George DiCenzo

George Ralph DiCenzo (April 21, 1940 – August 9, 2010) was an American actor, and one-time associate producer for Dark Shadows. He was in the show business for over 30 years, with extensive film, TV, stage, and commercial credits.^[1] DiCenzo notably played Marty's grandfather Sam Baines in the film Back to the Future. He also had a minor role in William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist III.

George DiCenzo
DiCenzo in 2007
Born	George Ralph DiCenzo (1940-04-21)April 21, 1940 New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	August 9, 2010 (aged 70) Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupations	Actor acting teacher producer
Years active	1970–2006
Spouse	Donna Artz-DiCenzo ​ (m. 1999)​

Life and career

DiCenzo was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He appeared in more than 30 feature films, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), The Choirboys (1977), The Frisco Kid (1979), The Ninth Configuration (1980), Back to the Future (1985), About Last Night (1986), Walk Like a Man (1987), The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988), 18 Again! (1988), Sing (1989) and The Exorcist III (1990).

He appeared in Hotel, directed by Mike Figgis, and Tempted, directed by Bill Bennett. He also played the late baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in the television movie Hustle about disgraced baseball great Pete Rose. In 2002 George played Ennio Salieri in the 2002 video game Mafia. George also provided the voice for Earnest Kelly in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

In 1976, he appeared in the CBS made-for-TV movie Helter Skelter as prosecuting attorney Vincent Bugliosi. In the 1981–82 television season, DiCenzo was a regular on McClain's Law, with James Arness and Marshall Colt, starting with the television film McClain's Law, structured as the series' pilot. He appeared in the 1977 miniseries Aspen, the 1980 TV movie The Night the City Screamed, and made regular appearances on Murder, She Wrote, Law & Order and NYPD Blue.

His own series included Equal Justice and Joe's Life in the early and mid-1990s. He appeared as a guest star in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Semi-Professional". In the early 1990s, DiCenzo appeared on Broadway with Nathan Lane in On Borrowed Time.

DiCenzo's voice can be heard in commercials, audiobooks, and cartoon series. His roles in the latter include the title character in BlackStar (1981), Hordak in She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985–1986), and Captain America in both Spider-Man (1981 TV series) as well as Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981–1983). He was an acting teacher in New York City and Philadelphia for several years. He apprenticed under his mentor Milton Katselas at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.^[2]

Death

DiCenzo died of sepsis on August 9, 2010, at the age of 70.^[3] He was buried in the North and Southampton Churchyard at Churchville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Filmography

Film

George DiCenzo film credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	House of Dark Shadows	Deputy	Uncredited
1971	Going Home	Sergeant
1972	Across 110th Street	Patrolman
1974	Shoot It Black, Shoot It Blue	George
1975	The Swiss Family Robinson	Suramin
1975	Las Vegas Lady	Eversull
1977	Close Encounters of the Third Kind	Major Benchley
1977	The Choirboys	Lieutenant Grimsley
1979	The Frisco Kid	Darryl Diggs
1980	The Ninth Configuration	Captain Fairbanks
1981	Gangster Wars	Arnold Rothstein
1981	McClain's Law	Lieutenant DeNisco
1983	Breach of Contract
1985	The Secret of the Sword	Bow / Hordak (voice)
1985	Back to the Future	Sam Baines
1986	The Longshot	DeFranco
1986	About Last Night	Mr. Favio
1986	Omega Syndrome	Philadelphia 'Phil' Horton
1987	Walk Like a Man	Bob (Bub) Downs
1988	The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking	Mr. Blackhart
1988	18 Again!	Coach
1989	Sing	Mr. Marowitz
1989	Face of the Enemy	James Wald
1990	The Exorcist III	Stedman
1992	Gypsy Eyes	Wyden
1997	Lesser Prophets	Jerry
1998	Illuminata	Jailor
2000	It Had to Be You	Mel
2001	Tempted	Byron Blades
2001	Hotel	Boris
2004	Stateside	Detective #2
2006	A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints	Uncle George	(final film role)

Television

George DiCenzo television credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Ironside	Joe	Episode "Another Shell Game" (S6.E20)
1973	Ironside	Paul Benson	Episode "Downhill All the Way" (S7.E8)
1973	Gunsmoke	Newt	Episode "Susan Was Evil" (S19.E12)
1974	Barnaby Jones	Sy Landau	Episode "Foul Play" (S2.E24)
1974	Kung Fu	Jesse	Episode "The Predators" (S3.E5)
1974	The Rockford Files	Harry Stoner	1 episode
1975	Gunsmoke	Mr. Bruce	Episode "The Fires of Ignorance" (S20.E17)
1975	S.W.A.T.	Owings	1 episode
1975	Kojak	Harry Ferguson	1 episode
1976	Helter Skelter	Vincent Bugliosi	TV movie
1977	Aspen	Abe Singer	1 episode
1977–1980	Hawaii Five-O	Len Sessup / Professor Alika Kalei / Yuri Bloch	3 episodes
1979	The Waltons	Calvin Satterfield	2 episodes
1981	BlackStar	John Blackstar	13 episodes
1981	McClain's Law	Lt. DeNisco	TV movie (pilot)
1981–1982	McClain's Law	Lt. DeNisco	15 episode
1981–1982	Spider-Man	Captain America / Steve Rogers (voice)	26 episodes
1981–1983	Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends	Captain America / Steve Rogers (voice) / et al.	24 episodes
1984	Magnum, P.I.	M. Barry Aldridge	1 episode
1984–1994	Murder, She Wrote	(various)	6 episode
1985–1986	She-Ra: Princess of Power	Hordak (voice) / Bow / et al.	93 episodes
1987	The Equalizer	Frank Dorgan	Episode: "Memories of Manon"
1988	The Equalizer	Bruno Dominic	Episode: "A Dance on the Dark Side"
1980	The Night the City Screamed	Cliff Barrankos	TV movie
1990–1991	Equal Justice	D.A. Arnold Bach	26 episodes
1991	Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion	Albert Nardone	TV movie
1991	In the Head of the Night	Ramon Palez	1 episode
1992	Law & Order	Eddie Palmieri	Episode: "The Working Stiff" (S2.E22)
1993	Joe's Life	Stan Gennaro	11 episodes
1995–1996	NYPD Blue	Pete Russell	2 episodes
1997	Law & Order	Sam "Bunny" Russo	Episode: "Barter" (S7.E12)
2002	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Judge Raoul Sabatelli	Episode: "Semi-Professional" (S1.E15)
2004	Hustle	A. Bartlett Giamatti	TV movie