The son of Sicilian immigrants, Robert Loggia was born in 1930 in Staten Island, New York, and grew up in Manhattan's Little Italy. He studied journalism at the University of Missouri, but was drawn to acting and returned to New York to study at the Actors Studio. He appeared on "Studio One," ''Playhouse 90" and other live dramatic series during television's Golden Age. He made his stage debut off-Broadway in 1956 in "The Man with the Golden Arm," appearing in the title role of a drug addict (played in the movie by Frank Sinatra).

Pictured: In "The Lost Missile" (1958), costarring Ellen Parker and Larry Kerr, Loggia played a scientist out to stop a nuclear-armed missile careening through Earth's atmosphere.

Robert Loggia as Johnny Quatro, a gunman for a cattle baron engaged in a range war, in the 1963 western, "Cattle King."

Robert Loggia made numerous guest appearances on TV series in the 1960s and '70s, including westerns such as "Custer" (pictured, with Wayne Maunder), "Overland Trail," "Rawhide," "Gunsmoke," "The Wild, Wild West," and "The Big Valley"; "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"; "Ben Casey"; and crime series including "Naked City," "The Untouchables," "The FBI," ""Mannix," "Harry O," "Ellery Queen," "McMillan & Wife," "Kojak," "Cannon," "Columbo," "The Rockford Files," "Vega$," and "Charlie's Angels."

Robert Loggia guest-starred as the "half-breed" renegade Chio, with Bonnie Bedelia as his daughter, in a 1968 episode of "The High Chaparral."

In 1966 Loggia had the rare opportunity for stardom, taking the lead role in the NBC television drama "T.H.E. Cat." He played a former circus aerialist and cat burglar who became a bodyguard and crimefighter. When the series was canceled after one season, however, the distraught Loggia largely dropped out of the business for a time.

"It was a Dante's 'Inferno' period for me that most men and women go through if they've taken paths they wished they hadn't," he recalled in a 1986 interview. "I didn't want to work. I was played out and I had to re-spark myself."

He credited his re-emergence to a couple of plays for New York theatre producer Joseph Papp: "Wedding Band" (1972) with Ruby Dee; and David Rabe's "Boom-Boom Room" (1973), with Madeleine Kahn.

In the 1977 romantic drama, "First Love" (1977). starring William Katt and Susan Dey, Robert Loggia plays a business associate of Dey's father - and shares a secret with Dey that Katt learns, to his unending dismay.

Robert Loggia played Egyptian President Anwar Sadat opposite Ingrid Bergman's Golda Meir in the 1982 TV-movie, "A Woman Called Golda."

In Brian De Palma's "Scarface" (1983), Robert Loggia played Frank Lopez, a drug dealer who hires the recent Cuban emigre, "Tony" Montana (Al Pacino).

Drug kingpin Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia) with his henchman Omar (F. Murray Abraham), Tony Montana (Al Pacino), and girlfriend Elvira (Michelle Pfeiffer) in Brian De Palma's "Scarface" (1983).

F. Murray Abraham and Robert Loggia in "Scarface" (1983).

Robert Loggia (right) played the son of aging mob boss Don Corrado Prizzi (Oscar-nominee William Hickey) in John Huston's black comedy, "Prizzi's Honor" (1985).

In "Jagged Edge" (1985), starring Glenn Close, Robert Loggia played seedy gumshoe Sam Ransom, investigating a murder involving Jeff Bridges. Loggia received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Robert Loggia is one of the colorful characters John Cusack runs into during his comic misadventures in the Caribbean in "Hot Pursuit" (1987).

Detective Robert Loggia and police psychologist Martin Sheen are on the trail of a mysterious voodoo cult -- in New York City! -- in "The Believers."

Liv Ullman and Robert Loggia starred in the 1987 biopic, "Gaby: A True Story," about Gaby Brimmer, a woman who overcomes her cerebral palsy to become an author and disability rights activist.

Robert Loggia gave an endearing comic performance in Penny Marshall's 1988 "Big," starring Tom Hanks as an adolescent granted a wish to be big, overnight becoming a 30-something man who -- still mentally a boy -- eventually finds work at a toy company run by Loggia's character.

A chance meeting in a toy store leads to the pair tapping out joyful duets of "Chopsticks" and "Heart and Soul" on the piano keys built into the floor.

Robert Loggia's "lameduck" FBI agent from the 1988 mini-series "Favorite Son" (about conspiracies involving murder and an overly-ambitious politico) returned in a series of his own, "Mancuso, FBI" (1989-90), co-starring Fredric Lehne.

Robert Loggia with Dana Carvey and Todd Graff in the 1990 comedy, "Opportunity Knocks."

Robert Loggia with Alec Baldwin in the 1991 romantic comedy, "The Marrying Man."

Robert Loggia played football coach Wally Riggendorf in the sports comedy "Necessary Roughness" (1991).

In the 1994 western, "Bad Girls," Robert Loggia played bank robber Frank Jarrett.

Robert Loggia played the editor of newspaper reporter Nick Nolte in the 1994 romantic comedy, "I Love Trouble."

In the 1996 science fiction thriller, "Independence Day," Robert Loggia played the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. William Grey, facing America's (and the world's) greatest foe yet.

Robert Loggia, Will Smith and James Rebhorn in "Independence Day."

In David Lynch's crime thriller/head trip "Lost Highway" (1997), Robert Loggia played a gangster who absolutely loves his Mercedes. And don't tailgate him. Get that? Don't ever tailgate him!

Robert Loggia and Leelee Sobieski in the 1999 TV miniseries, "Joan of Arc."

In the HBO series "The Sopranos," Robert Loggia joined the cast as the previously-jailed veteran mobster Michele "Feech" La Manna, who wanted back in on the action.

Robert Loggia with Kevin Spacey in the 2009 comedy, "Shrink."

Actor Robert Loggia arrives at an event celebrating the Blu-ray release of "Scarface," at the Belasco Theatre on August 23, 2011 in Los Angeles.

The Oscar-nominee died on Friday, Dec. 4, 2015. He was 85.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan. The Associated Press contributed to this report.