Joe Dallesandro

Leading actor Joe Dallesandro gained more than his 15 minutes of fame in the ‘60s and ’70s thanks to his presence in the experimental films of Andy Warhol. Most often cast as androgynous characters, Dallesandro was the star of the Warhol/Paul Morrissey trilogy Flesh, Trash, and Heat, and later played the title roles in the selfsame production team’s Blood for Dracula and Flesh for Frankenstein for which Dallesandro was praised by the cognoscenti for his “naturalistic” performances. After making his “mainstream” debut in The Gardener, he worked extensively in Europe. He made fleeting appearances as Lucky Luciano in Coppola’s The Cotton Club (1984) and as the father of Darren E. Burrows in John Waters’ Cry-Baby (1991). Dallesandro has also been prominently featured in such TV weeklies of the 1980s as Fortune Dane, Wiseguy, and The Hollywood Detective. —allmovie guide