Robert Pastorelli

Robert Joseph Pastorelli was an American actor who lived from June 21, 1954, to March 8, 2004. Pastorelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to insurance salesman Ledo (Tally) Pastorelli (1918–2008) and artist Dorothy (Dottie) Pastorelli (1918–2008). In the 1980s and 1990s, he gained a reputation as a talented character actor. He was most recognised for his roles as Eldin in Murphy Brown Murphy Brown is an American tv series premiered on >> Read More... (1988-1994), Johnny C. in Eraser (1996), and Hughey in Michael (1996). He began his acting career in New York City theatre in the late 1970s, after studying at the New York Academy of Theatrical Arts and the Actors Studio and working as a bartender to support himself.

He first appeared on stage in 1977 in a performance of Rebel Without a Cause. He also appeared in The Rainmaker and Death of a Salesman. Pastorelli moved to Los Angeles in 1982 in search of work in Hollywood. He created a niche playing minor parts of streetwise characters in television in the early 1980s, appearing notably in supporting roles in the films Outrageous Fortune (1987) and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987). Dances with Wolves gave him his first significant film role (1990). His major break in television came with the part of Eldin Bernecky, a gruff but loving house painter on the hit program Murphy Brown, which he stayed with for seven seasons, from 1988 to 1994.

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993) was a career-defining performance, as was his role as a deranged serial murderer in the 1993 murder mystery thriller; Striking Distance (despite the film’s commercial failure); Eraser (1996), Michael (1996), and Modern Vampires (1997). (1998), were some of his other major movies.