Henry Armetta


Henry Armetta was an American character actor who appeared in at least 150 American films, beginning in silent movies. His last film was released posthumously in 1946, the year after his death.

Biography

Armetta was born in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. At the age of 14, he stowed away on a boat to America. The immigration authorities were prepared to send him back, but he found an Italian family to act as his sponsor. He settled in New York City where he delivered groceries, sold sandwiches and pizzas and performed other menial tasks to get by. He eventually ended up working as a pants presser at a well known club where he was befriended by actor/producer Raymond Hitchcock. Hitchcock got him a chorus part in his play A Yankee Consul.
After a friend told him about California's mushrooming film industry, Armetta hitchhiked to Hollywood in 1920 and soon found work in films as a stereotypical Italian, often playing a barber, grocer or restaurant owner. He went on to appear in over 152 films, often uncredited. Armetta appeared in several films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer including Romance starring Greta Garbo, What! No Beer? with Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante, Everybody Sing featuring Judy Garland, Allan Jones, and Fanny Brice, The Big Store opposite the Marx Brothers, and a much thinner Armetta was briefly glimpsed in one of his last appearances in the MGM Technicolor musical Anchors Aweigh with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. He died the same year of a heart attack in San Diego. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Partial filmography