Born in New York City of humble means, character player James Coco was the son of Feliche, an Italian shoemaker, and Ida for most his adult life, the talented actor died unexpectedly of a heart attack in New York City in 1987 at the age of 56, and was buried in St. Gertrude's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Colonia, New Jersey.
To date, he is the only actor to receive Oscar, Golden Globe and Razzie nominations for the same film; these honors came to Mr. Coco for Only When I Laugh . Likewise, Amy Irving was nominated for an Oscar and a Razzie for Yentl , but not a Golden Globe.
Was nominated for Broadways 1970 Tony Award as Best Actor for "Last of the Red Hot Lovers."
Lived for quite some time in his Greenwich apartment near friends playwrights Terrence McNally Paddy Chayefsky and Israel Horovitz , and actor Robert Drivas , where they all would often get together for a weekly game of poker.
Resuming press interviews in connection with a Diet Coke commercial he filmed in 1986 (after being out of work for a while), he said he was proud of having lost 42 pounds for the job.
Though he never married, he had what he later described to a People Weekly magazine interviewer as a passionate romance with stand-up comic Rusty Warren. Although she did not leave behind any known television or movie credits, she is fondly remembered as the "Knockers Up Gal" by those who bought her comedy albums in the 1960s.
He studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City.
Mr. Coco was memorialized in an episode of the hit sitcom, "Whos the Boss" {A Farewell to Nick (#4.7}) . The series had featured him in a recurring role, his last, as "Grandpa Nick".
I come from an old-fashioned Italian family where we used to sit down,for Sunday dinner at 2 and get up at 7.
