John Aprea: Full House actor and star in The Godfather Part II dies aged 83
Actor John Aprea, known for playing Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather Part II, has died at the age of 83.
Aprea died on August 5 of natural causes, according to his manager, Will Levine. The actor was living in Los Angeles at the time of his death, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Aprea appeared in films and television roles beginning in the late 1960s and continued acting up until 2023. He portrayed the father of John Stamos' Uncle Jesse on Full House, and appeared in Days of Our Lives, Knots Landing, CSI, and The Sopranos, among many other productions.
Many of his roles were mob oriented. He played two separate characters — both shot by women — on the NBC soap opera Another World during the show's 10-year run in the 90s, and in 1981 played a mob boss in the miniseries The Gangster Chronicles.
His most notable role is arguably that of young Tessio in The Godfather Part II. Aprea had met the film's director, Francis Ford Coppola, while he was bartending in Los Angeles. He auditioned for the starring role of Michael Corleone in the first movie The Godfather, but that role ultimately went to Al Pacino.
Aprea returned for the sequel and took his place among the Corleone crime family. Aprea is survived by his third wife, Betsy, who he was married to for 25 years, as well as his daughter Nicole and stepchildren Marika and Valentino.