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}}Nicholas Colasanto (January 19, 1924 – February 12, 1985) was an American actor and television director who is best known for his role as "Coach" Ernie Pantusso in the American television sitcom Cheers. He served in the United States Navy during World War II.

Early life

Born January 19, 1924, in Providence, Rhode Island,BOOK, Brant, Marley, Happier Days: Paramount Television's Golden Sitcoms, 1974-1984, New York, Billboard, 2006, 9780823089338,weblink 231, Colasanto attended Bryant University (now located in Smithfield, Rhode Island{{sfn|Snauffer|2008|page=51}}) and was a decorated veteran of World War II, during which he served as a coxswain in the United States Navy.BOOK, Marley, Brant, 231, Happier Days: Paramount Television's Classic Sitcoms 1974–1984, 978-0-8230-8933-8, Billboard Books, New York City, 2006, He was of Italian descent.{{harvnb|Snauffer|2008|page=56}}: " 'He was very Italian, and family meant a lot to him,' [...] says old friend Dean Hargrove."

Early career

By 1951, he was a bookkeeper.MAGAZINE, Keets, Heather, 1994-02-11,weblink Remembering Nicholas Colasanto as Coach on Cheers, Entertainment Weekly, 2023-05-20, Around 1954, he intended to work as an accountant for a company in Saudi Arabia.NEWS, Colasanto Strayed from Directing to Take Role as Cheers Bartender, 1984-08-04, p. 25, TV Plus section, The Daily Gazette, Schenectady Gazette, Schenectady, New York, 2023-05-20,weblink Inspired by Henry Fonda's performance in Broadway play Mister Roberts, Colasanto applied for American Academy of Dramatic Arts but was rejected, so he joined a small theater company instead in Phoenix, Arizona.

Acting and directing career

Colasanto is best known for his role as Coach Ernie Pantusso, a character in the television sitcom Cheers. His early acting career included a theatrical play A Hatful of Rain (1956), starring Ben Gazzarra, and another role that earned him an Obie Award nomination in 1962. He also directed episodes of many television series, including Hawaii Five-O,{{sfn|Rhodes|1997|pages=55–56, 58, 70}} Starsky & Hutch,NEWS, Nicholas Colasanto, Cheers Bartender,weblink Sun Sentinel, United Press International, February 13, 1985, October 9, 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20151103204411weblink">weblink November 3, 2015, live, The Streets of San Francisco, Bonanza,BOOK, Bruce R., Leiby, Linda F., Leiby, Part II: Episode Guide / Fourteenth Season,weblink A Reference Guide to Television's Bonanza: Episodes, Personnel and Broadcast History, 184, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, October 9, 2015, Google Books, 978-1-4766-0075-8, May 31, 2012l, Columbo, and CHiPs.WEB,weblink Celebrity Mailbag, Toledo Blade, March 2, 2002, December 31, 2016,weblink May 27, 2016, live, He also appeared in feature films, including The Counterfeit Killer (1968),BOOK, John, Willis, 1983, 1969, Screen World: 1969, Biblio and Tannen, 0-8196-0310-4, 20, 95, Fat City (1972),NEWS, Jack, Jones, N. Colasanto; Played Coach Role in Cheers., Los Angeles Times, February 13, 1985,weblink December 27, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20121001033259weblink">weblink October 1, 2012, live, and Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot (1976).Colasanto was in demand as an actor and director, but in the mid-1970s he was diagnosed with heart disease, which was exacerbated by his alcoholism.{{sfn|Snauffer|2008|page=52}} After twenty years of alcoholism, he became an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous from March 31, 1976, and became sober in the same year.NEWS, Barbara, Holsopple, Cheers pays tribute to 'Coach', The Pittsburgh Press, February 14, 1985,weblink January 27, 2012, In the late 1970s, he began having difficulty securing directing jobs as his health was declining. His last major film role was as mob boss Tommy Como in Raging Bull (1980).NEWS, Nick Colasanto Dead at 61; Played Bartender in 'Cheers', The New York Times, February 14, 1985,weblink December 27, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130516075132weblink">weblink May 16, 2013, live, Colasanto was preparing to retire when the role of Coach Ernie Pantusso was offered to him on Cheers. Coach would become his best known role.{{sfn|Snauffer|2008|page=52}} By the third season of Cheers, Colasanto's health had seriously deteriorated. His fellow cast members noticed his weight loss, but Colasanto kept the severity of his illness secret.{{sfn|Snauffer|2008|page=55}} Shortly after the Christmas holiday in 1984, he was admitted to a local hospital for water in his lungs.{{sfn|Snauffer|2008|page=55}} Co-star Ted Danson later said Colasanto had difficulty remembering his lines during production of the season.{{sfn|Snauffer|2008|page=55}}When Colasanto was released from the hospital in the week of January 28 – February 3, 1985, after a two-week stay,NEWS, Coach on TV's Cheers actor Colasanto dies at 61,weblink The Montreal Gazette, Associated Press, February 13, 1985, D-8, October 10, 2015, Google News Archive,weblink January 28, 2016, live, his doctor recommended he should not return to work.{{sfn|Snauffer|2008|page=56}} Although he appeared in the cold opening of the third-season finale episode "Rescue Me" (1985),{{sfn|Snauffer|2008|page=56}} Colasanto's last full episode was "Cheerio Cheers" (1985), which was filmed in late November 1984.NEWS, Gendel, Morgan, April 6, 1985,weblink The Montreal Gazette, October 8, 2015, Google News Archive, Loss of key cast members a fact of TV life,weblink January 28, 2016, live, Morgan Gendel worked for Los Angeles Times at the time of publication.

