‘Green Book’ actor Frank Vallelonga Jr. found dead in Bronx; suspect charged with dumping a body | app

By Judy J. Beasley Last updated Dec 2, 2022

NEW YORK — An overdose victim whose body was dumped on a sidewalk in the Bronx was identified Thursday as the son of a former Copacabana bouncer played by Viggo Mortensen in the Oscar-winning film “Green Book.”

Frank Vallelonga Jr., 60, was the son of the late Frank Vallelonga Sr., known as “Tony Lip,” who accompanied famed black pianist Don Shirley as his bodyguard on a tour of the deep south in the early 1960s before an unlikely transformation. from doorman to actor — and a recurring role on “The Sopranos.”

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