JOSEPH BOLOGNA

(30 December 1934 - 13 August 2017)

The American actor, writer and director Joseph Bologna, who has died aged 82 of pancreatic cancer, was originally a comedy writer and playwright, whose play Lovers and Other Strangers, written with his wife Renée Taylor, was the first piece he adapted for the cinema (in 1970). It was Oscar-nominated and also became a TV series in 1982. Bologna was to write another four screenplays, plus nine TV series, some of which he also directed. As a film and TV actor he has over 70 titles to his credit. Although he wrote with his wife, he mainly acted in films, beginning with Made for Each Other, written with Taylor in 1971, a comedy about an eccentric couple and their relationship. They continued to write and appear together in films and on TV. Bologna’s film credits as actor include Cops and Robbers, Honour Thy Father, The Big Bus, Chapter Two, My Favourite Year, Blame It On Rio, The Woman in Red, It Had to Be You, Coupe de Ville, Love Is All There Is, Big Daddy, etc, and he was the voice of Mr Start in Ice Age: The Meltdown. On TV he was in Sins with Joan Collins, Rags to Riches and Top of the Heap among others. His last film, Tango Shalom (in post-production), is co-written by Bologna, features Bologna and Taylor and is directed by their son Gabriel.

MICHAEL DARVELL