Al Lettieri

Al Lettieri was an American actor and screenwriter known for the menacing characters he played in the 1960s and 1970s. Born in New York City, he made an early television appearance under the name Anthony Lettier on a 1958 Perry Mason episode and later appeared in The Hanged Man, a 1964 television film. Before his noteworthy film work, he served as a dialogue coach on productions such as Where Eagles Dare (1968). He became widely recognized for playing Virgil Sollozzo, a heroin trafficker, in The Godfather (1972); he had earlier acted with Marlon Brando in The Night of the Following Day (1969). He wrote the adaptation for Villain (1971), then played Rudy Butler in The Getaway (1972) and Frank Renda in Mr. Majestyk (1974). Late in his life he went to Italy for Flatfoot in Hong Kong (1975), and afterward appeared in Go Gorilla Go (1976) and House of Pleasure for Women (1976).