IMDB

Actor

1940-04-21 · New Haven, Connecticut, USA · Male

35 series in the catalog

George Ralph DiCenzo (April 21, 1940 – August 9, 2010) was an American actor and one-time associate producer of Dark Shadows. He was in show business for over 30 years, in film, TV, stage, and commercials. DiCenzo played Marty's grandfather Sam Baines in the film Back to the Future. He also had a minor role in William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist III.

Life and career

DiCenzo was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He appeared in more than 30 feature films, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), The Choirboys (1977), The Frisco Kid (1979), The Ninth Configuration (1980), Back to the Future (1985), About Last Night (1986), Walk Like a Man (1987), The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988), 18 Again! (1988), Sing (1989) and The Exorcist III (1990).

He appeared in Hotel, directed by Mike Figgis, and Tempted, directed by Bill Bennett. He also played the late baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in the television film Hustle about disgraced baseball great Pete Rose. In 2002 George played Ennio Salieri in the video game Mafia, and also provided the voice of Earnest Kelly in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, released that same year.

In 1976, he appeared in the CBS television film Helter Skelter as prosecuting attorney Vincent Bugliosi. In the 1981–82 television season, DiCenzo was a regular on McClain's Law, with James Arness and Marshall Colt, starting with the television film McClain's Law, structured as the series' pilot. He appeared in the 1977 miniseries Aspen, the 1980 television film The Night the City Screamed, and made regular appearances on Murder, She Wrote, Law & Order and NYPD Blue.

His own series included Equal Justice and Joe's Life in the early and mid-1990s. He appeared as a guest star in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Semi-Professional". In the early 1990s, DiCenzo appeared on Broadway with Nathan Lane in On Borrowed Time.

DiCenzo's voice can be heard in commercials, audiobooks, and cartoon series. His roles in the latter include the title character in BlackStar (1981), Hordak in She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985–1986), and Captain America in Spider-Man (1981) and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981–1983). He was an acting teacher in New York City and Philadelphia for several years. He apprenticed under his mentor Milton Katselas at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.

Death

DiCenzo died of sepsis on August 9, 2010, at the age of 70. He was buried in the North and Southampton Churchyard at Churchville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

George DiCenzo at the Internet Broadway Database