?Rocky never got tired. He never got arm weary or leg weary. You couldn?t wear him out or outlast him. It was like he was inhuman??
In October 2007, when Frank Albanese became a member of Veteran Boxers Association, Ring 8, in New York City, everyone remembered him from his small but memorable role as Uncle Pat Blundetto in the iconic television program ?The Sopranos.?
His character was the owner of a country farm who was suffering from dementia. He couldn?t remember where the bodies were buried when the characters played by the late James Gandolfini and Steve Buscemi came to dig them up because a condominium complex was going to be built on the property.
Some of the younger Ring 8 members did not know that Albanese was a hard-punching heavyweight in the 1940s. He said his pro career consisted of 10 fights, all of which he said he won by knockout. While his record cannot be found on Boxrec.com, his gnarled hands and busted proboscis made him look like a formidable man.
Although he could appear physically intimidating, Albanese was a sweetheart of a guy who was very active in local politics in his hometown of Staten Island, New York. Besides boxing and politics, he had a passion for acting that knew no bounds.
Albanese passed away from prostate cancer on Monday, October 5. He was 84 years old.
Albanese, who even in his later years looked fit enough to go a few rounds, had also appeared in uncredited roles in two of the three ?The Godfather? movies, as well as credited parts in ?Dead Presidents? and ?Goodfellas.?
As much as Albanese loved acting, he said he was ?devastated? that he had to give up boxing at the age of 19 after it was discovered that he had scar tissue on his brain during a routine examination.
Although he said he had sparred on many occasions with such greats as Rocky Marciano, Archie Moore and Roland LaStarza, the thick-necked, wide-shouldered Albanese, whose hands were the size of frying pans, believes the head injury was incurred in any one of the numerous bar brawls or street fights he engaged in as a youngster.
?I loved boxing,? he said. ?It killed me to have to give it up. There was so much camaraderie. I loved going to the gym and training. I liked the training as much as fighting.?
Henry Wallitsch, the former president of Ring 8 and a popular New York pro during that era, said Albanese was a ?killer? in the gym and very formidable in actual fights.
Wallitsch said it was well known in boxing circles that Albanese had never been defeated as an amateur or a pro, and he was regarded around Stillman?s Gym as a true ?knockout artist.?
Albanese, who was close friends with middleweight champion Rocky Graziano, remembers his sparring sessions with Marciano, Moore and LaStarza, all of whom he had the utmost respect for.
?Rocky never got tired, he was unbelievable,? said Albanese. ?He never got arm weary or leg weary. He had tremendous stamina. You couldn?t wear him out or outlast him. It was like he was inhuman.?
He described LaStarza as being ?a brilliant boxer with a tremendous right hand.? He also said he was very clever and fleet-footed, which made it hard to hit him solidly.
But the all-around best, he says, was the masterful Old Mongoose, Archie Moore. ?He was such a complete fighter,? said Albanese. ?Once in a while I?d get lucky and graze him with a left hook or a jab, but I could never touch him with a right hand. I couldn?t get anywhere with him. He was the best I ever boxed with, probably the best anybody ever boxed with.?
After Albanese was forced to give up fighting, Graziano, who had become a mainstream celebrity, helped him break into show business. While he got sporadic stage and screen work over the years, he was also employed as a longshoreman, truck driver and cab driver.
He had carved out a niche for himself as a member of the fictional GAG?or Gangsters Actors Guild?a parody of the legitimate SAG, or Screen Actors Guild.
Besides the aforementioned movie roles, Albanese also played mob chieftain Paul Castellano in a 1989 episode of the television show ?America?s Most Wanted.?
Castellano was rubbed out several years earlier in front of Sparks Steak House in Manhattan. His death ushered in a new era of organized crime in New York that was headed by John Gotti.
Albanese seemed absolutely overjoyed when he attended his first Ring 8 meeting.
?All of my old friends from Stillman?s Gym are here,? he said as he pointed out Wallitsch, Bobby Bartels, Joe Miceli, Johnny Breitenbruck, Bill Tate and others.
He said that as disappointing as his boxing career was, he was happy to have fought during what he considers the golden age of boxing.
Having been trained by the esteemed Whitey Bimstein, he was very fortunate to have had the best in the business in his corner. He feels the same about his film career, and considered himself blessed to have worked with actors as talented and generous as those on ?The Sopranos,? as well with such elite directors as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Martin Ritt, the latter of whom directed him in ?The Brotherhood,? a 1968 mob film with Kirk Douglas and Alex Cord.
Even in his early eighties, Albanese was still pounding the pavement looking for acting work. He auditioned for parts several days a week, and said he was happy to apply the same commitment to acting that he had given to boxing.
On the day he was hired for ?The Sopranos,? he had just dropped off a photo and resume at casting agent Georgianne Walken?s office. One look at his rugged visage, and he was auditioned on the spot.
When asked whether boxing or acting has been more satisfying to him, he was a bit circumspect before answering.
?That?s a tough,? he said. ?Each one is very challenging, and you are all alone in front of a crowd.
?But,? he added, ?I think I liked boxing better.?
