Lou Criscuolo

Lou Criscuolo (January 23, 1934—December 13, 2014) was an American film and stage actor and patron of the arts. He has appeared on Broadway (Man of La Mancha, Smith, etc.) and in several movies and television shows.

In the 1980s, Criscuolo relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he founded the Opera House Theatre Company. He was an active member of the Screen Actors Guild.

Lou Criscuolo was born in New York City, New York, on January 23, 1934, to Aniello Criscuolo and Giovanna Madonna Criscuolo.

After getting his acting and drama education at Actors Studio in New York, he served in the United States Army during the Korean War.

Criscuolo began his acting career in the early 1960s. In 1962-1963, he played different characters in 4 episodes of the TV series Naked City, starring Paul Burke, Horace McMahon, Harry Bellaver, and Nancy Malone.

In 1965, Criscuolo made his Broadway debut, playing "Tenorio" in Man of La Mancha, a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes and his 17th-century novel Don Quixote. Produced by Albert W. Selden and Hal James, the musical won five Tony Awards.

In 1971, he had a minor role in Herbert B. Leonard's movie Going Home starring Robert Mitchum and Brenda Vaccaro.

On October 12th and 13th of 1972, Criscuolo was in the original cast of Hurry, Harryat the Ritz Theatre in New York. Written by Jeremiah Morris, Lee Kalcheim, and Susan Perkis, it had music by Bill Weeden, Arthur Azenzer (musical director), and Lee Norris (orchestra); and lyrics by David Finkle.

In 1973, he was seen in the musical Smith at Eden Theatre in New York. The musical was based on a book by Dean Fuller, Tony Hendra, and Matt Dubey. He shared the stage with Don Murray, Renee Baughman, Mort Marshall, and Carol Morley.

In 1979, Criscuolo had the recurring role of "Milt D'Angelo" in 13 episodes of the TV comedy series Stockard Channing in Just Friends alongside Stockard Channing, Gerrit Graham, and Mimi Kennedy.

In 1983, Criscuolo went to Wilmington, North Carolina, to play "Joe Jefferson", a 19th-century American comic, in "Remembered Nights," at Thalian Hall. He fell in love with the city and the theater and decided to settle here. In 1985, he and Mary James Morgan, his wife, co-founded the Opera House Theatre Company in Wilmington. On March 7, 1985, they opened their first production, Abe Burrows' Cactus Flower, starring Joe Namath and his wife, Deborah Mays. After Cactus Flower, Opera House Theatre Company received its non-profit status and a grant from the North Carolina State Arts Council. In the following years, his theater house produced Joseph Stein's Fiddler on the Roof; Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; and Joseph Kesselring's 1941 play Arsenic and Old Lace, which debuted Frank Capra, Jr..

Criscuolo's notable silver screen credits in the following years include Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1983), Turk 182 (1985), Eat and Run (1986), King Kong Lives (1986), The Squeeze (1987), Weeds (1987), Hiding Out (1987), Windmills of the Gods (1988), Weekend at Bernie's (1989), The Lost Capone (1990), Once Around (1991), 29th Street (1991), In a Child's Name (1991), and Love, Honor & Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage (1993).

In 1994, he had a minor role in Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's comedy The Hudsucker Proxy starring Tim Robbins, Paul Newman, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

After Going to California (2001, 1 episode), Dawson's Creek (1999–2003, 2 episodes), Stateside (2004), One Tree Hill (2004, 1 episode), Milk Bum (2007), The Marc Pease Experience (2009), and Intermission (2010), Criscuolo had his last screen appearance in 2013, playing a reporter in Brian Helgeland's 42, a biographical drama about baseball player Jackie Robinson, starring Chadwick Boseman, T.R. Knight, and Harrison Ford.

Criscuolo was first married to Mary James Morgan, with whom he founded the Opera House Theatre Company in Wilmington, North Carolina. After Mary's death in 2000, he married Jeanne Price Criscuolo. They had five children.

Criscuolo died in Wilmington, North Carolina, on December 13, 2014, at age 80.