Aldo Ray

Overview

Born
September 25, 1926 · Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, USA
Died
March 27, 1991 · Martinez, California, USA (throat cancer and pneumonia)
Birth name
Aldo DaRe
Nickname
- Rugged Romeo
Height
6′ (1.83 m)

Biography

Family

Spouses
Children

Trivia

His parents were Italian immigrants, and he did not speak English until he entered grade school.
In preparation for his first major role in The Marrying Kind (1952), director George Cukor recommended that he go to ballet school because he walked too much like a football player.
On Pat and Mike (1952) Spencer Tracy said to the 25-year-old Ray, "Kid, I don't know what it is that you got, and I got, and some others have, but you can't work in this business forever".
Because of his raspy voice, during his Navy hitch an officer remarked that he was "the first frogman who sounded like one".
At age 23 he was elected Constable for the 12th District of Contra Costa County (CA), beating the incumbent by 500 votes.

Quotes

I lost it all. And I am very, very bitter about it . . . The biggest mistake I ever made was discovering women. I only wish society had been as free and easy when I was coming along as it is today because if that had been the case I wouldn't have been married. Three women in my life utterly destroyed me.
[on Sweet Sexy Savage (1979), a hardcore porn film in which he appeared in a non-sex role] I wanted, I guess, to see what it was all about--a kind of half-assed adventure, you know? It was also a kind of vacation for me in a bad time--a nice location in Arizona--and I picked up a few thousand bucks. After it came out, a few people wagged their fingers at me--"Oh-ho-ho, you dirty dog"--but I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. They shot all the sex stuff after I'd flown back to L.A. I won the adult film Oscar for that, by the way, but somebody copped it.
[on John Wayne during the filming of The Green Berets (1968) I never considered him much of an actor, much less a director. Wayne was just a personality--I mean, I'm a personality, too, but he was all personality. I refused to call him "Duke" or brown-nose around him like everybody else. One day he was telling me how to do a scene a certain way, and I said, '"john, maybe that's the way you'd do it, but it's not the way I'm gonna do it". [He said] "Hey, I've been in this business for 40 years and I was a star for most of that time". I said, ":I don't care how long you've been in the business--you've never learned a fucking thing". He looked at me and turned around and walked away . . . He kind of admired me, and we drank together every night after work. But during work, we avoided each other. That picture shot for a long time--three months.
In some ways the tough soldier role locked me in.
[his last interview] I regret that I don't have more control of my tongue and thoughts . . . because I speak too frankly and too honestly, and this world is not meant for frank and honest people. They don't mix. Reality is pretty phony . . . I'm in still great shape--got all my energy and strength back. I had surgery on my neck last March [1990] and after one more session of the chemo--that's 50 more hours--the doctors say I'll have it all beat . . . I'm not scared of dying. It's how I die that matters. I'd rather live one more good year than ten more crappy years. And I think I've got some good pictures ahead of me if I can find the right roles. There's plenty of good stuff left in me, you know?