Actor Don Calfa died on December 1, 2016, two days before his birthday. His publicist, Michael Perez, confirmed that he passed away at his home in Yucca Valley, CA. Calfa was 76 years old.
He is remembered for his role as Ernie the embalmer in 1985’s The Return of the Living Dead. Calfa also played the nervous hit man Paulie in Weekend at Bernie’s in 1989.
Calfa was born in Brooklyn in 1939 and was raised in Queens. He pursued acting in his teen years, dropping out of high school to do a theater workshop (he later graduated via night school). He spent a lot of time working in theater, appearing in Off-Off-Broadway productions and on Broadway in Mating Dane and Lenny, in 1965 and 1971, respectively.
His TV and film career began in ’68 in No More Excuses. After that he was in Greaser’s Palace, Bank Shot, Nickelodeon, Foul Play, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Running Scared, and Doctor Dolittle. He was in a few episodes of The Streets of San Francisco, Park Place, Barney Miller, Hill Street Blues, Doogie Howser, M.D., and Beverly Hills, 90210. In 2015 he was in Sharkskin and had completed Lewisburg.