Frank Vallelonga Jr., who starred in the Oscar-winning film green book, was identified by authorities as the body found on a street in the Bronx. He was 60.
On Monday morning (November 28), the actor’s body was discovered outside a tin factory in the New York borough where he was reportedly thrown from a car, police said The New York Post.
His cause of death has not yet been determined, but a suspect has been criminally charged with concealing a human body in the case, per TMZ. The suspect told police Vallelonga died of an overdose.
According to police, the suspect disposed of Frank’s body from his brother Nick Vallelonga’s car. Green Book Co-writer and producer. However, Nick told police the suspect did not have a license to drive the vehicle.
Green Bookwhich won Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture at the 2019 Academy Awards, told the story of Frank and Nick’s father — the late actor and former Copacabana bouncer who went by the name “Tony Lip”. Viggo Mortensen played Frank and Nick’s father in the controversial film.
While Lip is best known for his role as crime boss Carmine Lupertazzi on the hit HBO series the sopranos, its earlier days were the center of Green Bookwho chronicled his time driving and bodyguarding pianist Don Shirley during Jim Crow South.
together with Mortensen, Green Book also featured Frank as his father’s (aka his uncle) older brother, Rudy Vallelonga.