<Archive Obituaries> Nicholas Colasanto (February 12th 1985)
Bill Schenley
Photo:
http://www.geocities.com/leeiacocca2003/colasantonicholbio.jpg
FROM: The Washington Post (February 16th 1985) ~
By Tom Shales, Staff Writer
Cast members of "Cheers" have lost one of their own, but
those who watch and love the show certainly feel that
Nicholas Colasanto was one of their own, too. Nicholas
Colasanto played Ernie "Coach" Pantusso, agile bartender and
pixilated philosopher, and it's the nature of television and
the result of a superb continuing performance that you could
adopt Coach electronically and make him a member of that old
gang of yours.
Television characters are immortal but actors are not.
Colasanto died this week in Los Angeles of a heart ailment.
He did not take Coach with him, because although the
character will be written out of "Cheers," he still exists
on film and will return in reruns as if still among us.
Indeed, a 1982 episode in which Coach was prominently
featured was rerun by NBC last Thursday night, preceded by a
still photograph of the actor in character and the voice of
"Cheers" costar Ted Danson saying, "This encore presentation
of 'Cheers' is dedicated with love and appreciation to the
memory of Nick Colasanto."
At one point in that show, Coach, trying as usual to get his
bearings, said to his cronies behind the bar, "This is the
nineteen -- what, eighties?" Coach was a daft comic
exaggeration; sports fans in particular knew him as a
recognizable type, a kindred spirit. Glen Charles, who with
his brother Les created this fine, compassionate television
show, says from Hollywood that there were little bits of
Yogi Berra, Sparky Anderson and Casey Stengel in Coach.
"These are certainly not dumb men," Charles says. "They just
had a different perspective on things. We tried to make
Coach not so much stupid as indecisive and pursuing his own
line of reasoning. Behind the seeming stupidity was a
sweetness and innocence and a striving to make sense out of
life."
The beauty part was that Colasanto didn't just bring the
character to life from the printed page, he completed Coach
and gave him qualities even the Charles brothers didn't know
were there. "We have absolutely lucked out with all our
cast," Glen Charles says. "Each one has taken their
character farther than we thought they could go. That was
certainly the case with Nick. Among other things, he was a
great listener -- Nick as an actor and in the role. The
character was somebody all the other characters could
explain things to. And we could always cut to Nick for a
silent reaction, when another character did a joke and we
needed something to break up the laughter. We'd cut to Nick
because as Coach he was always trying to make sense of what
was going on, and he had that wonderful puzzled look on his
face."
Charles says there will be a "Cheers" episode in which the
death of Coach is dealt with by the other characters who
inhabit or frequent the Cheers bar, probably at the
beginning of the fall season, much as the cops on "Hill
Street Blues" contended with the loss of Sgt. Esterhaus
after the death of actor Michael Conrad. Years ago -- and,
on some TV shows, even today -- the disappearance of a
principal character because of an actor's death might never
be accounted in the narrative for fear of depressing or
alienating the audience. That these things can now be faced
and stated is one small indication that television has
matured.
While a new bartender will be added to the "Cheers" cast,
Charles said, under no circumstances will the character be a
duplication of Coach: "That is one absolute that we will not
do." Instead a totally different character will be
developed. In 1982, when "Cheers" was put together, between
50 and 75 actors tested for the role of Coach -- one of them
Sid Caesar, the veteran TV clown -- but Charles says, "Nick
was our first choice from the very first time we saw him."
The ensemble casting of "Cheers" is an extremely important
factor in the success and excellence of the program. This
may be the most ingratiating extended family created for
television since the days of bliss in the WJM-TV newsroom on
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show."
And Coach was the father figure of the group, especially to
Sam (Danson), with whom he shared a baseball past. Couldn't
it be that some viewers will feel in their own way as keen a
sense of loss as those who actually knew Colasanto and
worked with him on the show? Television can foster intimate
vicarious friendships, and we'll remember Coach as the actor
played him: someone who wished no harm to any fellow human
being and regretted every harsh word he ever spoke. There
are such people on the planet. You're lucky to meet them on
the street or on a TV screen.
The other drama of Coach is that for Colasanto, the role was
the crowning achievement of an erratic career that included
directing episodic television like "Bonanza" and "Starsky
and Hutch." On Thursday night's rerun, to help Coach work up
the nerve to assert himself and conquer an obstacle, Sam
told him an old baseball tale in which the key booster
phrase was "Go get 'em." Coach licked the problem and in his
last scene said exultantly to his friend, "Hey, Sam, I got
'em!" Sam said, "You got 'em, Coach," and that moment froze
instantly in the mind as The Way We'll Remember Nicholas
Colasanto. It was a sweet epitaph for an actor and a
character you had no trouble finding room for in your heart.
Coach, you got 'em.
---
Photo:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/data/1028/4328coach1.jpg
---
FROM: The United Press International (February 12th 1985) ~
By Vernon Scott, Hollywood Reporter
Nicholas Colasanto, a veteran actor and director who played
the loveable but dimwitted bartender in the NBC series
''Cheers,'' died Tuesday at his home of a heart attack, a
network spokeswoman said. He was 61.
The stocky character actor, who portrayed Ernie Pantusso, a
former Boston Red Sox coach who had a warm heart but often
struggled to make sense of conversations and drink orders in
the Boston bar, was recovering from a longstanding heart
ailment when he suddenly died while watching television. His
body was found by a friend.
''As an actor I'm going to miss Nick very much,'' said Ted
Danson, one of the show's stars.
''As Sam Malone (the role Danson plays), I feel as if I've
lost my dad. As Ted Danson, I loved him very much and he
will be missed a lot.''
Colasanto had been hospitalized with heart problems and
missed filming of the last five episodes of ''Cheers,''
spokeswoman Pat Schultz said, but he had told friends he was
recovering and expected to be back in front of the camera
again.
Co-producer Les Charles said an episode of the show was
being taped when word of the death was received.
''Everyone in the cast broke down and wept when we were told
the news,'' he said. ''Everyone was shattered.
''We canceled the taping for tonight and the cast spent most
of the afternoon talking about Nicky and exchanging favorite
stories about him. After that, they were a little more
philosophical when they went home.''
He said a new character would be added to the popular show
next season, but said it would be a different part. ''Anyone
would suffer by comparison,'' he explained.
Colasanto's doctor, who requested anonymity, said in a
statement released by NBC that the actor ''was feeling fine
yesterday'' when he talked to him.
''Death was very sudden,'' the doctor said. ''He was sitting
up in the bed watching television.''
Colasanto, born in Providence, R.I., studied to be an
accountant but gave up his job with an oil company to pursue
an acting career 30 years ago.
''I saw Charles Boyer in 'The Red Gloves' and Henry Fonda in
'Mister Roberts,' and it was just like catching a virus,''
he once said.
He began his long career in such Broadway plays as ''Across
the Board Tomorrow Morning,'' which earned him a Tony
nomination, and ''A Hatful of Rain.''
He also acted in dozens of television shows and in such
films as Alfred Hitchcock's ''Family Plot,'' John Huston's
''Fat City'' and ''Raging Bull,'' in which he played a Mafia
chief.
He also directed more than 100 episodes for such television
series as ''Bonanza,'' ''Columbo,'' ''The Name of the
Game,'' ''Starsky and Hutch,'' ''The Streets of San
Francisco'' and ''Hawaii Five-0.''
Colasanto was never married and had no children. NBC said he
would be buried in Providence, but funeral plans were
incomplete.
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Photo: http://tvphotogalleries.com/data/562/1cheers08.jpg
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