F. Chaliapin Jr.; Character Actor in Films

Feodor Chaliapin Jr., the character actor best known as the stoic grandfather who compulsively walked a small herd of dogs in the 1987 film “Moonstruck,” has died.

The Associated Press reported from Rome on Thursday that the son of fabled operatic basso Feodor Chaliapin was 87 when he died Sept. 17 in that city.

He had lived in Rome for nearly half a century, traveling to the United States for his handful of film appearances.

Russian-born, Chaliapin immigrated with his family (there were five children) to Paris in 1922. But he soon left for Hollywood to try his fortune away from the shadow of his famous father.

He started acting in silent movies, where his accented English would not be a problem. He went on to establish himself as a character actor and played many minor roles in Italian films.

He and many fellow European actors had returned to the continent when television became dominant in the entertainment industry. “Instead of working with a new medium,” he told The Times in 1988, “they made war on it and lost. The American actors went to New York and the rest of us came to Europe.”

Chaliapin’s American career resumed and blossomed. It took off in 1986 when, already in his 80s, he was chosen to play the role of the blind, murderous monk Jeorge of Burgos in the thriller “The Name of the Rose,” which also starred Sean Connery and F. Murray Abraham.

Next came the role in “Moonstruck,” starring Cher and Nicholas Cage. Other roles included playing Robert De Niro’s father in “Stanley and Iris,” and a character in “Inner Circle,” starring Tom Hulce.

In “Moonstruck,” probably his most memorable appearance, he was known only as the Old Man. He is seen gathering up his five dogs--of varied breeds--to take them to a nearby river where all six howl at the moon.

Fond of feeding his pets from the table, he was responsible for one of the film’s more memorable lines. The family is at the dinner table and he is seen slipping morsels to the dogs. “Old Man,” says his daughter-in-law (Olympia Dukakis) without looking up, “if you give another piece of my food to those dogs, I’m gonna kick you till you’re dead.”

The picture won five Golden Globe nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. and Cher, Dukakis and screenwriter John Shanley won Academy Awards.

Chaliapin, who is is survived by a twin sister, was bemused by the accolades. He pronounced the romantic comedy “naive.”