Angelo Rossitto

Acting

Angelo Rossitto

Born 1908-02-18 · Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Angelo Salvatore Rossitto (February 18, 1908 – September 21, 1991) was an American actor and voice artist. He had dwarfism and was 2'11" (89 cm) tall, and was often billed as Little Angie or Moe. Angelo first appeared in silent films opposite Lon Chaney and John Barrymore. On-screen, he portrayed everything from dwarfs, midgets, gnomes, and pygmies as well as monsters, villains, and aliens, with appearances in more than 70 films. Rossitto was born in Omaha, Nebraska to Salvatore Rossitto and Carmela Caniglia, both born in Carlentini, Province of Siracusa, Sicily, Italy, and had a sister, Josephine Rossitto. He was discovered by John Barrymore and made his screen debut opposite Barrymore in The Beloved Rogue (1927). That same year he appeared in Warner Brother's Old San Francisco. He appeared in the controversial 1932 film Freaks directed by Tod Browning, and another controversial film, 1938's Child Bride. During the 1940s, he appeared in several poverty row movies starring Bela Lugosi. He appeared frequently in television series and mini-series, particularly best known for the police drama Baretta, and his later film roles included appearances in Alex in Wonderland (1970), Brain of Blood (1971), Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971), Little Cigars (1973), and Fairy Tales (1978). His last major role was as "Master" opposite Mel Gibson in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). Rossitto appears alongside singer/songwriter Tom Waits and Lee Kolima on the cover art of Waits' 1983 album Swordfishtrombones, which pays homage to his performance in Freaks. He also appears on the cover of Bob Dylan's album The Basement Tapes.

Acting credits

The Wizard of Oz poster
7.6

Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.

The Wizard of Oz

1939

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome poster
6.2

Mad Max becomes a pawn in a decadent oasis of a technological society, and when exiled, becomes the deliverer of a colony of children.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

1985

Freaks poster
7.8

A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

Freaks

1932

The Trip poster
5.8

After his wife leaves him, a disillusioned director dives into the drug scene, trying anything his friend suggests.

The Trip

1967

The Greatest Show on Earth poster
6.4

To ensure a full profitable season, circus manager Brad Braden engages The Great Sebastian, though this moves his girlfriend Holly from her hard-won center trapeze spot. Holly and Sebastian begin a dangerous one-upmanship duel in the ring, while he pursues her on the ground.

The Greatest Show on Earth

1952

Something Wicked This Way Comes poster
6.5

In a small American town, a diabolical circus arrives, granting wishes for the townsfolk, but twisted as only the esteemed Mr. Dark can make them. Can two young boys overcome the worst the devil himself can deal out?

Something Wicked This Way Comes

1983

Child Bride poster
4.6

Jennie is a twelve-year-old girl living with her parents in extremely rural mountain country. Her schoolteacher, Miss Carol, though a mountain girl herself, has gone off to be educated and returned in hopes of stopping the tradition of child marriage which permeates the culture. Jennie's father Ira is a good man who tries to protect Miss Carol from the men who threaten her if she doesn't call off her crusade. One of these men, Jake Bolby, has his eye on little Jennie and plots to make her his bride.

Child Bride

1938

Dracula vs. Frankenstein poster
4.5

Judith Fontaine is looking for her sister Joanie, who has disappeared into the hippie community of Venice, California. It turns out that Joanie has become fallen victim to Groton, an axe-wielding homicidal maniac under the employ of Dr. Durea, the last living descendant of the Frankenstein family and is now both running a house of horrors on the beach's boardwalk and performing experiments on Groton's victims in his basement laboratory.

Dracula vs. Frankenstein

1971

Doctor Dolittle poster
6.2

A veterinarian who can communicate with animals travels abroad to search for a giant sea snail.

Doctor Dolittle

1967

The Baron of Arizona poster
6.7

The U.S. government recognizes land grants made when the West was under Spanish rule. This inspires James Reavis to forge a chain of historical evidence that makes a foundling girl the Baroness of Arizona. Reavis marries the girl and presses his claim to the entire Arizona territory.

