Vic Tayback

Burly, likable actor Vic Tayback was born in Brooklyn but his family moved to Burbank, California, when he was a teenager. There, Tayback would spend the rest of his life and career as an actor. For almost the first 20 years of his career Tayback managed to land only one-off appearances on TV shows like "Mission: Impossible" and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and a few roles in feature films. In 1974 Martin Scorsese cast him as restaurant owner Mel Sharples in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore." The hit movie led to a similarly popular TV show of the same name, starring Linda Lavin as hard-working waitress Alice, while Tayback reprised his role as Sharples. The series ran for 200 episodes from 1976 through 1985, and became what Tayback is most remembered for in his career. After the show ended he had a number of roles on television and in films, mostly notably in a famous Aqua Velva commercial with baseball star Pete Rose. Tayback died of a sudden heart attack in 1990.