The Godfather Part III actor Anthony Guidera has died at the age of 65, weeks after his heart stopped for reasons that remain unknown.
Guidera made his movie debut in the third Godfather picture, playing a bodyguard amid a cast that included Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia and Sofia Coppola.
His shattered widow Valarie revealed Tuesday that on May 11, his heartbeat halted and he collapsed in the living room of their California residence.
Valarie explained that her husband was hospitalized and placed on life support, where he remained for three weeks, via TMZ.
In keeping with his prior directive, Guidera was then removed from life support and permitted to be taken home so that he could die naturally.
The San Francisco-born actor lost his life on Saturday, and according to Valarie, the doctors have been unable to determine why his heart gave out.
The Godfather Part III actor Anthony Guidera has died at the age of 65, weeks after his heart stopped for reasons that remain unknown
Guidera made his movie debut in the third Godfather picture, playing a bodyguard amid a cast that included Al Pacino , Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia and Sofia Coppola
In 1995, he featured in the horror movie Species, which starred such names as Ben Kinglsey, Michael Madsen, Forest Whitaker and Alfred Molina
Born in 1961, he broke into Hollywood before the age of 30 with his role in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1990 picture The Godfather Part III.
He played the bodyguard of rising mafioso Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), who conducts an affair with his first cousin Mary Corleone (Sofia Coppola), the daughter of mob boss Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and his ex-wife Kay (Diane Keaton).
Five years later, Guidera featured in the horror movie Species, which starred such names as Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Forest Whitaker and Alfred Molina.
Guidera’s lip-lock in that movie with his co-star Natasha Henstridge earned the pair of them the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss in 1996.
They beat out such contenders as Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek for Desperado and Winona Ryder and Dermot Mulroney for How to Make an American Quilt.
In 1996 he could be seen in Michael Bay’s action thriller The Rock, which was fronted by Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris.
The following year, he was part of the ensemble cast of the romantic comedy ‘Til There Was You, led by Jean Tripplehorn and Dylan McDermott, with supporting players including Jennifer Aniston and Sarah Jessica Parker.
During the same year he featured in the post-apocalyptic western The Postman, which Kevin Costner both starred in and directed.
Guidera’s lip-lock in that movie with his co-star Natasha Henstridge earned the pair of them the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss in 1996
Guidera and Henstridge are pictured at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards, where they beat out Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek’s onscreen kiss in Desperado
Steve Buscemi, Will Patton, Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Owen Wilson, Michael Clarke Duncan, Clark Brolly, William Fichtner, Anthony Guidera, Marshall Teague, Jessica Steen and Billy Bob Thornton are pictured in Armageddon in 1998
He landed a role as the dashing Etienne on Cafe Americain, a short-lived 1990s sitcom starring Valerie Bertinelli as an American waitress in Paris
Over the course of his acting career, he also guest-starred on hit TV shows like ER, on which he is pictured with Goran Visnjic (left) and Maura Tierney (right)
Guidera is survived by his longtime wife Valarie Anderson, who broke the news of his shocking death on her Facebook page, as well as by their son Nick
In 1998 Guidera acted in Bay’s hit Armageddon, among such names as Steve Buscemi, Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton and Owen Wilson.
Over the course of his acting career, he also guest-starred on TV shows ranging from Baywatch and Nash Bridges to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Angel to ER.
He landed a role as the dashing Etienne on Cafe Americain, a short-lived 1990s sitcom starring Valerie Bertinelli as an American waitress in Paris.
The final credit on his IMDb page is the 2005 crime comedy LA Dicks, in which he led the cast alongside the film’s writer and director Dean Alioto.
Guidera is survived by his longtime wife Valarie Anderson, who broke the news of his shocking death on her Facebook page, and by their son Nick.
