Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro III (born December 31, 1948) is an American actor and model. A sex symbol of gay subculture in the 1960s and 1970s, he is best known for starring in several underground films as a Warhol superstar.
Dallesandro began his career posing for homoerotic photographs before joining Andy Warhol's Factory and starring in Lonesome Cowboys (1968). His performance as a male prostitute in the film Flesh (1968), directed by Paul Morrissey, brought him fame. Rolling Stone magazine declared Dallesandro's subsequent lead in Trash (1970) as the "Best Film of the Year", making him a celebrity of youth culture and the sexual revolution.
Dallesandro proceeded to star in Heat (1972), Andy Warhol's Frankenstein (1973), and Andy Warhol's Dracula (1974). After appearing in European genre and art films for several years, he crossed into the mainstream as mobster Lucky Luciano in the 1984 film The Cotton Club. He had a career resurgence and continues to act occasionally. Dallesandro is a recipient of the 2009 honorary Teddy Award.
Early life
Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro III was born on December 31, 1948, in Pensacola, Florida. His father, Joseph Sr., an 18-year-old Italian-American sailor in the U.S. Navy, married his mother, Thelma Testman, who was 14 years old. She was 16 when she gave birth to him. His father maintained custody of him and his younger brother, Robert "Bobby" Dallesandro, but soon they ended up at Angel Guardian Home awaiting foster care. He became aggressive and repeatedly ran away from his foster home, until his father finally relented and allowed Joe to live with him. "I was very rebellious," he recalled. In 1965, he ran away from the camp, and went to live with his father in Florida. He was unaware that they meant nude modeling, but at the age of 16, he ended up supporting himself by modeling for Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild and Bruce Bellas (Bruce of Los Angeles). Mizer later stated that Dallesandro gave his age as 19 when he posed for him. In one sitting, Mizer took a short 8mm film and 86 photographs, some of which were published in Physique Pictorial<nowiki/>'s September 1967, January 1967, and July 1975 issues. He also worked as a bookbinder.thumb|Dallesandro and [[Louis Waldon in Flesh (1968)]]He met Pop artist Andy Warhol and film director Paul Morrissey while they were shooting Four Stars (1967) in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. After accompanying a friend to observe the filming, he was cast in the project on the spot. Dallesandro began doing odd jobs at the Factory as Warhol's bodyguard and sometime actor. While Warhol was recuperating from an assassination attempt in the summer of 1968, Dallesandro filmed Flesh (1968), a story of a male hustler—based on Dallesandro's experience—where he had several nude scenes. Appealing to male and female audience members, Dallesandro was the "first overtly sexualized male in the movies." Flesh, directed by Paul Morrissey, became a crossover hit with mainstream audiences, and Dallesandro became the most popular of the Warhol stars. Warhol would later comment, "In my movies, everyone's in love with Joe Dallesandro."
In 1969, Dallesandro was cast in the MGM film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970). However, Dallesandro was dismissed on the first day of filming. Ultimately, no other members of the Factory appeared in the film, except for Candy Darling in a brief scene. In 1970, Dallesandro told After Dark: "Sometimes they yell at me and say, 'Joe, you're really messing it up. Stop trying to act,' and then I usually do a good job. But if you watch carefully you'll see that my best performing comes when I have my clothes off. When I'm dressed, I really don't give very good performances, but when I am not, I really do a great job." Newsday film critic Jerry Parker wrote that "Joe Dallesandro, who is a mere 21 is to Andy Warhol what Clark Gable once was to Louis B. Mayer." Morrissey added that he and Warhol would have been thrilled if Dallesandro landed a role in a major film. He appeared in Serge Gainsbourg's Je t'aime moi non-plus (1976), which starred Gainsbourg's girlfriend, British actress Jane Birkin.
Dalessandro's career collapsed in the late 1970s as a result of his dependency on alcohol and drugs. After his return to the U.S. in 1979, he resided in a trailer park close to Seattle with his estranged mother and indulged in excessive drinking.
In 1995, Dallesandro appeared in a Calvin Klein ad campaign with model Kate Moss.
A biography, Little Joe: Superstar by Michael Ferguson was published in 1998, and a filmed documentary, Little Joe (2009), was released with Dallesandro serving as writer and producer. His adopted daughter, Vedra Mehagian, also served as a producer of the film.
Semi-retired from acting as of 2009, Dallesandro managed a residential hotel building in Los Angeles.
He appeared in the Dandy Warhols' official video for "You Are Killing Me" in 2016.
In 2018, he starred as himself in Ulli Lommel's Factory Cowboys: Working with Warhol. The film was based on Lommel's own biography and partly on Dallesandro's memories of the period during which he worked with Andy Warhol.
Personal life
Sexuality
Although Dallesandro primarily had romantic relationships with women, he identifies as bisexual. He explained, "I consider myself bisexual. It wasn't that I was sexually attracted to men per se, but you know, if you do something for a while you can acquire a taste for it." Reflecting on his early experiences, he said his introduction to the gay world "saved me from life in prison for murder… It gave me a whole other attitude, a calmer attitude" and taught him to "never to be homophobic, even before there was such a term."
After being separated since childhood, at the age of 21, Dallesandro was reunited with his mother Sandy Hoyt in 1970. In 1967, at age 18, he married his first wife, Leslie, the daughter of his father's girlfriend. Their son, Michael, was born on December 19, 1968. The marriage was dissolved in 1969. She appeared as his love interest in film Blood for Dracula (1974).
Awards
In February 2009, Dallesandro received a special Teddy Award at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival, an honor recognizing those filmmakers and artists who have contributed to the further acceptance of LGBT people, culture, and artistic vision.
