Entertainment
Do The Right Thing star Rick Aiello dies aged 65 from pancreatic cancer
Rick has died two years after his father Danny (left) (Picture: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Actor Rick Aiello has died aged 65 after battling pancreatic cancer.
The star, who appeared in Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing alongside his father Danny Aiello, died in hospital in New York on Monday.
Aiello’s brother Danny III, a stuntman who doubled for his dad Danny in Do the Right Thing, also died due to pancreatic cancer, passing away in 2010 at the age of 53.
Aiello starred as Officer Long in Do The Right Thing opposite his dad, reprising the role in 1991’s Jungle Fever and playing another cop in Spike Lee’s 1995 film Clockers.
He went on to star as Deputy Cliff Howard in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and in 2007, he appeared in two episodes of The Sopranos as enforcer Ray-Ray D’Abaldo.
Other credits included Sex and The City, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Clueless the TV series, and Diagnosis Murder.
Aiello, pictured here in Dellaventura, started acting in the 80s (Picture: CBS via Getty Images)
Aiello also worked with his father on the CBS series Dellaventura, playing Teddy Naples, bout a former detective who intervenes for people when the law isn’t able to.
Aiello is survived by his wife Arlene and their children, Ricky Jr. and Tori, his brother Jamie, his sister Stacey, and his mother.
More: Celebrity Deaths
His death comes almost two years after his dad Danny died following a brief illness at the age of 86, in December 2019.
Danny Aiello was best known for playing Sal the pizza joint owner in Do The Right Thing, for which he was nominated for best supporting actor at the Oscars.
He also played Cher’s fiancé in Moonstruck.
MORE : ITV pleads with Government for isolation exemption as ‘pingdemic’ causes havoc
