AP - Actor Vincent Schiavelli, who had movie roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Ghost, has died at his home in Sicily, aged 57.
The New York-born actor died of lung cancer, said Salvatore Glorioso, the mayor of Polizzi Generosa, the Sicilian village where Schiavelli lived.
Schiavelli, whose gloomy, droopy-eyed look made him perfect to play creepy or eccentric characters, has more than 120 film and television appearances to his name, according to the Internet Movie Database.
Other movies he has appeared in include Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Amadeus, Batman Returns, and The People vs Larry Flint, and he was selected in 1997 by Vanity Fair as one of the United States' best character actors.
"He was a great friend, a great chef and a great talker," Glorioso, who has known Schiavelli for almost four years, said in a telephone interview.
"With a smooth, witty conversation, he would make everything look more colourful. I've lost a brother," he said.
Schiavelli studied acting at New York University's School of the Arts.
He also has written three cookbooks and many food articles for magazines and newspapers, possibly inheriting his love for cooking from his grandfather, whom Schiavelli grew up with and who had been a cook for an Italian baron before moving to the United States, according to IMDB.
Schiavelli also had worked in Italy, including in 2001 when he directed a theatre piece in Sicily based on nine fables.
A funeral service will be held in Polizzi Generosa, Glorioso said. Survivors include a son, an ex-wife and a girlfriend, Glorioso said.
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