Biography
Stage actor Peter Brocco made his first film appearance in 1932's The Devil and Deep. He then left films to tour in theatrical productions in Italy, Spain and Switzerland. Returning to Hollywood in 1947, Brocco could be seen in dozens of minor and supporting roles, usually playing petty crooks, shifty foreign agents, pathetic winos and suspicious store clerks. His larger screen roles included Ramon in
Spartacus (1960), The General in
The Balcony (1963), Dr. Wu in
Our Man Flint (1963), and the leading character in the Cincinnati-filmed black comedy
Homebodies (1974). The addition of a fuzzy, careless goatee in his later years enabled Brocco to portray generic oldsters in such films as
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1977),
The One and Only(1977),
Throw Momma From the Train (1989) and
War of the Roses (1983). In 1983, Peter Brocco was one of many veterans of the
Twilight Zone TV series of the 1950s and 1960s to be affectionately cast in a cameo role in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide