* Joe Mantegna, Film and Television Actor

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
He's already got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
That's because he was in Godfather Three, Criminal Minds, The Simpsons,
The rat Pack, House of Games, and he's read Dutch
Leonard's audio books and more.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
He's Joe Montagne.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm not on.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Do you remember about your star day?

Speaker 3 (00:30):
What sticks out that? Listen? Sarah goutline, Oh my god,
so much? If it sticks home?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Do you ever go over there? How often you go
over there? I look at it, take people. Do you
shine it up at all?

Speaker 3 (00:42):
I don't know, you know, I don't want to be
that guy like they go any wait a bite? Isn't
that him? What's other one here?

Speaker 4 (00:47):
But of course it is ironically just some relatives were
in town from Oregon yesterday and that was one of
you know, I haven't seen them in years, and they
called me to.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Say, hey, we're here. We're in your star you know.
He says, oh great? Is does it look okay? He said, yeah,
you should have told us to come and wa buff
And I said, no, no, it's fine. I just you know,
so it's yeah, it's such a wonderful tradition. I'm so.
I think of one thing in particular, I moved out.

Speaker 4 (01:10):
Here in nineteen seventy eight with Dennis Franz everybody knows
from NYTV Blue and other things. He drove the moving
van with the stuff, and I told one car with
the other exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
So that was nineteen seventy eight.

Speaker 4 (01:22):
About ten years later or so, I gave I was
one of the speakers who gave the speech for him
when he got his star on the Walker for WOW.
And a few years later he was there when I
got my star on the Walker. And I remember both
of us as we drove down Hollywood Boulevard when we
arrived in seventy eight, we were going.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
This is that stream, look at this is where the
stars are, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yeah, And to think you're a permanent part of it,
permanent part of it. It's like, you know, dreams do
come true in Hollywood sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
My friend Jim Nance, the sportscaster, is going to get
this star next year.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Excellent.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Any advice for him about Nancy is.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
So deserving of it. I mean, he's just I think
he's the epitome of the sportscaster.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
First of all, he doesn't need any advice.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
I mean, Nance is so comfortable up there.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
No he'll be just fine, but well deserved, and I
congratulated him because I you know, he's and what's great
about him he does everything. I mean, paulf you know,
he kind of covers it all. He seems to be
very a depth.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
A for all the sports. So he's a real parl
and well deserved.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Just a couple of your other awards as an Italian
American when you won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival,
that must have been very emotional.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
It was very emotional. As it turned out. I was
filming doing a film. Other times I couldn't be there,
but I shared that a word with Donna Mici. The
great acts for Donna Mici because we've done this film together.
Things change and so they gave us both at the best.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Actual word of the year.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
So I remember Don calling me from Italy. So you know,
the event was so wonderful. We got an ovation, and
he says, if you.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Don't mind, I'm going to have them ship your award.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
I'm having them ship of our awards rather than to
take him on the plane.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
John was probably near eighty at the time, and I'm thinking,
makes sense.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
I mean, he doesn't want to have slept his I'm thinking,
you know, let think something like an Oscar in a suitcase.
So he comes to La about a week or so
later as a knocking my door was a FedEx delivery.
The guy he's got he's got one of those push carts.
He goes delivery. I go, I'm not expecting anything, and
there's a box that came up to my waist almost and.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
We open it up and it was the.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
Award from the Venice him where you get that award
the clip with the voci they call it this thing.
You think he won the Indianapolis five hundred. I mean
I wanted Tony and Emmys and other things. You could
put those inside of this award. It's a huge loving
cup and it was way about, you know, thirty, and
I'm thinking, of course, don couldn't carry this. You'd have

(03:53):
to buy a seat for this thing. But I thought
that's the Italians. The Italian's probably said that would give
it the award. They ask your nice, and the end
is a nice Tony isn't nice? But no, we need
a bigger water on And so this award is like
you would literally think I won the Indianapl's five hundred.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
If you're come to my home and see this cup.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Was it more of an honor to sing the uh
take Me out of the ball game at the Cubs game?

