Mother Knows Best

Coming of age in the forties and early fifties, Danny Aiello was admittedly shy. Today the 6'3" burly actor, who began acting on stage in his mid-30's, seems anything but bashful. After making his big screen debut in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), at the age of 40, Aiello went on to work steadily in such films as: The Godfather, Part II (1974), Bloodbrothers (1978), Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981) and The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). Now, more than 70 films later, Aiello is once again playing the late bloomer. This time he's cutting his debut album, I Just Wanted to Hear the Words, produced by IN2N Entertainment Group.

Though perhaps best known for playing tough guys, Aiello is showing his more sensitive side singing the standards of his day. This Oscar nominated, Golden Globe and Obie Award winning actor, feels his music as naturally as if he were hanging on the street corner singing with his neighborhood buddies. That wasn't always the case. Early on, insecurities singing on stage led him to turn down several offers.

Inspired by his boyhood idol, Bobby Darin, and buoyed by his late mother's belief in his singing talent, Aiello is conquering his fears and wooing audiences with such hits as All of Me, You Made Me Love You, and One for My Baby. "Audiences want to like me," says Aiello. "I can sense as soon as I come out on the stage that they're worried I won't be good. So I start out each concert singing four songs, then I talk. That way I can relieve them of their fears."

Reelwriter.net was fortunate to speak with the 71-year-old actor/crooner just a few weeks after he'd performed to a packed house in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Though Aiello was just getting over a bought with bronchitis, he didn't hesitate to sing some of his favorite songs, via a brief telephone interview from his home in New York, where he recently celebrated fifty years of marriage with his wife Sandy.

Aiello serves up his lyrics with an honest, easy and comfortable jazz-influenced style. Picture a quiet piano bar, mood lighting and a romantic table for two. Aiello has a knack for making you feel he's singing only to you.

Kelly McCarthy: I understand that you came to the acting profession later in life.

Aiello: I started acting at age 36. I became a Screen Actors Guild member at 40. I've done probably over 70 movies.

McCarthy: What did you do before going into show business?

Aiello: I was a union president for Greyhound Bus in New York, Albany throughout the country and in Montreal. At that time I was the youngest union president. I was with Greyhound for 10 years and I lost a job as a result of a wildcat strike. It's a long story. But I was a legend in my own time and mind.

McCarthy: That must have been difficult. One minute you're a union president of Greyhound, next thing you don't have a job.

Aiello: I thought my life was over.

McCarthy: So, how did working for a bus company lead to acting?

Aiello: Bud Freeman, the originator of the Improvisation took a liking to me. And the only thing he had available, because I didn't know what the heck I could do, was a job as a bouncer. When Freeman wasn't available to emcee he asked me to get up to introduce people. He thought I had talent. I had no idea. Before I knew it I had a 20-minute monologue and I remembered the words.

McCarthy: And from there you decided to be an actor?

Aiello: I'd like to say it was a brilliant decision on my part. But I had no education. There was nothing else that I could do. Louis LaRusso II saw me there and asked if I wanted to be in an off, off, off-Broadway play. I never studied, but I said O.K. I ended up doing three for him and all of them ended up on Broadway. One was Lamppost Reunion, the other one was Wheel Barrow and the other was Knockout. He had written those plays with me in mind for the lead.

McCarthy: So I guess you could say your life wasn't over, it was really just beginning.

Aiello: My life did not begin until I was 40. I mean, the wonderful part of my life was meeting my wife and having children, but I'm saying that success in life, to be able to take care of responsibilities only occurred really at the age of 40 and on. And I've done over 70 films. Monetarily it's been very rewarding to me and it continues to be, Thank God.

McCarthy: You went from union president to bouncer to emcee to actor. That took a lot of guts.

Aiello: I was a little apprehensive but, I'm a guy who likes to tackle things. And I went in wholeheartedly. The psychology of it was very interesting. My mother used to ask me, "Danny how can you get up there?" And I said, "Well, I go up there and I say to myself, 'If I forget the words I'll just pass out and faint, get carried off the stage.'"

