Danny Aiello Quotations

I fell in love with the most beautiful girl in the Bronx.

I need distractions. Good distractions, not bad ones. A good distraction for me is a great play.

Look, people have an image of Italians. When I go somewhere in the world, I don't care where it is, when they look at me it's not about my intelligence. It's who can I beat up.

My father was a good man, but he was a con man. He was a wanderer, nomadic.

There was certainly less profanity in the Godfather than in the Sopranos. There was a kind of respect. It's not that I totally agreed with it, but it was a great piece of art.

We talk about Hollywood being pro-labor, yet about 70% of our industry has been farmed out to Canada, meaning we are losing jobs like crazy. Where's organized labor asking how we can allow such a thing to happen?

An album is such a personal thing. It's something I always wanted to do. It's me doing me, singing as me.

Death can't be so bad if mom went through it. It makes it easier for the child to follow.

If I didn't start singing in the cabarets and on my albums, I could have never even tried something like 'Capone.'

My mother was the total influence. My father was what we call a nomadic person; he was a wanderer.

People call me an instinctive actor. I used to consider that an insult early on, only because I had never studied. Now... I love it.

My entire family were Democrats all our lives. But because how furious I was about the previous administration, I turned in my card to become a Republican. I did not want to be known as a Democrat under that person's regime.

People have an image of Italians. When I go somewhere in the world, I don't care where it is, when they look at me it's not about my intelligence. It's who can I beat up.

I was 40 when I did my first movie.

At some point in my life, before I was gone, I wanted to make an album, even if it was for no reason other than posterity.

I don't know anyone who curses the way they do on the Sopranos. Not in an Italian household. I never said the word hell in front of my mother.

I have sons, and they have never said the word hell in front of me or my wife. That's the truth.

I used to make up stories about my father. I would go to the movies and look for a character who looked like my father.

I was just so blatantly shy throughout my life.

I'm a traditionalist. I have certain values I live by.

If I stunk for some reason, you can always blame it on the character.

My father never saw me play ball, and I was an outstanding ballplayer. I missed all that adoration.

The choreographer for the Milton Berle show wanted me to audition. I walked away from that.

You don't have to be worried about labeling me.

My father was never around. It was almost as if he didn't exist. I would tell my friends he was in Cleveland, on business. Sometimes, every six months or so, he would come by for dinner.

I'm an actor and that's what I do for a living, but I just wanted them to know where I came from and hopefully remember what I've started to do.

(for which he won numerous critics' prizes and was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe.

Like most people, I would sing in the privacy of my home. I'd also sing for my daughters or at a guest at somebody's function. I loved doing it.

My mother was like the pope. Any talent that I have that's good comes straight from her. She was loving to all people. Not only me.

When I saw the script, ... I called them that night. I liked it that much. I love this character, I think he's loaded with love. This is a blustering kind of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve. He tells the truth and that's why I love him.

For me it's a European-type movie, ... It's a small story about family and it's these kinds of characters that I most like to portray and I'm not always given the opportunity to do that.

I try to be a good parent. I've probably repressed my kids more than I should have, protecting them overly. I never hit them. I yelled a lot.

I know it's silly to say it, but I love 29th Street and I love Jack Ruby. Moonstruck I liked, but my character was troublesome to me.