Speaker 4 (04:15):
Oh god, Well, I've you know, I've done it numerous
times now and it's from the from the first time
I did it was such a thrill. I mean, I
thought about going five years old and my dad taking
me to the ballpark and I just did it again.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
It was, you know, just about a month ago.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Oh wow.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:30):
Whenever I try, I host a national memorially concert over
here in Western d C. And what I try to
do is, and I've been doing that twenty three years now,
what I do is I stop in Chicago, my wife
and I and kids. We stopped to see family on
the way back, since it's usually June, because it's right.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
After Memorial Day.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
If the Cubs are in town, they'll say, hey, Joe,
you want to sing the song throughout the first pitch
I'm in And so I've done it maybe twelve thirteen four.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
And there's always lou Malnatties.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
Loue Mel Natties. There's the pizza exactly. No, yeah, nothing
wrong with the food in Chicago, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
The last question is. I know you're busy, but did
it feel like getting an award when you are welcomed
into the Godfather family and your role on Godfather three?

Speaker 4 (05:09):
You know what, my dear friend Vini quested the Pharaoh,
another Italian actor, as he put it, when he found
out I was I'd gotten the role. He would Joey,
You're going to be in one of the Godfather movies.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
You're in the Italian Star Wars.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
Joey's a Joey's asa, So I guess I guess, I thought, yeah,
I guess that would be the Italian Star Wars.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Did you feel the reverence standing across from Michael Corleone?

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Absolutely?

Speaker 4 (05:34):
In fact, I remember specifically my very first scene we're
shooting in Rome, I'm doing it.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
We opened with that.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
My first scene in the film was not the first
scene in the film. There was more first scene that
I shot. There was this big scene in the in
the meeting.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Room with all the guys there.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
I have to talk to Calpuccino as Michael and and
and a couple of courses there, and he's getting ready
to say okay, roll sound, and I'm getting ready to.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Get a shoot and Coulins is going through my hand.

Speaker 5 (05:58):
I'm thinking, oh my god, I'm about to say some
lines as a character. And Godfather three to al Pacino,
you know, a movie that had you know, resonated with
me since I was.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Like a teenager.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
So I'm like and for a second, I almost got
a little heady like, and then I thought to myself,
you know what, I've been doing theater and film and
now mog since I started as a teenager in high
school and work my way out got to this point,
you know, been at the snow for this many years.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Francis Copo feels.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
I should be doing this role, I felt, and I
thought to myself, I was a baseball player, and I've
been in the Little League and a pony league and
all that, and work my way through the miners. And
now I was like, okay, you're in Lucke Stadium and
you're about to be in the World Series.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
What would you do?

Speaker 4 (06:43):
And so the my attitude was I gotta step up.
He chose me to be here. I guess I should
be here. So let's man up, Joe and go, you know,
get rid of that that little second of like.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Marvelousness and go, no, that's right, I'm here. Let's do it. Yeah,
that point on, everything was great.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Did you ever even meet Amanda Evander Holyfield? He's the
other guy got his year bet off?

Speaker 3 (07:06):
No, and yes, exactly right, No, I never did meet him.
What about Dean Martin before your HBO got And you know,
I never.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
Got to know Dean got to know Frank Sinatra because
they used to playing his golf tournament. Every Dean had
passed away before I got the movie. Since I've become
very dear friends with members of his family. And unless
you daught or Dina, who has been so sweet in
in that, you know, they embraced the fact that I
played their dad, and I told him how much I

(07:33):
respected him on wherever and I was about doing that role,
which I was.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
That's the reason I accepted. It was like, oh my god,
I'm kidding a such an honor. Then I was almost scared,
But then I thought, if I don't do it, I
don't want anybody else to do it. It shows me
to do it.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
I'm doing it and h and as it turned out
that that was the only role I've ever.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
Been nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Glow.

Speaker 4 (07:53):
And I thought, oh, at least hopefully the public suspended
belief for those couple hours and accepted me as being
this great icon.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
And I love doing the role and it was a
wonderful experience, just all those years later.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
The line that sticks with me was, Genie, in order
to share intimate thoughts, you have to have intimate thoughts.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
Yeah, or as I said people I've often said this
is Sue, what helped you get into the role of
Dean Mark? He said, well, part of it is was
the voice. And I thought to myself, how do I
do it? But I don't want to mimic the guy.
I'm trying not to create him, but I'm trying to
get close. And I thought, who does he sound like?
And I thought, you know, when I was a cude,
we used to watch those Sugar Crisp commercial where the

(08:33):
sugar Bear would tell me, who can't get over them?
Sugar cris Hey, sugar Bear, And I thought, the sugar
Bear sounds to me a little bit like Dean Martin.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
So if all I got.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
To do is think about the sugar Bear and go,
why all these people get in my room? And so
that my voice for Dean Martin came from the sugar
Bear from the sugar.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Oh and now we know the rest of Thank you
for sharing your intimate thoughts.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
Oh my pleasure. Thank you, I bless you.