Death

Colasanto died of a heart attack at his home on February 12, 1985, at the age of 61.MAGAZINE, Heather, Keets, Coach's Last Call, Entertainment Weekly, February 11, 1994,weblink December 27, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100106070152weblink">weblink January 6, 2010, live, A memorial service was held in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, and attended by the full staff and cast of Cheers.WEB, Levine, Ken, 2016-08-26, By Ken Levine: Friday Questions,weblink 2021-01-12, By Ken Levine, In addition, over 300 mourners, including castmate John Ratzenberger, attended the February 16 funeral Mass at Holy Cross Church in Providence.NEWS, The Associated Press, February 17, 1985, The Miami Herald, 300 Mourn 'Coach' Colasanto, page 4, section B (Local), Obituary column, WEB, Services planned for 'Cheers' bartender,weblink 2021-01-12, UPI, en, Colasanto is buried in Saint Ann Cemetery in Cranston, Rhode Island.{{sfn|Snauffer|2008|page=57}}On April 19, 1985, Colasanto was posthumously awarded the Best Supporting Actor by Viewers for Quality Television, a non-profit organization that determined what was considered high-quality on television.NEWS, The Results Are In for Quality Television's First Poll, E9, The Associated Press, Buck, Jerry, Three star, April 19, 1985, The Orlando Sentinel, Sentinel Communications Company, NewsBank, Record no: 0290180135.Colasanto's character was written out of the show as also having died. The fourth-season premiere episode, "Birth, Death, Love and Rice" (1985), deals with Coach's death and introduces Colasanto's successor Woody Harrelson, who played Woody Boyd."Birth, Death, Love, and Rice." 1985. Cheers: Season 4: The Complete Fourth Season. Paramount, 2009. DVD. Colasanto had hung a picture of Geronimo in his dressing room; after his death it was placed on the wall in the bar of the Cheers production set in his memory. Near the end of the final episode of Cheers in 1993, eight years after Colasanto's death, bar owner Sam Malone (Ted Danson) walks over to the picture and straightens it.NEWS, TV's favorite bar turns off the tap, Liner, Elaine, A1, May 21–22, 1993, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Texas, Record no at NewsBank: 113001A60C3FB35B {{registration required}}.

Selected filmography

Film

• The Counterfeit Killer (1968) – Plainclothesman
• Fat City (1972) – Ruben
• The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975)ENCYCLOPEDIA,weblink Dean Hargrove, Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors, 233, Google Books, 9780810863781, Roberts, Jerry, June 5, 2009, September 18, 2015,weblink April 30, 2016, live, – Bert
• Family Plot (1976) – Constantine
• Raging Bull (1980) – Tommy Como, mob boss

Television

Actor

• Cheers (1982–1985) – Coach Ernie Pantusso, co-bartender (final appearance)
• The Streets of San Francisco – "Deathwatch" (1973)

Director

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• Run for Your Life (1965–1968)
• Ironside – "The Challenge" (1968)AV MEDIA, Ironside: Season 1, DVD, Shout Factory, B000MGBSQM,
• Hawaii Five-O – "A Thousand Pardons, You're Dead" (1969),{{sfn|Rhodes|1997|page=55}} "To Hell with Babe Ruth" (1969),{{sfn|Rhodes|1997|page=56}} "Just Lucky, I Guess" (1969),{{sfn|Rhodes|1997|page=58}} and "Most Likely to Murder" (1970){{sfn|Rhodes|1997|page=70}}
• Bonanza – "Ambush at Rio Lobo" (1972)
• Hec RamseyENCYCLOPEDIA, Vincent, Terrace, 1985, 1121 Hec Ramsey,weblink Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials 1974–1984, 2, 189, New York Zoetrope, 0-918432-61-8, 84-061786, – "The Detroit Connection" (1973)
• Columbo – "Étude in Black" (1972) and "Swan Song" (1974)
• Nakia (1974) – "No Place to Hide"{{sfn|Bjorklund|page=39}} and "A Matter of Choice"{{sfn|Bjorklund|page=39}}
• Logan's Run – "Man Out of Time" (1977)EPISODE,weblink Logan's Run, Man Out of Time, Vudu, 5, 1, January 28, 2016,weblink January 5, 2018, live,
• The Name of the Game
• Starsky & Hutch
• The Streets of San Francisco
• CHiPs

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References

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Sources

• BOOK, Bjorklund, Dennis A, Cheers TV Show: A Comprehensive Reference, 35–39, Praetorian Publishing,
• BOOK, Rhodes, Karen, 1997, Booking Hawaii Five-O: An Episode Guide and Critical History of the 1968–1980 Television Detective Series,weblink McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 978-0-7864-3108-3,
• BOOK, Snauffer, Douglas, 2008, The Show Must Go On: How the Deaths of Lead Actors Have Affected Television Series, 978-0-7864-3295-0, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC,

Further reading

• Evory, Ann. Contemporary Newsmakers: 1985 Cumulation. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1986. Print. {{ISBN|978-0-8103-2201-1}}.

External links

• {{IMDb name|id=0170225|name=Nicholas Colasanto}}
• {{Find a Grave|2372}}
• Nicholas Colasanto at the University of Wisconsin's weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20121106225845weblink">Actors Studio audio collection

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