The Baron of Arizona

1950

Fairy Tales poster
6.1

On his twenty-first birthday, the Prince goes on a quest that takes him across the land searching for the one woman that gets him sexually excited, Princess Sleeping Beauty.

Fairy Tales

1978

The Other Side of the Wind poster
6.7

At a media-swamped party to celebrate his seventieth birthday and screen his avant-garde film-in-progress, a legendary but jaded Hollywood director is faced both with voracious fans and unsettling questions about what became of his lead actor.

The Other Side of the Wind

2018

Pocketful of Miracles poster
7.3

A New York gangster and his girlfriend attempt to turn street beggar Apple Annie into a society lady when the peddler learns her daughter is marrying royalty.

Pocketful of Miracles

1961

Babes in Toyland poster
6.3

Ollie Dee and Stannie Dum try to borrow money from their employer, the toymaker, to pay off the mortgage on Mother Peep's shoe and keep it and Little Bo Peep from the clutches of the evil Barnaby. When that fails, they trick Barnaby, enraging him.

Babes in Toyland

1934

From a Whisper to a Scream poster
5.8

The uncle of an executed murderess relates four stories of his hometown, Oldfield, to a reporter. In the first, an elderly man pursues a romance with a younger woman, even to the grave and beyond. In the second, a wounded man on the run from creditors is rescued by a backwoods hermit who holds the secret to eternal life. In the third, a glass-eating carny pays the ultimate price for looking for love on the outside. And in the fourth, a group of Civil War soldiers are held captive by a household of orphans with strange intentions for them.

From a Whisper to a Scream

1987

Reunion in France poster
6.5

Frenchwoman Michele de la Becque, an opponent of the Nazis in German-occupied Paris, hides a downed American flyer, Pat Talbot, and attempts to get him safely out of the country.

Reunion in France

1942

Requiem for a Heavyweight poster
7.2

After suffering a brutal defeat and being told he can no longer fight, 37-year-old, scar-ridden prizefighter Louis 'Mountain' Rivera struggles to find a new direction in life.

Requiem for a Heavyweight

1962

The Spider Woman poster
7.0

Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of so-called "pajama suicides". He knows the female villain behind them is as cunning as Moriarty and as venomous as a spider.

The Spider Woman

1943

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves poster
6.2

Orphaned as a young child and adopted by a band of notorious thieves, now-grown Ali Baba sets out to avenge his father’s murder, reclaim the royal throne, and rescue his beloved Amara from the iron fist of his treacherous enemy.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

1944

Galaxina poster
3.9

Galaxina is a lifelike, voluptuous android who is assigned to oversee the operations of an intergalactic Space Police cruiser captained by incompetent Cornelius Butt. When a mission requires the ship's crew to be placed in suspended animation for decades, Galaxina finds herself alone for many years, developing emotions and falling in love with the ship's pilot, Thor.

Galaxina

1980

The Stone Killer poster
6.3

A Los Angeles detective is sent to New York where he must solve a case involving an old Sicilian Mafia family feud.

The Stone Killer

1973

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm poster
5.9

The Grimm brothers Wilhelm and Jacob, known for their literary works in the nineteenth century, have their lives dramatized. Wilhelm fights to write something entertaining amongst the sea of dry, non-fiction books they write and he sets about collecting oral-tradition fairy tales to put into print. Their life story is countered with reenactments of three of their stories including "The Dancing Princess," "The Cobbler and the Elves" and "The Singing Bone."

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

1962

The Perils of Pauline poster
4.4

Pauline becomes involved in a series of adventures around the world and is aided by her ever present friend, George.

The Perils of Pauline

1967

The Other poster
6.5

A series of gruesome accidents plague a small American farming community in the summer of 1935, encircling two identical twin brothers and their family.

The Other

1972