in art history. While there he discovered his acting skills but didn’t consider being an actor just yet.
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A Look at Joseph Bologna’s Career
Joseph Bologna joined the US Marine Corps after completing his college education. Following his service, he began working at an entry-level position in a New York-based advertising agency. With hard work and dedication, he quickly rose through the ranks and began directing numerous commercials for high-profile clients such as Right Guard and Gillette. Renee Taylor’s late husband also worked in the advertising industry before exploring his passion for acting on Broadway.
After he appeared in the theaters, Hollywood casting directors noticed his resemblance to gangsters and began offering him tough-guy roles. He played the role of Joe Bonanno, a notorious mobster, in the movie “Honor Thy Father”, and also portrayed a thieving police officer in “Cops and Robbers” (1973). He proved to have versatile acting skills, as he could easily switch from comic roles to playing the villain.
In recognition of his contributions as an entertainer, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Night of 100 Stars Oscar Gala. In Bologna’s final film performance, he portrayed a priest in Tango Shalom in a story he wrote and which his son directed. And for his last television appearance, he was a serial killer’s father in an episode of C.S.I (2010).
Culled from IMDb, below are some of the works he was involved in during his lifetime:
Filmography
- Made for Each Other (1971)
- Honor Thy Father (1973)
- Cops and Robbers (1973)
- Torn Between Two Lovers (1979)
- My Favorite Year (1982)
- Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)
- Rags to Riches (1987-1988)
- Thanksgiving Day (1990)
- Love Is All There (1996)
- Ice Age 2: Meltdown (2006)
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2010)
- Tango Shalom (2021)
Joseph Bologna Died After a 3-year Battle With Pancreatic Cancer
Joseph Bologna died in 2017 at the age of 82 from pancreatic cancer at the City of Hope Hospital. In 2014, the shoe shiner turned Broadway, and Hollywood star was diagnosed with the dreaded cancer notorious for ending the lives of notable personalities like Steve Jobs, Aretha Franklin, Luciano Pavarotti, etc. Medically, pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest survival rates of all types of cancers. Experts put the survival rate at 12 percent over 5 years.
Renee Taylor remains grateful to the team of doctors who took care of her husband Joseph Bologna in the last 6 months of his life. They made his last moment less painful. Through their help, he was able to attend the Night of 100 Stars, embark on a trip to Italy with his family, and also attend the 35th-anniversary celebration of My Favorite Year.
Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor’s Love Story
The late Italian-American actor met Renee Taylor through Buddy Allen. The would-be couple had Allen working as their manager. The two came from separate cultures. Bologna was an Italian and a Catholic while Taylor was a Jew. Somehow, they made their relationship work. Most of their dates were spent in Sardis a restaurant in the Broadway theatre district.
Unable to pay for Tavern on the Green in New York, the Emmy award-winning duo had their wedding on the soundstage of The Mery Griffin Show in 1965. Griffin filmed the ceremony and aired it on his show. Over the years, the couple renewed their marriage vows 5 times.
Early in their marriage, Joseph and Renee had a big fight which later inspired an autobiographical two-person show. The two love birds would play out scenes on stage about their marriage and family to pass a message to their audience. The stories were mostly comical but were packed with insightful meanings.
They wrote 22 plays together including Lovers and Other Strangers, Made for Each Other, It Had to Be You, Bermuda Avenue Triangle and If You Ever Leave Me I’m Going With You Made for Each Other. In 1973, the inseparable couple won an Emmy Award for writing Acts of Love and Other Comedies.
Two days after celebrating their 52nd wedding anniversary, John Bologna succumbed to his illness at the age of 82. He and Renee Taylor had a son, Gabriel Bologna, and a daughter Zizi Bologna.
