Jon Polito Family, Real Name, Spouse, Profession, Eye Color, body stats, Feet Size, Wiki

Jon Polito Family, Real Name, Spouse, Profession, Eye Color, body stats, Feet Size, Wiki

Jon Raymond Polito (December 29, 1950 â€" September 1, 2016) was an

American character actor. In a film and television career spanning 35

years, he amassed over 220 credits. Notable television roles included

Detective Steve Crosetti in the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on

the Street and as Phil Bartoli on the first season of Crime Story. He

also appeared in several films including The Rocketeer, The Crow and

Gangster Squad, as well as his work with the Coen brothers. He

appeared in five of their films, including Miller's Crossing, Barton

Fink and The Big Lebowski. Polito also portrayed legendary "hungry i"

nightclub impresario Enrico Banducci in a large supporting role in Tim

Burton's 2014 film Big Eyes starring Amy Adams.Polito was initially

reluctant to audition for Homicide as he didn't want to move to

Baltimore for the series, having just relocated from New York City to

Los Angeles. His agents sent him the script anyway, featuring a

dialogue scene between a Polish-American and an Irish-American

detective. Polito preferred the Irish detective role, but was told

that he could only do the Polish one. After reading for the part

Polito added a message on his audition tape saying that if the

producers wanted to call him back he would only be interested if he

could take the part of the Irish detective. Series co-creators Barry

Levinson and Tom Fontana rewrote the character as an Italian named

Steve Crosetti and cast him in the role. The Polish detective was also

rewritten, becoming Detective Meldrick Lewis, and was played by

African-American actor Clark Johnson.The show was rating poorly and

the producers were under pressure from NBC to include a new female

character (Megan Russert) in the hope of gaining broader appeal. As a

result, they decided to write out Polito's character at the end of

Season 2. Fontana assured him that he would be brought back later in

the season, but Polito was unhappy and criticized the producers

publicly, an action he later regretted. The outburst caused a rift

with Fontana and the Crosetti character was killed off early in Season

3, with the explanation that the detective had committed suicide. This

further infuriated Polito, who again complained to the media,

triggering a public slagging match between him and Fontana.

Interviewed about the situation in 2005, Polito expressed regret for

his handling of the matter. He noted that he and Fontana subsequently

patched up their differences, and as a result the Crosetti character

returned to make a farewell appearance as a spirit in Homicide: The

Movie.
Jon Polito Family, Real Name, Spouse, Profession, Eye Color, body stats, Feet Size, Wiki


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