Robert Loggia has died aged 85.
The Oscar-nominated actor – whose film credits included ‘Big’, ‘Independence Day’ and ‘Scarface’ – died at his home in Los Angeles on Friday (04.12.15) after battling Alzheimer’s disease for five years, his widow Audrey O’Brien has confirmed.
Loggia had for the large part, enjoyed a low-key career on stage, TV and in films until he starred as Richard Gere’s abusive and alcoholic father in the 1982 hit ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’, which led to him receiving offers for more substantial roles.
Subsequently, he appeared as drug lord Frank Lopez alongside Al Pacino in the iconic mobster movie ‘Scarface’, while he later played a seedy private detective in ‘Jagged Edge’, alongside Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close.
He missed out on the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to Don Ameche, who starred in ‘Cocoon’.
However, his most famous on-screen role was alongside Tom Hanks in the 1988 comedy ‘Big’, in which they famously danced to ‘Heart and Soul’ and ‘Chopsticks’ on the giant keyboard at New York’s FAO Schwarz toy store.
Meanwhile, in 1996, Loggia had a key supporting role in ‘Independence Day’, playing a general who advises the president of the United States about an alien invasion.
Robert Loggia dies at 85
