His resume is pretty amazing at a glance: Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, Once Upon a Time in America, The Untouchables, Falling in Love, Night and the City, Mad Dog and Glory, Casino, Great Expectations, Analyze This… If you guessed Robert De Niro, you’d be absolutely…WRONG. But clearly there’s a common link in all of these films who goes by that name. However I’m actually referring to an actor named Clem Caserta.
At the Chiller Theatre event on October 27, 2012, Mr. Caserta stood on the sideline with a table full of photos, a TV with a video playing, and what appeared to be a small entourage, like a carnival barker advertising his wares. Ten bucks for a signed photo? Sure, that sounds fair…but who exactly are you?
Clem Caserta had actually made it onto my ‘maybe’ list and I was hoping that he had a photo with Robert De Niro, having starred in all of the above films with him. It turns out that’s almost ALL he had. His parts ranged from the likes of “Hitman #1”, “Taxi Driver #2”, and “Guy at Table” to characters with actual names that we really don’t recall seeing: Joe Buddha in Goodfellas, Hansome Jack in Analyze This, Al Capuano in Once Upon a Time in America.
His meatiest of his De Niro roles came in A Bronx Tale, where he both co-starred and directed by De Niro, portraying Jimmy Whispers in A Bronx Tale. This time he had a big enough part that he filmed a direct-to-video spinoff movie called Jimmy Whispers Returns to Mulberry Street in 2004.
But the fact that this man had starred in more films with Robert De Niro was enough for me. Apparently the two were childhood friends, and Clem considers him his friend and mentor. The only catch to the cheap price of the photo was that he was charging an extra $10 for a photo op. I didn’t quite care for this, but went along anyway. I also didn’t care for the fact that all of the (hundreds of) photos on his table were pre-signed. He assured me that they were real – and I really had no doubt – but I figured if I’m paying, I might as well get the pleasure of seeing him sign it, so he added another signature and inscription.
Overall, he was a nice and friendly guy, and I can see him being a special guest at Robert De Niro conventions of the future.
Celeb encounters from the Fall 2012 Chiller Theatre show will continue…
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