This week is not a good one for actors.
Murphy Brown housepainter, actor Robert Pastorelli, dead at 49
By Lynn Elber
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Pastorelli, who played the screwball housepainter Eldin on Murphy Brown, was found dead in his Hollywood Hills home in what the coroner’s office said may have been a drug overdose. He was 49.
Coroner’s office Lieut. Ed Winter said Pastorelli’s body was found by his assistant Monday in a bathroom. An autopsy was planned.
“It’s a possible accidental death,” Winter said, adding “there was drug paraphernalia found.”
On CBS’s Murphy Brown, he played Eldin Bernecky, an oddball housepainter for TV newswoman Murphy Brown, played by Candice Bergen. Eldin’s work never seems to get done, in part because of his high artistic standards. He spends much of his time meddling in Murphy’s life, often dispensing sage advice.
Pastorelli finished work with John Travolta last month on the movie Be Cool, the sequel to the comedy Get Shorty. He played a hit man.
“I am still unable to grasp this tragic news,” said Be Cool director F. Gary Gray. “Robert was a true professional and a total delight to work with. My heart goes out to his family, and he will be sorely missed.”
Pastorelli, born in New Brunswick, N.J., was an aspiring boxer in his youth. But a near-fatal car crash on his 19th birthday ended his dreams of a pro sports career.
He had roles in such movies as Outrageous Fortune (1987), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) and Dances With Wolves (1990).
Pastorelli stayed with Murphy Brown from 1988 to 1994, dropping out when the sitcom’s creator, Diane English, left.
“The fourth and fifth year were different,” he told Parade magazine in 1997. “It stopped being fun, so I knew I had to move on. If I had stayed, it would have been only for the money, and that’s not what acting is all about.”
Pastorelli had a brief run as a drama series star: he played a police psychologist in the ABC series Cracker in 1997-98.
In 1999, his girlfriend, Charemon Jonovich, 25, was found fatally shot and her death was investigated by police as an accident. The couple had a daughter.
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)
Damn, that last bit -- terrible stuff. :-(
I had forgotten he was in the American version of Cracker.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)
one month passes...
Actor Robert Pastorelli, Murphy Brown housepainter, died of heroin OD: coroner
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Murphy Brown actor Robert Pastorelli, found dead last month in a bathroom at his Hollywood Hills home, died of a heroin overdose, the coroner’s office said Monday.
A syringe, a spoon and a plastic bag with white powder were discovered, Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman David Campbell said.
The 49-year-old actor played Eldin, a housepainter with artistic vision, on the Candice Bergen series. He had recently finished work with John Travolta on the movie Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty.
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Monday, 12 April 2004 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)