Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:20 pm
Yeah! That's a Mafia way to go weird and mysterious. Creepy!<br><br><!--QuoteBegin--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> 'Godfather,' 'Sopranos' Actor Killed by Bus<br><br>ZUMA PressRichard Bright, in a 'Godfather III' scene with Al Pacino, was a character actor who appeared in all three 'Godfather' movies. <br> <br>NEW YORK (Feb. 19) - Richard Bright, a character actor who appeared in all three "Godfather" movies and more recently on "The Sopranos," was struck and killed by a bus, police said.<br><br>Bright, 68, was hit by a private Academy Bus as he crossed the street at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday in his Manhattan neighborhood, police Detective Bernard Gifford said.<br><br>There were no arrests as of Sunday but police said the investigation was continuing. The bus driver told police he was not aware that he had hit anyone.<br><br>Bright played mob enforcer Al Neri in the "Godfather" movies, a bodyguard to the Corleone family patriarchs played by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.<br><br>He played a con artist hustling Ali McGraw in 1972's "The Getaway" and acted in dozens of other films such as Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America" and "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" and in TV shows such as "Hill Street Blues."<br><br>"He always said it was the work that was the reward," said Brett Smiley, a friend and fellow actor.<br><br>Bright was arrested in 1965 on an obscenity charge for language he used in a San Francisco production of poet Michael McClure's two-person play "The Beard," which was shut down.<br><br>The American Civil Liberties Union took up the case and the charges against Bright were later dismissed in what was considered a precedent for artistic expression rights.<br><br>02/19/06 15:37 EST<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>
