‘Goodfella’ shoots straight on playing the bad guy
Frank Vincent once played Shore clubs with his band the Arist-O-Cats
BY DARREN DeBARI
Correspondent
Frank Vincent
You probably know Frank Vincent’s face quite well. But did you know actor, comedian, writer, producer and musician Frank Vincent is no stranger to the Jersey Shore area?
His performance as the taunting Billy Batts in "Goodfellas" has left an indelible mark in the minds of moviegoers — the character’s famous line "Go home and get your shine box" is currently being celebrated on VH1’s "I Love the ’90s."
But long before the days of the shine box, Frank Vincent could be seen wielding drumsticks in local clubs with the musical trio the Arist-O-Cats.
Vincent recently recalled gigs in Long Branch, Asbury Park and other local venues, as well as appearances at the VIP Lounge in Seaside Heights with friend Joe Pesci.
"We played there six nights a week from the Fourth of July to Labor Day. We had a comedy show called ‘Vincent and Pesci,’ " Vincent said.
Vincent visited the Shore again in December, when he spoke to Point Pleasant Boro High School students about his career and did a little acting with them. The students in Nick Gattuso’s Web design class created his Web site,
http://www.FrankVincent.com. It features a wealth of information on his career and even sells Billy Batts t-shirts.
Vincent was born in North Adams, Mass., and raised in the Greenville section of Jersey City. He studied music at St. Paul’s grammar school, where he played the piano, trumpet and drums. He went on to work as a drummer with successful 1960s recording artists Don Costa, Paul Anka, Trini Lopez and The Belmonts.
Vincent got his big break with the 1975 film "Death Collector." Director Martin Scorsese watched it and decided to cast him as Salvi in "Raging Bull." From there he went on to act in more than 50 films, both big-budget and independent. He has also done a number of voice-overs, appeared in music videos and received the Lifetime Achievement Award in the 2002 Hoboken Film Festival.
Recently, he was seen as the angry and vengeful New York mobster Phil Leotardo in the latest season of "The Sopranos" on HBO. The Leotardo character exacerbated tensions between Mafia families in New York and New Jersey through a dispute with Anthony So-prano related to ownership of a New Egypt-area race track, and hospitalized a Soprano associate with a vicious beating using a golf club outside a Long Branch nightclub.
"America has a real romance with gangsters," Vincent said over a meal at Goodfellas restaurant in Garfield.
"The acting is tremendous," Vincent said of "The Sopranos," which takes place and is filmed chiefly in New Jersey. "It covers a lot of emotional territory from marriage to business. It’s also a story a lot of people can relate to."
Shooting begins in March 2005 for season six of "The Sopranos," and Vincent said the sinister Phil Leotardo will return.
"Gangsters are bad guys, but they have families. They’re just people," Vincent said of playing characters like Batts and Leotardo.
Vincent counts Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams among the actors he admires most. He said he doesn’t worry about being typecast, but chooses roles on the strength of the script and the arc of characters.
"People just do what they do," Vincent said. "Some have a wider range. I don’t think I’ll ever do Shakespeare."
Yet the role he still wants to play one day may be a surprise to fans of this goodfella — "I’d love to play a cowboy one day."
Vincent has several film projects lined up, including roles in "A Tale of Two Pizzas," "Remedy," voice-over work in the upcoming computer-animated "A Shark Tale," and appearances in VH1’s "I Love the ’90s: Part Deux" this fall. He’ll soon start shooting the movie "A License to Steal" with fellow cast members William Hurt, Michael Madsen and Frankie Valli. His card-playing expertise is also on display on an instructional poker video series called "Wiseguys on Texas Hold ’Em."
Did you write it for the Asbury Park Press? (I'm a former Summit resident.)