McCarthy: And now you're reinventing yourself again, this time as a crooner. What would you say is the difference between approaching the lyrics on your album I Just Wanted to Hear the Words, as opposed to approaching a script in one of the films you've made?

Aiello: When a script comes to me I'm seeing it for the first time. But these lyrics I've lived with for 50 years. I want to make it as real as possible, as conversational as possible and still be musical, which is still different from what I do as an actor. That's how I approach it.

McCarthy: What was your decision to approach the lyrics in this way?

Aiello: I don't feature myself as a great singer. I feature myself as an interpreter of music. And conversation makes it as real as possible.

McCarthy: You very much have your own style, yet I can detect influences of Tony Bennett in your phrasing.

Aiello: Tony had a great influence on me. I became acquainted with him in, I think, 1951. As I was growing up as a child he left a significant impression. And when I was growing up everyone was attempting to copy the singer of that time. I loved Sinatra, Vic Damon and Mario Lanza. But the greatest influence on me was Bobby Darin.

McCarthy: What drew you to him?

Aiello: I was under the impression from people who knew him that when he'd walk out onto a stage he exuded confidence: you couldn't not like him. He was that secure. And I've tried to incorporate that into what I'm doing now. I try and come out with a sense of confidence to relieve the audience of any responsibility of embarrassment. Until they know that I'm good, I worry. So I have to be self-assured when I come out onto the stage.

McCarthy: Do you pay homage to Bobby Darin on your album?

Aiello: On the album I do You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To and The Curtain Falls, which Bobby never recorded in a studio. He did it during a live show. When that song was introduced to me I said, "If I should ever do an album that will be my closer," and that's what I'm doing now. It's my closer in the live performance. And it's my closer on the album. When I do my show on stage I incorporate three additional of his songs: Beyond the Sea, Clementine and Some of These Days.

McCarthy: Was music always an important part of your life?

Aiello: Yes, and I remember all of the songs that were significant in my life. They became a part of me. I mean Tony Bennett's "Because of You," and Jonie James' "Why Don't You Believe Me." Presley was on the totem pole of some that I loved, but he wasn't my favorite. Like I said it was Bobby. But I listened to Perry Como, Frankie Lane and Vaughn Monore. I mean every one of those guys did a song that became a part of my life.

McCarthy: Why was music so important?

Aiello: We didn't have television. There was very little for us to do except go to a movie and listen to the radio, so the voices of singers were everything to us. We didn't see these singers actually unless you went to the Brooklyn Paramount where you saw rock-n-roll or you went to the Paramount in New York, or The Palace. You went into the city to watch live performances. I rarely did that. I think the only singer that I saw downtown was Vaughn Monroe.

McCarthy: What would you say are the differences between being on stage as an actor and being on stage singing?

Aiello: It's easy to get lost as an actor because you're into a character. Now as a character if you stink you can always say that it was the character, or my interpretation of a character, and it wasn't me. That's different from being on stage singing because you are you and you cannot hide. When you walk up onto a stage and you're being introduced as Danny Aiello you are Danny Aiello. But let me say that as I'm gathering experience, I'm finding that the two are very similar, because then Danny Aiello becomes a character. Now when I go on stage I escape into Danny Aiello. Does that make sense to you?

McCarthy: Yes. But I don't know where you're going when you escape into Danny Aiello.

Aiello: I see Danny as a character. I can't say well there's Danny Aiello and he stinks. But I can say that's the character I'm portraying, that's who the guy is. I'm escaping into who Danny Aiello is on that stage and it's me. I guess it sounds crazy.

McCarthy: Not at all. So when you're escaping into Danny Aiello as a character who is that guy?

