Sammy Petrillo was born on October 24, 1934 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA as Sam Patrello. He was an actor, known for Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952), Keyholes Are for Peeping (1972) and Shangri-La (1961). He died on August 15, 2009 in Bronxville, New York.
[on accepting his lot as a performer] A lot of people are doing jobs that they're not really happy doing. But it's nice to dream--it's nice to do what you can do, when you can do it, for some kind of fulfillment. Just living and being able to pay your bills and being able to eat--that's a form of success in itself. People who strive to do show biz but still do regular type jobs and they have to do show business on the side, there still is a fulfillment in that. There's an old saying and I believe in it--"Each show that you do is a success within itself". Whether you perform for 100,000 people or for two people--to make them happy and to be able to lift them into another world momentarily--that's a form of success.
Actor/comedian who made a career out of being a Jerry Lewis look-and-sound-alike, so much so that Jerry almost sued him. After a lifetime of working on the fringes of show business, he successfully ran a comedy nightclub, the Nut House, in his adopted home town of Pittsburgh for many years. In that capacity he gave both Richard Pryor and Dennis Miller their starts, and both spoke well of him over the years.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Out to Lunch
1977
Sammy
Keyholes Are for Peeping
1972
Stanley Bebble / Mrs. Bebble (as Samuel Petrillo)
The Brain That Wouldn't Die
1962
Art (uncredited)
Shangri-La
1961
Sammy
Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla
1952
Sammy Petrillo
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
You Can't Kill Stephen King
2012
special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula
1997
Documentary
Himself
It's a Sick, Sick, Sick World
1965
Documentary
Amateur photographer (uncredited)
Seven at Eleven
1951
TV Series
Himself (1951)
The Colgate Comedy Hour
1950
TV Series
Himself - Comic Actor
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Like Father, Like Son
2009/II
Documentary
Himself
Nudes, Nudists, and Nudism Vol. 2
1994
Video documentary episode "Shangri-La"
Death Scenes 2
1992
Video documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Known for movies
Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) as Sammy Petrillo
Keyholes Are for Peeping (1972) as Stanley Bebble / Mrs. Bebble
$1.1 Million
