Michael Alaimo

Michael was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. He grew up in the family home in East Flatbush and he was always a very proud Brooklyn-ite, even retaining his accent on certain words - “cawfee,” “woddah.” His parents were Frank and Isabella Alaimo and he had an older brother, Al, and an older sister, Rosabelle.Growing up, he played stoop ball and baseball, and was a lifelong Dodgers fan. Later in life, he became an avid crossword puzzle solver and recreational painter and sketch artist.

After surviving Catholic school for his early education, he attended Brooklyn Technical High School (“Brooklyn Tech”) and then went on to attend Brooklyn College. It was during his time at Brooklyn College when he discovered the two loves of his life – the theater and his future wife, Louise.

While in college, Michael discovered the commedia dell’arte. The medieval Italian slapstick comedy theatre, with its stock characters, was the perfect vehicle for his vision of bringing free, popular entertainment to areas of the city whose residents rarely went to see plays on Broadway.

One of the first commedia dell’arte plays he produced was The Portrait, which he also directed and acted in. And in Joseph Papp’s NY Shakespeare in Central Park in 1960, Michael played the front end of a horse in The Taming of the Shrew and the player king in Hamlet. From 1961-1964, Michael formed a commedia dell’arte troupe and produced, directed and performed in commedia dell’arte versions of Volpone, Hamlet and Othello, in addition to the troupe’s original commedia playlets.

Michael married his college sweetheart, Louise, in 1961. And as the 60s became more concerned with political action and anti-Vietnam War activities, Michael became involved in agit-prop theatre in East Harlem, the Gut Theatre, which used commedia-styled skits with political messages, inspired by Luis Valdez’s work in California.

Michael and Louise moved across the country to San Francisco in the late 60s and there they became involved in the San Francisco Mime Troupe for about a year and then got involved in the radical film group, San Francisco Newsreel, working on a film about the Central American population in the city.

Michael then joined the “FTA” show doing commedia-style anti-Vietnam War skits playing to active-duty military personnel outside bases in the U.S., Okinawa, the Philippines, and Japan. The show was headlined by Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland and made into a documentary film in 1972.

After several years in San Francisco, and the birth of their first daughter, Gabriella, Michael and Louise retired from activist theatre and moved to L.A. so Michael could pursue his acting career. They settled in North Hollywood, where they would expand their family with the birth of their second daughter, Giovanna.

When he first came to L.A., Michael performed stand-up comedy at various locations including the Comedy Store and The Show-Biz. Throughout his acting career, Michael appeared in TV shows, movies and countless commercials. His credits include Mr. Mom, China Syndrome, All I Want for Christmas, Space Jam, The Kentucky Fried Movie, Cheers, Barney Miller, The Wonder Years, Mr. Belvedere, Alf, Scrubs, and Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, and commercials for McDonald’s, Progresso Soup, American Express, Pepsi, Taco Bell and State Farm Insurance, among others.

He also spent many years as the member of Theatre East, a local theater group, and performed in several plays, including The Sicilian Bachelor. One of his biggest passions was producing and directing two Italian plays by Eduardo de Filippo, Just Play Along (Ditegli Sempre de Si) and Non Ti Pago.

Michael is survived by his wife, Louise, his daughters, Gabriella and Giovanna, son-in-law, David, and granddaughters Isabella and Malia.