DANNY AIELLO 

I’ve been writing articles for Mr. Movie for over 20 years and I’ve seen some unusual careers. But I can’t think of a Hollywood career as strange as that of Danny Aiello. He had a steadily rising career until he appeared as Sal in Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing in 1989. He was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for this role and though he didn’t win either one, it seemed like the beginning of a rising star. And though he worked steadily from that point until his death in 2019 he never appeared in a really good movie again! Twenty years of mediocrity!
Aiello’s first appearance of note was a very minor part in Bang The Drum Slowly (1973) a film about a dying major league baseball player. Robert DeNiro was virtually unknown until this movie. Aiello’s Horse is just one of the other players. 
The Godfather part 2 (1974) is widely acclaimed the best organized crime movie ever made. Mr. Movie concurs. Danny Aiello has a very minor part as one of the thugs (Tony Rosato).
Fort Apache the Bronx (1981) is a cop movie starring Paul Newman and Ed Asner. Danny Aiello plays Morgan, one of many police officers. 
Once Upon A Time In America (1984) is a rambling crooked police movie too complicated to outline here. However, Danny Aiello appears as a police chief and even gets to keep his own last name. 
Aiello hooked up with Woody Allen in two of Allen’s lesser-known movies. Again, minor roles. He appears as Monk in The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) and as Rocco in Radio Days (1987). Don’t blink or you’ll miss him.
I would call Aiello’s appearance as Johnny Camareri in Moonstruck (1987) his breakout part. This is a charming movie starring the very underrated Cher as Loretta Castorini. Danny Aiello plays her fiancé, who has to leave for Sicily to care for his dying mother. In his absence, Loretta falls in love with Johnny’s brother Ronny (Nicholas Cage). On his return from Sicily Johnny breaks off the engagement and Ronny quickly fills the gap. This delightful film is owned by Cher, whose performance as a very soft, feminine woman amazed just about everybody. 
Then came Do The Right Thing (1989) and Danny Aiello won widespread acclaim as Sal, owner of a delicatessen in a Harlem neighborhood. He can’t seem to grasp the fact that his business doesn’t pay much attention to the African-American athletes and heroes, though the black neighborhood residents make up most of his clientele. 
And then, Aiello drops off the edge of the world, role-wise. Dozens more movies, none very good.
The movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.