In popular culture
- In Lou Reed's song, "Walk on the Wild Side", about the characters Reed knew from Warhol's studio, The Factory, the verse about Dallesandro used his nickname, Little Joe.
- Dallesandro claimed to be the model for the Andy Warhol photograph of a man's crotch on the Grammy-nominated cover of the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers (1971). He explained to biographer Michael Ferguson, "It was just out of a collection of junk photos that Andy pulled from. He didn't pull it out for the design or anything, it was just the first one he got that he felt was the right shape to fit what he wanted to use for the fly." However, Craig Braun, who designed the cover with Warhol, disputes Dallesandro's claim, and makeup artist Corey Tippin suggested he was the model. The cover is generally believed to feature Warhol's lover Jed Johnson.
- The 1980s British band The Smiths used a still photograph of Dallesandro from the film Flesh as the cover of their eponymous debut album.
- Norwegian pop band Briskeby had a 2005 single called "Joe Dallesandro."
Selected filmography
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1967
| Four Stars
| College Wrestler
| Alternative title: The 24 Hour Movie
|-
| 1968
| San Diego Surf
| Joe
|
|-
| 1968
| The Loves of Ondine
| College Wrestler
|Segment from Four Stars
|-
| 1968
| Flesh
| Joe, The Hustler
| Alternative title: Andy Warhol's Flesh
|-
| 1968
| Lonesome Cowboys
| Joe "Little Joe"
| Alternative title: Ramona and Julian
|-
| 1970
| Trash
| Joe Smith
| Alternative title: Andy Warhol's Trash
|-
| 1972
| Heat
| Joey Davis
|
|-
| 1973
| Andy Warhol's Frankenstein
| Nicholas, The Stableboy
| Alternative title: Flesh for Frankenstein
|-
| 1974
| Blood for Dracula
| Mario Balato, The Servant
| Alternative title: Andy Warhol's Dracula
|-
| 1974
| The Gardener
| Carl, The Gardener
| Alternative titles: Garden of Death, Seeds of Evil
|-
| 1975
| The Climber
| Aldo, The Climber
| Alternative title: L'ambizioso
|-
| 1975
| Black Moon
| Brother Lily
|
|-
| 1975
| Savage Three
| Ovidio Mainardi
| Alternative title: Fango bollente
|-
| 1975
| Season for Assassins
| Pierro Giaranaldi
| Alternative title: Il tempo degli assassini
|-
| 1976
| Je t'aime moi non-plus
| Krassky
| Alternative title: I Love You, I Don't or I Love You ... Neither Do I
|-
| 1976
| The Margin
| Sigismond
| Alternative title: The Streetwalker
|-
|-
| 1976
| Born Winner
| Pericle
| Alternative title: L'ultima volta
|-
| 1977
| A Simple Heart
| Théodore
| Alternative title: Un cuore semplice
|-
| 1978
| Safari Rally
| Joe Massi
| Alternative title: 6000 km di paura
|-
| 1978
| Killer Nun
| Dr. Patrick Roland
| Alternative titles: Suor Omicidi<br />Deadly Habits
|-
| 1980
| Madness
| Joe Brezzi
| Alternative title: Vacanze per un massacro
|-
| 1981
| Merry-Go-Round
| Ben
|
|-
| 1982
| Queen Lear
| Joseph Kunz, The Father
|
|-
| 1984
| The Cotton Club
| Charlie "Lucky" Luciano
|
|-
| 1984
| Miami Vice
| Vinnie DeMarco
| Episode: "One Eyed Jack"
|-
| 1986
| Fortune Dane
| Tommy "Perfect Tommy" Nicautri
| 5 episodes
|-
| 1987
| Critical Condition
| Stucky
|
|-
| 1987
| Miami Vice
| Alfredo Giulinni
| Episode: "Down for the Count: Part 2"
|-
| 1987
| Wiseguy
| Paul "Pat The Cat" Patrice
| 5 episodes
|-
| 1988
| Sunset
| "Dutch" Kieffer
|
|-
| 1988
| The Hitchhiker
| Gerard
| Episode: "Fashion Exchange"
|-
| 1988
| Double Revenge
| Joe Halsey
|
|-
| 1989
| The Hollywood Detective
| Eddie Northcott
| Television movie
|-
| 1990
| Matlock
| Bobby Boyd
| 2 episodes
|-
| 1990
| Almost an Angel
| Bank Hood Leader
|
|-
| 1990
| Cry-Baby
| Mr. Hackett
|
|-
| 1991
| Inside Out
| Richard
| Segment: "The Diaries"
|-
| 1991
| Wild Orchid II: Two Shades of Blue
| Jules
|
|-
| 1992
| Guncrazy
| Rooney
|
|-
| 1992
| Love Is Like That
| The Boss
|
|-
| 1994
| Sugar Hill
| Tony Adamo
|
|-
| 1995
| Theodore Rex
| Rogan
| Direct-to-video release
|-
| 1998
| L.A. Without a Map
| Michael
|
|-
| 1999
| The Limey
| John "Uncle John", The Hitman
| Credited as Joe Dallessandro
|-
| 2000
| Beefcake
| Cameos, old footage
|
|-
| 2002
| Pacino Is Missing
| Sal Colletti
|
|-
| 2008
| 3 Stories About Evil
| Jean Maries
| Short film
|-
|2022
| Babylon
| Charlie the Photographer
|
|-
| 2023 || 24 Hour Sunset || Himself || Documentary
|}
Bibliography
References
External links
- The New York Times profile
- "Joe Dallesandro Home Movies" video