Beloved Actor And Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Dead

Actor, playwright and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Joe Bologna has passed away at the age of 82.

Bologna died on Aug. 13 at a hospital in Duarte, California, following a battle with pancreatic cancer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Bologna is survived by his wife of 52 years, actress and screenwriter Renee Taylor.

“He had a beautiful life and a beautiful death having fully and gratefully experienced three years since being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at Cedars-Sinai,” Taylor said in a statement, according to Deadline.

Bologna is known for his diverse acting credits spanning three decades. He has appeared in such films as “Blame It On Rio,” “Woman In Red,” “Honor Thy Father,” “Big Daddy” and many more.

As a writer, Bologna often collaborated with his wife. They wrote their first Broadway show together, “Lovers and Other Strangers,” which ran for two months in 1968. The play was adapted for a 1970 film, for which they were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay.

The couple continued a successful writing streak together, earning a Writers Guild Award for “Made For Each Other,” and an Emmy Award for the 1973 TV special, “Acts of Love and Other Comedies.”

Taylor and Bologna also wrote 22 plays together during their careers, including “Bermuda Avenue Triangle,” “It Had To Be You,” and “If You Ever Leave Me I’m Going With You!”

Bologna’s final work is featured in the upcoming film “Tango Shalom,” a film he wrote and starred in with his wife and their longtime friend Lainie Kazan. Bologna and Taylor’s daughter Zizi Bologna worked on the film as a music supervisor and their son Gabriel Bologna directed.

Bologna celebrated his 52nd wedding anniversary with Taylor on Aug. 11.

His wife released a statement about her husband’s passing:

His team of doctors, who prolonged his life, were Dr. Roger Lerner and Dr. David Hoffman of Cedars Sinai, in Beverly Hills. For the last six months during the cancer’s most aggressive stage, Dr. Vincent Chung and Dr. Stefanie Mooney of City of Hope gave him back a wonderful quality of life by creating a personalized treatment and palliative care plan, so that he could receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Night of 100 Stars on Feb. 26, of this year, take a month-long trip to his favorite place, Italy, with his family in June, and attend the 35th Anniversary celebration of “My Favorite Year,” on July 27.

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline / Featured Image: CBS Television via Wikimedia Commons / Embedded Images: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times, Orion Pictures via The New York Times