# Alex Rocco
**Alex Rocco** (born Alessandro Federico Petricone Jr., also given as Alexander Federico Petricone; February 29, 1936 – July 18, 2015) was an American character actor known for tough-guy roles, most famously the Las Vegas casino owner [Moe Greene](https://www.edgepedia.org/moe-greene) in *The Godfather* (1972), and for winning a 1990 Emmy Award as the talent agent Al Floss in the CBS sitcom *The Famous Teddy Z*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733678/) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-alex-rocco-20150720-story.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | February 29, 1936, Cambridge, Massachusetts; July 18, 2015, Studio City, Los Angeles, of pancreatic cancer, aged 79[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733678/) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0733678/bio/) |
| Signature role | Moe Greene in *The Godfather* (1972), a character based on mobster Bugsy Siegel[2](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-alex-rocco-20150720-story.html) |
| Emmy | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, 1990, as Al Floss in *The Famous Teddy Z* (CBS)[4](https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/famous-teddy-z) |
| Screen debut | Russ Meyer's *Motorpsycho!* (1965)[5](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/alex-rocco) |
| Early life | Ran with the Winter Hill Gang in Somerville, Massachusetts, under the nickname "Bobo"; arrested in 1961 after the murder of Charlestown crime figure Bernard McLaughlin, but a grand jury declined to indict[6](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html) |
| Voice work | Roger Meyers Jr. on *The Simpsons*; Thorny the ant in *A Bug's Life* (1998)[2](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-alex-rocco-20150720-story.html) |
| Career size | More than 160 acting credits over five decades, from 1965 to 2017[6](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html) • [7](https://www.archytele.com/person/alex-rocco/movies-and-tv-shows) |
## Early life in Boston
Rocco was born on February 29, 1936, to Italian immigrants in [Cambridge, Massachusetts](https://www.edgepedia.org/cambridge-massachusetts), and grew up in the Boston suburb of Somerville.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733678/) • [8](https://www.fandango.com/people/alex-rocco-568367/biography) As a young man he worked as a bookie, taking bets on the Red Sox, the Celtics, and Suffolk Downs, and was charged with registering bets in a State Police sweep of Somerville drinking establishments a few days before Christmas 1959.[2](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-alex-rocco-20150720-story.html) • [6](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html)
**Arrest and departure.** In 1961, after the midday murder of Charlestown crime figure Bernard McLaughlin, a nightclub entertainer told authorities that Rocco had been the getaway driver and that [Winter Hill Gang](https://www.edgepedia.org/winter-hill-gang) leader James "Buddy" McLean had shot McLaughlin. Police arrested both men on suspicion of murder, but a month later a grand jury declined to indict them.[6](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html) Rocco later said that a jail sentence of several months in the Middlesex House of Correction, for a diner brawl, "basically turned my life around".[6](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html) He left the Boston area in the early 1960s, deciding his destination by a coin flip: "Heads Miami, tails California."[6](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html)
In Los Angeles he dropped the name Petricone, telling a reporter he chose "Rocco" after seeing it on a bakery truck. He took acting classes with [Leonard Nimoy](https://www.edgepedia.org/leonard-nimoy), who kicked him out of one class because no one could understand his thick [Boston accent](https://www.edgepedia.org/boston-accent), and with the drama coach [Jeff Corey](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeff-corey); after speech lessons gave him a New York accent, Nimoy found him acceptable.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733678/) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-alex-rocco-20150720-story.html)
## Film career
Rocco made his screen debut in [Russ Meyer](https://www.edgepedia.org/russ-meyer)'s low-budget *Motorpsycho!* in 1965, and two years later had small parts in the television series *Run for Your Life*, *Batman*, and *Get Smart*.[5](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/alex-rocco) His big break came as Moe Greene in *The Godfather* (1972). Greene, a Las Vegas casino owner based on [Bugsy Siegel](https://www.edgepedia.org/bugsy-siegel), refuses [Michael Corleone](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-corleone)'s buyout offer with the line "Do you know who I am? I'm Moe Greene! I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!" and is killed with a shot through the eye while lying on a massage table.[2](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-alex-rocco-20150720-story.html) Rocco called the role "without a doubt, my biggest ticket anywhere".[9](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-godfather-best-quotes-remembering-alex-rocco-as-casino-boss-moe-greene-10400963.html) The Moe Greene scenes were planned as a three-day shoot, but delays from conflicts between Francis Ford Coppola and the producers and from Marlon Brando's difficult temperament stretched them over six months, with Rocco paid throughout; "I bless Brando for the problems he caused," Rocco said.[10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/21/alex-rocco)
