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On July 9, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York, Vincent Edward Zoino was born to Vincento and Julia, natives of Italy. He and his twin brother are the youngest of seven children. His parents were hard working people who wanted the best of life for their children. Vincento was a bricklayer. Vince worked with him one summer as a laborer on the Eighth Avenue subway, wielding a pick ten hours a day. Vince said, "I was one of seven children in a family that had its problems in surviving and wanting to get ahead. I was the baby. I wasn't spoiled, I don't believe. My parents got along well. I liked them and had great respect for them." Vince left vocational school when he won an athletic scholarship to Ohio State University. He subsequently gave up college to attend New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Vince earned a small part in High Button Shoes on Broadway and then toured with the road company of Come Back, Little Sheba. This is when he fell under the spell of the then-fashionable "Method" school of acting. Vince tended to be cast on the basis of his physique rather than his acting ability in such films as Mr. Universe (1951) and Hiawatha (1952). After ten years of film roles, Vince starred in the TV series Ben Casey (1961-66), rapidly developing a reputation as "TV's surly surgeon." Toward the end of the Casey run, he began dabbling in directing. Later projects included a brief 1970 TV series called Matt Lincoln, and he also established himself as a nightclub singer in New York and Las Vegas. | |