| Big break was playing magician Dominick the Great on The Gary Moore Show. |
| Acted in six movies directed by Mel Brooks, most memorably as Emperor Nero in History of the World---Part I. |
| Released a cookbook called Eat This...It'll Make You Feel Better in 1988. |
| Costarred with Burt Reynolds in seven movies, including The Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit II. |
| Parents were Italian immigrants; his father worked as a garbage collector. |
| Appeared opposite his wife and three sons in the 1983 TV-movie Happy. |