**Other films.** In Peter Yates's Boston crime drama *The Friends of Eddie Coyle* (1973), Rocco played a slick professional bank robber opposite [Robert Mitchum](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-mitchum), whom he introduced to local Irish-American gangsters during pre-shooting research.[10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/21/alex-rocco) He had a co-lead as a white detective in the 1973 film *Detroit 9000*, a performance the critic Roger Ebert called the best thing in the movie.[10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/21/alex-rocco) Later credits included *The Stunt Man*, *Herbie Goes Bananas*, *Get Shorty*, *That Thing You Do!*, *The Wedding Planner*, *Smokin' Aces*, and *Find Me Guilty*.[5](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/alex-rocco) In the 1998 animated film *A Bug's Life* he voiced Thorny the ant, a part that over the years became his biggest paycheck as the film sold well worldwide on DVD.[6](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html)
## Television
Television gave Rocco far more scope than film and let him show his comic side. He guest-starred in dozens of series, including *That Girl*, *Mission: Impossible*, *Kojak*, *The Rockford Files*, *Barnaby Jones*, *Baretta*, *Starsky and Hutch*, *CHiPs*, *The Golden Girls*, *Murder, She Wrote*, *Murphy Brown*, *ER*, and *Private Practice*.[5](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/alex-rocco) He had recurring roles as the father of [Nancy McKeon](https://www.edgepedia.org/nancy-mckeon)'s character on *The Facts of Life*, as George's best friend on *The George Carlin Show*, as the father of [Jeffrey Dean Morgan](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeffrey-dean-morgan)'s character on *Magic City*, and as [Matt LeBlanc](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-leblanc)'s father on *Episodes*.[5](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/alex-rocco)
**Emmy win.** In *The Famous Teddy Z* (CBS, 1989–1990), a short-lived sitcom canceled in its first season, Rocco played the slick Hollywood agent Al Floss. The role won him the 1990 [Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series](https://www.edgepedia.org/primetime-emmy-award-for-outstanding-supporting-actor-in-a-comedy-series), beating a field that included [Woody Harrelson](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-harrelson) and Kelsey Grammer of *Cheers*.[4](https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/famous-teddy-z) • [6](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html) "What a sleaze," Rocco said of the character; "I got even for all the agents who screwed me in my career."[10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/21/alex-rocco)
His gravelly voice also carried into animation: he voiced Roger Meyers Jr., the chairman of the studio behind "Itchy and Scratchy" on *The Simpsons*, and characters in *Family Guy* and *Pinky and the Brain*.[5](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/alex-rocco)
## Personal life
Rocco married Sandra Elaine Garrett in 1966; she died in 2002. Their son Marc Rocco, a film writer, director, and producer whose credits included *Murder in the First*, died in 2009. In 2005 Rocco married the actress Shannon Wilcox. He was survived by Wilcox, a son, Lucien, a daughter, Jennifer, stepchildren including the actress Kelli Williams, a sister, Vivian De Simone, and four grandchildren.[6](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html) He credited his turn to the Baha'i faith with helping him put his life in order.[6](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html)
Rocco died of pancreatic cancer on July 18, 2015, at his home in Studio City, Los Angeles, at age 79.[3](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0733678/bio/) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-alex-rocco-20150720-story.html)
## References
1. [Alex Rocco, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733678/)
2. [Alex Rocco dies at 79; actor played mobster Moe Greene in 'The Godfather', Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-alex-rocco-20150720-story.html)
3. [Alex Rocco, IMDb (Italian-language biography)](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0733678/bio/)
4. [The Famous Teddy Z, Emmy Awards and Nominations, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/famous-teddy-z)
5. [Alex Rocco, Television Academy biography](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/alex-rocco)
6. [Alex Rocco, 79; left a Somerville gang, rebuilt life as noted character actor, The Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/20/alex-rocco-went-from-bookie-past-somerville-emmy-winning-and-film-actor/PgMEUJJACEPcr45SkXSDWM/story.html)
7. [All Alex Rocco Movies & Series, by Year, archytele](https://www.archytele.com/person/alex-rocco/movies-and-tv-shows)
8. [Alex Rocco Biography, Fandango](https://www.fandango.com/people/alex-rocco-568367/biography)
9. [The Godfather best quotes: Remembering Alex Rocco as casino boss Moe Greene, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-godfather-best-quotes-remembering-alex-rocco-as-casino-boss-moe-greene-10400963.html)
10. [Alex Rocco obituary, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/21/alex-rocco)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Ro to Sa*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license