Tom Hanks is remembering his late Big costar Robert Loggia, who died Friday at the age of 85.
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Loggia, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1985 thriller “Jagged Edge”, died at his home in Los Angeles after battling Alzheimer’s disease for five years, Audrey O’Brien Loggia told Reuters.
Mr. Loggia gave an endearing comic performance in Penny Marshall’s 1988 Big, when he danced with Hanks on a giant piano keyboard. His other film credits include S.O.B., An Officer and a Gentleman, Psycho II, Scarface, Prizzi’s Honor, Big and Innocent Blood.
Loggia was nominated for a supporting-actor Oscar for his role as a private detective in “Jagged Edge”. He was also loved by the audience for essaying the role of toy company boss Macmilan in the 1985 comedy Big.
“A great actor in heart and soul”, Hanks wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Meanwhile, in 1996, Loggia had a key supporting role in “Independence Day”, playing a general who advises the president of the United States about an alien invasion.
His success on television included an Emmy nomination for starring role in the 1989 miniseries, “Mancuso, FBI“.
Mr. Loggia made his Broadway debut in a 1960 production of Lillian Hellman’s “Toys in the Attic”, filling a role that had previously been played by Jason Robards Jr.
Local of Staten Island, Loggia was destined to Italian workers and began his transporter by performing plays in NY.
Loggia is made due by his dowager; three youngsters, Tracy, John and Kristina, and a stepchild, Cynthia. He once summed up his talent as: “I’m a character actor in that I play many different roles, and I’m virtually unrecognizable from one role to another”.
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Loggia’s wife Audrey, who was hitched to him for a long time broke the news of his death.
