‘Untouchables’ actor Nicholas Georgiade dead at 88

Nicholas Georgiade, who played Enrico “Rico” Rossi on the early 1960s television series “The Untouchables,” died Sunday, he daughter and nephew said. He was 88.

>> Read more trending news

Georgiade died Sunday in Las Vegas, his nephew and namesake, Nick Georgiade, told the Syracuse Post-Standard.

“He lived 88 long years, and had a beautiful life,” the actor’s daughter, Anastazia, wrote on Facebook. “He was also a wonderful father to me. I had the blessing to have him pass away in my arms tonight. Thank you in advance to all your kind words and prayers.”

Georgiade’s brother, George Georgiade, spent 22 years with the Syracuse Police Department until his retirement as a lieutenant in 1982, the Post-Standard reported. In 1976, he was the detective responsible for returning Syracuse football legend Ernie Davis’ stolen Heisman Trophy, according to his obituary.

Nicholas Georgiade was an inexperienced actor when he appeared in April 1959 as a thug arrested in a brewery raid on a two-part episode of “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” that served as the pilot of “The Untouchables,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

When “The Untouchables” began five months later, Nicholas Georgiade was cast as Rossi, a barber whose girlfriend is killed. Because of the murder, he joins the incorruptible Prohibition-era federal agents led by Eliot Ness (played by Robert Stack).

Nicholas Georgiade appeared in 113 of 119 episodes that aired from 1959 to 1963, according to IMDb.

“I’m playing myself,” Georgiade told the Chicago Tribune in 1960. “Sometimes actors have to be doctors of human behavior and the more they like their work the better they are at it. I’ve watched policemen and have been interested in their reactions. My brother George is a detective and he, like most cops, has the same emotions, fallibilities, frustrations and joys of all human beings.”

Nicholas Georgiade was born on March 25, 1933, in New York City. He was a boxer who joined the U.S. Army during the Korean War, winning the European heavyweight title for the Army in 1952, the Post-Standard reported. After his military service, he received an athletic scholarship to Syracuse University, where he majored in sociology, psychology and drama. Nicholas Georgiade graduated in 1957, the newspaper reported.

Georgiade’s film credits included “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (1963), “The Young Runaways” (1968), “Stacey” (1973), “Seven” (1979), “Mugsy’s Girls” (1985), “Picasso Trigger” (1988) and “Indecent Proposal” (1993). On television he appeared on “I Spy,” “Combat!,” “Run Buddy Run,” “Mannix,” “Quincy M.E.” and “The Equalizer.”

©2021 Cox Media Group