Stocky character actor Victor Argo began his career on the stage before segueing to features and TV, where he found steady employment frequently cast as ethnic heavies, gangsters and law enforcement officers, often under the direction of such auteurs as Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen and Abel Ferrara.
After making his debut as a snarling railroad detective in the Roger Corman-produced, Martin Scorsese-directed "Boxcar Bertha" (1972), Argo often played rough and tumble urban types like one of the young hoods that ran with Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro down New York's "Mean Streets" (1973) and the baseball bat-wielding deli owner in "Taxi Driver" (1976), both for Scorsese. An atypical appearance under that director's gaze was the actor's fine turn as the Apostle Peter in the controversial "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988).
Although usually relegated to brief appearances (in films ranging from director-writer Martin Brest's impressive debut "Hot Tomorrows" (1977) to 1985's "Desperately Seeking Susan"), Argo has on occasion landed meatier roles, perhaps most notably as Tracey Ullman's widowed father in Nancy Savoca's richly rendered portrait of an Italian-American family "Household Saints" (1993), one of a group of aging gangsters in "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" (1999), the skeptical buddy of a sixtysomething who answers a personal ad in "Fast Food, Fast Women" (2000) and the abusive father of Jennifer Lopez's police detective in the thriller "Angel Eyes" (2001).
Milestones
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1972 Feature debut in "Boxcar Bertha"; first of six appearances (to date) under Martin Scorsese's direction
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1973 Appeared in "Mean Streets"; first of 11 film appearances (to date) alongside Harvey Keitel; film directed by Scorsese
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1974 TV-movie debut in "Smile Jenny, Your Dead", the pilot for the ABC series "Harry-O"
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1976 Appeared as a deli owner in "Taxi Driver"
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1979 Played featured role in the Bette Midler vehicle "The Rose"
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1986 Co-starred in the HBO film "Florida Straits"
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1988 Portrayed the Apostle Peter in the controversial Scorsese-directed "The Last Temptation of Christ"
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1989 Appeared as a detective in Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors"
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1989 Debut as regular in short-lived drama series, "Dream Street" (NBC)
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1989 Last screen work with Scorsese to date, the "Life Stories" segment of the omnibus film "New York Stories"
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1990 First of four features (to date) under the direction of Abel Ferrara, "King of New York"
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1991 Had featured role in the syndicated TV miniseries "Vendetta: Secrets of a Mafia Bride"
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1993 Co-starred in "Household Saints", directed by Nancy Savoca
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1995 Played the owner of a Brooklyn cigar store in "Smoke" and its follow-up "Blue in the Face"
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1995 Reteamed with director Nancy Savoca on the ABC TV-movie "Dark Eyes"
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1996 Again worked under the direction of Abel Ferarra in "The Funeral"
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1999 Cast as an aging gangster in "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai"
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2000 Played the skeptical buddy of a older man who answers a personal ad in "Fast Food, Fast Women", directed by Amos Kollek
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2001 Cast as the heroine's father in "Angel Eyes", starring Jennifer Lopez
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2001 Reteamed with Kollek to play the romantic lead in "Queenie in Love"; screened at Cannes
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Worked as a stage actor in NYC and in regional theaters