CBSMario Machado, the veteran Los Angeles TV anchor who parlayed his newsman persona into an erstwhile career playing journalists in films such as Scarface and RoboCop, has died. He was 78.
Machado, who reportedly had been suffering from Parkinson's disease, passed away Saturday at a convalescent home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of West Hills due to complications from pneumonia, his daughter Michelle confirmed to The Los Angeles Times.
Born in Shanghai, the longtime newsman, who was of Chinese-Portuguese descent, became L.A.'s first Asian-American anchor, and he enjoyed a thriving career in the 1960s and 1970s working for KCBS-TV and other local stations.
He also found Hollywood fame on both the small and big screens. Machado often appeared in TV shows playing newsmen and commentators—he nabbed roles in series like The Golden Girls and Wonder Woman.
Machado also scored screen time in such films as Rocky III and Oh, God!, among others.