Vic Damone

Overview

Born
June 12, 1928 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Died
February 11, 2018 · Miami Beach, Florida, USA (complications from a respiratory illness)
Birth name
Vito Rocco Farinola
Height
5′ 10″ (1.78 m)

At fourteen he worked as an usher at the NYC Paramount Theatre. His father was an electrician who played guitar and his mother taught piano. Damone attended PS 163 and sang in St. Finbar's choir and later attended the Alexander Hamilton Vocational High School and then Lafayette High School in Brooklyn. He left school at sixteen to support his family, but returned to graduate from Lafayette in 1997. Damone won first prize in an Arthur Godfrey talent scouts contest in 1945. His first night club appearance at the LA Martinique Club was set up by comedian Milton Berle. He was drafted and served in the army from 1951 to 1953. After he was discharged from the army he married actress Pier Angeli, whom he later divorced. Damone was later married to Becky Ann Jones from 1974 to 1982 and Diahann Carroll from 1987 to 1996. He married Rena Rowan, fashion designer and co-founder of Jones New York, in 1998. In 1999, he received a certificate of advanced study from Philadelphia University.
- IMDb mini biography by: Mike McKinley

He was the original choice to play singer Johnny Fontane in The Godfather (1972), but the role went to Al Martino instead.
His sister Sandy was shot to death at the North Miami Beach bingo hall in Sky Lake Mall. They both worked there in the mid-1980s. During a typical night at the bingo, Abby, her ex husband came into the bingo parlor on his night off, and asked her to come out into the hall to talk to her. He pulled out a gun and shot her, then himself. Sandy and Vic's mother was playing bingo at the time.
Damone was his mother's maiden name.
In November 1952, he was an Army corporal, with his hitch due to end four months later, in April 1953.
Had one son with Pier Angeli: Perry Rocco Luigi Farinola (B. August 21, 1955 D. December 9, 2014). Has three daughters with Judith Rawlins: Victoria Catherine (B. August 8, 1965), Andrea Joanna (B. October 18, 1966) and Daniela Ellen (B. July 20, 1968).

[on his autobiography] I don't want to write a book that's going to hurt anybody. I don't operate like that. I'll tell you things in my life, but we were not out to hurt anybody. Not even ex-wives. [The Arizona Republic, June 7, 2009]

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