Joseph Campanella

Actor Joseph Campanellas father a Sicilian immigrant was an early member of the American Federation of Musicians perhaps as a result the younger Campanella remained active in liberal underdog political causes all his life At eighteen Campanella became one of the youngestever skippers in the wartime navy He went on to attend Columbia University then began his acting career on the New York stage and in TV soap operas Over the next three decades he would portray Joe Turino on The Guiding Light Alec Fielding on The Doctors Dr Ted Steffen on the nighttime TV serial The Doctors and the Nurses and Senator Harper Devereaux on Days of Our Lives Additional TV assignments for Campanella included the role of Mike Connors boss on the first season 196768 of Mannix attorney Brian Darrell on four seasons 196973 of The Bold Ones and Hutch Corrigan on the 198586 season of The Colbys He also narrated several National Geographic Specials and was host of the syndicated 1983 revival of This is Your Life A steadfast film supporting player Campanella was finally awarded a lead in 1972s rampaging rat thriller Ben only to find that his was the second name above the title Leave it to me Campanella remarked with his usual selfdeprecation to get second billing to a rat in my first big starring movie Recent credits include a guest voice role as Dr Thorne on the Fox Networks Batman The Animated Series Joseph Campanella is the brother of Frank Campanella a character actor usually cast as uniformed bigcity cops