Aiello: He's a hell of a nice guy. He's warm. He's sensitive. He's caring. He loves his audience. He loves the fact that they love him. You know I really haven't been booed yet. I don't know how I could accept that even if it did occur. But they've been very, very gracious. And I think it's a little easier for me to be liked because before I come out, there's a seven and a half minute montage of movies that I've been in and it gets people excited, because after all I don't want people to forget that I am an actor. That's what I do for a living and that's what I continue to do.

McCarthy: There's something wonderful about a singer who was an actor first. There's so much emotional depth. Are you glad you've established an acting career first?

Aiello: Yes, but I'm sad that I started singing so late. It was something that inwardly I'd wanted to do and people tried to motivate me, most specifically my mother. But I never did it because there was a tremendous shyness attached to me. And like I said earlier, there was shyness when I became an actor but I found very quickly that you could hide behind the character. But getting up before people and singing was not an easy thing for me to get to do even as I got much older. Many years ago, I was offered the opportunity of doing something. At the time Telly Savalas had recorded three albums. They were good, and he was a famous actor who I admired and loved. But they ridiculed him. That sent me back a lot because when I saw what they did to an actor who could sing, I thought, "What would they do to me?" So it took all of these year's later for me to get up my courage. When Tommy van Dell, the producer of the album came over and said, "Danny I want you to do this." I didn't know. He said, "I want you to do an album and not Italian songs." He said, "Why don't you do the standards of your life, the things you grew up with?" I thought about it for awhile and I said, "Tommy this is not about vanity. If I do it, it's trying to do a recording." He said, "Of course it's not about vanity." And that's where we began and that's where we finished. We plan on doing another album soon. You know I've been talking to Phil Ramone. He just finished working with Rod Stewart and with Kevin Spacey. He's a beautiful conductor. Now he's talking about doing an album with me.

McCarthy: What songs did you not get a chance to do on I Just Wanted to Hear the Words, that you'd like to record on your second album?

Aiello: Songs that go further back than songs that I did on this album. (Aiello starts singing) Saturday Night is the loneliest night of the week 'Cause that's the night that my sweetie and I Used to dance cheek to cheek. I don't mind Sunday night at all 'Cause that's the night friends come to call. Note: Written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen Then there's Three Coins in the Fountain. The other one is Love & Marriage, which was picked up by Eddie O'Neil's show Love & Marriage. (Aiello singing) Love and marriage, love and marriage Go together like a horse and carriage This I tell you brother You can't have one without the other Note: Written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen It's a novelty tune that I love very much. Then I'll get into some heavy ballads. I only have about five of them chosen now. McCarthy: I understand that Tony Bennett sings some of your favorite songs. Aiello: Yes, Because of You. I'd like to do it on the album. The other one I would do is I Won't Cry Anymore. (Aiello Singing) I won't cry anymore not that you've left me; I won't cry anymore now that your gone. I've shed a million tears since we're apart, But tears will never mend a broken heart. Note: Written by Fred Wise and Al Frisch. It's a beautiful, beautiful song that together with Phil Ramon's arrangements will be extraordinary. The other song I love by Tony Bennett that I'd like to record is I Know I'd Go From Rags to Riches.

McCarthy: Are you getting a lot of offers for bookings?

Aiello: The agents have gotten a lot of reaction now that I'm on the road. Steve Levine at ICM, that's my agency, he just told me yesterday after booking the Regency and the Blue Note that there's a lot of off center activity coming from throughout the country.

McCarthy: If you end up having a singing career like you've established yourself on film, the music charts will get used to seeing your name, which leads me to my last question. What do you say to an aspiring artist, who still hasn't made it by 40?

Aiello: My business life had ended so abruptly as a union president, I mean I had my success and then I was floundering with nothing. And at that age I decided to become an actor. I try to serve as an inspiration to those who wish at the age of 40 to change their life into something else. I succeeded in doing it. And then I've reinvented myself again, at the age of 70. Here I am singing before large audiences. I made a recording that hit #4 on Billboard's traditional jazz chart. I mean that to me is an extraordinary achievement to make. You ask, "What do I say to a person?" I say, "Never give up. It's never too late."