Val Bisoglio, ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’ Actor, Dead at 95

Val Bisoglio, a prolific character actor from the 1960s to the 1980s, died on Oct. 18. He was 95. Bisoglio began his career in 1956 and continued acting regularly until the mid-1980s. His final on-screen appearances came in three episodes of The Sopranos Season 4 as Murf in 2002.

Bisoglio died at his home in Los Olivos, California, his wife, Bonnie Bisoglio, told Variety Saturday. He is survived by his wife, sons Joseph Valentino Bisoglio, Sgt. Scott Chapman, and Casey DeFranco. He is also survived by his two daughters-in-law and three brothers-in-law.

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The actor was born Italo Valentino Bisoglio in New York, New York, and raised by Italian immigrants. He started acting on the New York stage, and appeared in an episode of The Edge of Night in 1956, according to his IMDb profile. During the 1960s and 1970s, he split his time between appearing on television and in movies. He had roles in the movies No Way to Treat a Lady (1968), The Brotherhood (1968), Serpico (1973), The Hindenberg (1975), and St. Ives (1976). In 1977, he played John Travolta’s father in Saturday Night Fever.

Bisoglio also starred in The Doctors in 1969, All in the Family in 1972, and Roll Out from 1973 to 1974. He had guest roles in episodes of Kojak, Police Woman, Barney Miller, Phyllis, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Rockford Files, Working Stiffs, and M*A*S*H. His longest-running television role was as Danny Tovo in Quincy M.E., appearing on over 100 episodes between 1976 and 1983. His career began to slow down in the mid-1980s, but he returned to television in 2002 for a role in The Sopranos. Outside of acting, he took part in the Kennedy Administration’s anti-poverty pilot program Mobilization for Youth, established in 1962.