At the age of 83, John Aprea, who you may remember from the films The Godfather II, The Stepford Wives and The Game or from the TV series Full House, passed away. According to his manager Will Levine, the actor died on August 5 at his home in Los Angeles. Aprea, who played young Salvatore Tessia in The Godfather, died of natural causes surrounded by his family, according to TMZ.
John Aprea was born in New Jersey and moved to New York in the 1960s after spending several years in Italy, where he focused mainly on soccer. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles, where his acting career took off in 1968 with the portrayal of a hit man in the film The Bullitt Case.
Aprea also played a mob boss in the miniseries The Gangster Chronicles from 1981. Seven years later, he was cast as Nick Katsopolis, father of John Stamos, in the popular series Full House, and in 2017, he was also in its sequel, Full House Again. However, the actor’s filmography includes almost fifty films and a similar number of serial roles, albeit often episodic.
John has been married three times, first to actress Cherie Latimer, second to co-star Ninon Aprea, and third to Betsey Graci eight years ago.