Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Joseph Campanella has two movies on deck

He shared the small screen with Barbara Stanwyck on "The Colbys," playing the rugged cowboy boyfriend Hutch Corrigan to her Connie Colby. On "Dallas," he was mobster Joseph Lombardi Sr., father figure to Joey Lombardi / Nicholas Pearce. Now, Joseph Campanella, a longtime star whose career spans 50 years and includes "Gunsmoke," "Night Gallery," "Route 66" and even "Melrose Place," shows no signs of slowing down. He's got a couple film projects on the way.

The first, completed and awaiting distribution, is "For Heaven's Sake." He plays a character named Donald Meeks in the film, directed by actor Nathanial Christian and written by Ann Marcus. Florence Henderson also stars in that one. You can catch some shots of the film from its IMDb page.

Next, it's "The Dukes" (no, not them Dukes!), scheduled for release next year and also starring Chazz Palminteri and Peter Bogdanovich. Campanella plays Giovanni Zorro in the film, about a "doo wop" group. The plot line from the IMDb: "A heist movie set to '50s rock and roll. The Dukes, a doo wop group, were on top of the world when they were 17, but now in 2005 they struggle to help their friends and family while holding on to the dreams of the past as they are forced to reinvent themselves in a new age." Robert Davi directed and wrote this one, which is classified as in postproduction. (We've gotta note, also, that Campanella's costar, Chazz Palminteri, also shared the screen with him in the "Dallas" episode "He-e-e-re's Papa.")

As an added interesting note, Campanella also narrates a film about God's mercy for the Catholic Church: Check it out at http://www.marianland.com/marian05.html.

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