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"Murphy Brown" Star Pastorelli Dead
Robert Pastorelli, forever known to TV fans as Murphy Brown's sardonic housepainter, has been found dead in his Hollywood Hills home.
The body of the 49-year-old actor was discovered in a bathroom early Monday by his personal assistant. There was no sign of foul play, according to authorities, but the death may have been the result of a drug overdose.
"It's a possible accidental death," says Lt. Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. Winter says drug paraphernalia was found at Pastorelli's home, but the official cause of death will not be known until an autopsy and toxicology tests are completed.
Pastorelli had copped to having a drug problem in his past. The onetime boxer said he was able to clean himself up with the help of his acting, which he honed on the New York stage in the 1970s.
News of Pastorelli's death comes nearly five years after he suffered a personal tragedy. It was in the same Hollywood house in March 1999 that Charemon Jonovich, Pastorelli's live-in girlfriend and mother of his daughter, shot and killed herself in what police ruled an accident. Friends said the incident devastated Pastorelli, who was so shaken he put his career on hold and spent the better part of a year in seclusion.
A New Jersey native, Pastorelli cemented his place in the tube pantheon as Eldin Bernecky, faithful artistic-minded painter, philosopher and advice-dispenser opposite Candice Bergen on CBS' Murphy Brown. Pastorelli costarred on the sitcom from 1988 to 1994--with the rumpled, overall-clad Eldin never quite finishing Murphy's apartment due to his exacting standards--ultimately leaving four years before Murphy signed off for good. He scored an Emmy nomination during his final season on the show.
Before Murphy Brown, Pastorelli plied his trade in one-off roles on such shows as Barney Miller, Miami Vice, The A-Team, Hill Street Blues, Newhart, Night Court, Knight Rider and MacGyver. Film credits included turns with Bette Midler in Outrageous Fortune, Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop II, Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser.
Pastorelli filled his post-Murphy career with more TV work, headlining ABC's failed imported-from-Britain cop series Cracker and costarring in the TV movies Women vs. Men and South Pacific, the latter featured him showing off his singing chops with Glenn Close.
Pastorelli most recently completed a part as a hit man in John Travolta's Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool, due in early 2005.
"MGM and the filmmakers of Be Cool are terribly saddened by the tragic loss of Robert Pastorelli," the studio said in a statement. "He was a pleasure to work with, a wonderful actor, and our hearts go out to his family and friends in this difficult time."
He is survived by his daughter with Jonovich.
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