Rick Aviles (October 14, 1952 – March 17, 1995) was an American
stand-up comedian
Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...
and actor of
Puerto Rican descent, best remembered for portraying the villainous Willie Lopez in the film ''
Ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
''.
Career
Born in Manhattan, Aviles worked as a street performer and stand-up comedian on the
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
night-club circuit in New York in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1978, a ''Variety'' reviewer called him "a comic with a future". He was frequently seen in the NYC subways, doing his act for the riders. In
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
, he landed the role of Mad Dog in the film ''
The Cannonball Run
''The Cannonball Run'' is a 1981 action comedy film. It was directed by Hal Needham, produced by Hong Kong's Golden Harvest films, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Filmed in Panavision, it features an all-star ensemble cast, including Burt ...
''.
He went on to act in fourteen more film productions. In 1987, Aviles landed a small part as the maintenance man in the film ''
The Secret of My Success'', starring
Michael J. Fox
Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian-American retired actor. Beginning his career in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom ''Family Ties'' (1 ...
. That same year he became the host of ''
It's Showtime at the Apollo
English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal verbs and a few others. Although definitions vary, as generally conceived an auxiliary lacks inherent semantic meaning but instead modifies the meaning of an ...
'', and continued as host until 1991.
[New York Times; Movies and T.V.](_blank)
/ref>
A ''Variety'' review of his stand-up act in 1990 noted, "Utilizing masterful ethnic impersonations and a remarkably rubbery face, Puerto Rican comic Rick Aviles comes off as one of the brightest and most consistently clever stand-ups working the circuit today".
In 1990, Aviles landed his most memorable role: Willie Lopez in the film ''Ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
'', a smash hit at the box office that received multiple Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology), ...
nominations. He also appeared in Jim Jarmusch
James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including '' Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' ( ...
's ''Mystery Train (film)
''Mystery Train'' is a 1989 comedy-drama anthology film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and set in Memphis, Tennessee. The film is a triptych of stories involving foreign protagonists, unfolding over the course of the same night. "Far f ...
'' (1989) as Will Robinson; Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...
's ''The Godfather Part III
''The Godfather Part III'' is a 1990 American crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from the screenplay co-written with Mario Puzo. The film stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy García, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, ...
'' (1990) as Mask #1; Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma (born September 11, 1940) is an American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for his work in the suspense, crime and psychological thriller genres. De Palma was a leading ...
's ''Carlito's Way
''Carlito's Way'' is a 1993 American crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma, based on the novels ''Carlito's Way'' (1975) and '' After Hours'' (1979) by Judge Edwin Torres. The film adaptation was scripted by David Koepp. It stars Al Pacin ...
'' (1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
) as Quisqueya; in ''Waterworld
''Waterworld'' is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It was based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it with Charl ...
'' (1995) as the Gatesman, and in ''Joe's Apartment
''Joe's Apartment'' is a 1996 American musical black comedy film written and directed by John Payson (in his feature directorial debut), based on his 1992 short film of the same name, and starring Jerry O'Connell and Megan Ward. The first MTV Films ...
'' (1996) as the voice of a cockroach.
Among the television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
series in which he appeared are '' Mr. & Mrs. Dracula'' (1980), ''The Day Women Got Even'' (1980), ''The Carol Burnett Show
''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey ...
'' (1991) and Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
's ''The Stand
''The Stand'' is a post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel written by American author Stephen King and first published in 1978 by Doubleday. The plot centers on a deadly pandemic of weaponized influenza and its aftermath, in which the few surv ...
'' (1994).
Death
On April 17, 1995, ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' reported that Aviles had died of heart failure on March 17. Eleven years later, a 2006 article in ''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' listed him as among the celebrities who had contracted HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
and died from complications of AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
.
Filmography
See also
* List of Puerto Ricans
* List of Puerto Ricans of African descent
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* African immigration to Puerto Rico
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* Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa:
** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa
*** Ethn ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aviles, Rick
1952 births
1995 deaths
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Male actors from New York City
AIDS-related deaths in California
People from Manhattan
American people of Puerto Rican descent
20th-century American male actors