This is going thru my mind. I couldn't let this chance go by.
I asked my son if I should give Gianni Russo a business card and
ask if I could drive him around. I put a card in my pocket before
we went up to the table.
My son and I went to hear Gianni Russo speak in western
Massachusetts. Mr Russo is known as the Hollywood Godfather. He
played Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather. We were in line waiting to
have him autograph his new biography and get a photo with
him. I over heard him say that he was doing a signing the
next day at a Barnes & Noble. I figured I could get everything
ready and film an interview the next day.
He said "Yes! I should be free from 4 to 7:30 tomorrow."
Gianni Russo has one of the most interesting stories. He
used to deliver messages for Frank Costello, an old mafia member.
He washed Marilyn Monroe's hair. He learned to act from
Marlon Brando and singing from Frank Sinatra. He ran into Lee
Harvey Oswald a couple days before Oswald killed JFK. He's
got a story about re-enacting a cowboy movie shootout with Elvis at
the International Hotel in Las Vegas.
You can hear these stories on this episode in this episode of
Riding Shotgun With Charlie. There's much more than these things,
too.
You can read all the stories in his new book, The Hollywood
Godfather.