Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Broadway, Strip veteran dies

Each day, young Joe Bellomo would run two city blocks from his home at 513 E. 12th St. in the heart of New York's Little Italy to the local Boys Club.

His friends loved to see him coming because, regardless of what they would do that afternoon at the club, they knew that later they'd go home with Joe, where his mom, Josephine, would serve the best homemade pizza in the neighborhood.

But, for Joe, that old Boys Club on 10th Street meant a lot more because it held his future. He joined the drama class and, by age 10, was starring in club productions. Eight years later, Bellomo was on Broadway in the hit "New Girl in Town." From there, he was tabbed for ruggedly handsome leading roles in theaters from coast to coast.

Joseph Bellomo, whose career in major Las Vegas production shows spanned four decades, including 12 years as lead singer in Bally's "Jubilee," died Sunday of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 58.

Diagnosed in 1992 with the mind-degenerating illness more commonly associated with older victims, Bellomo courageously continued to perform in Jubilee until 1993. The 20-year Las Vegas resident spent his final days at the M. Marian Miller Alzheimer's Center in Las Vegas.

Many of his friends from the old New York neighborhood have told Bellomo's widow, former Las Vegas dancer Diana Saunders-Bellomo, and his 79-year-old mother, who also resides locally, that they are coming to Las Vegas Saturday to say goodbye to their boyhood pal at a 2 p.m. service at Palm Mortuary-Cheyenne.

"Over the years, the guys from the Boys Club remained very close -- they agreed that if it weren't for that place, many of them would have wound up in jail," Saunders-Bellomo said of the tough streets on which her husband and the others were raised.

"I don't think that would have happened to Joe. He wasn't that type. He knew what he wanted out of life."

Longtime theatergoers perhaps will best remember Bellomo for his portrayal of El Gallo in the national tour production of "The Fantasticks," the longest running off-Broadway show in history.

"My husband played -- and really was -- El Gallo, in that he was articulate, soul-searching and street wise," Saunders-Bellomo said. "Joe was proud to have played that lead role in more than 1,000 performances (in the 1960s)."

Joe Dickey, a Los Angeles singer and writer, appeared with Bellomo in "Hallelujah Hollywood" at the old MGM Grand, now Bally's, when Bellomo moved to Las Vegas in 1976.

"Joe always played the hard lead guy, never the soft one, because he was strikingly handsome with chiseled features, black hair and dark eyes," said Dickey, who will deliver the eulogy. "The funny thing was that, away from the stage, Joe was the soft guy -- gentle, helpful to others and a great listener."

Dickey said a production show singer often gets lost amid the spectacular scenery and other performers, but Bellomo stood out because: "His singing voice was so strong that people paid attention to him despite all that was happening around him. He filled the stage with his presence."

A humanitarian, Bellomo often returned to his old neighborhood where he would visit the same Boys Club where he spent his youth. There, he would teach the kids how to make marionette puppets and often would sing for them. In 1993, the Boys Club honored Bellomo with its lifetime achievement award.

Born April 12, 1938, in New York City, Bellomo parlayed his early success in "New Girl" with a sparkling performance in "Once Upon a Mattress," opposite Carol Burnett, and with roles in "South Pacific" and "Guys and Dolls," all on Broadway.

He also became a star in New York's regional theater productions, including "Bye Bye Birdie," where he played the Elvis-like Conrad Birdie, and "Can Can."

In 1967, Bellomo made his first visit to Las Vegas to star in "Sweet Charity," opposite Juliette Prowse, who also died earlier this month. It was in that production that Bellomo, playing Italian movie star Victorio Vidal, met Diana Saunders when they rehearsed the show in New York. Ironically, she had been cast as Ursula, Vidal's girlfriend.

After the play's six-month run at Caesars Palace, Bellomo portrayed Nicky in the national tour of "Funny Girl," opposite Marilyn Michaels as Fanny Brice and Lillian Roth as Fanny's mom.

In 1976, Bellomo returned to Las Vegas to star in "Hallelujah Hollywood." Two years later, he married Saunders.

After fire ravaged the old MGM in November 1980, the Bellomos went on the road in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," where he played the Caesar-like Miles Gloriosus and she portrayed Gymnasia, a dancer.

When the MGM became Bally's, Bellomo returned to open the "Jubilee" show in 1981. Saunders-Bellomo became a dancer in the Siegfried and Roy show, then at the Frontier Hotel.

In the mid-1980s, Bellomo took a leave of absence from "Jubilee" to perform in "Promises, Promises" at the Sahara Hotel with Frank Gorshin and at the Sacramento Music Circus with Desi Aranz Jr.

Bellomo's movie and television credits include "Portrait of a Showgirl," a made-for-TV movie starring Leslie Ann Warren, "Crime Story," "Kojak" and "Vega$." He also did commercials for Canada Dry soda and Nair, where he demonstrated the hair-removal product on one of his legs.

Today, Saunders-Bellomo works as a coordinator at the MGM Grand Theme Park and occasionally directs local theater productions. But in recent years, her attention had been mostly focused on her ailing husband.

"He took care of me for so many years, it was my time to take care of him," Saunders-Bellomo said. "My husband was a down-to-earth man who enjoyed the simple pleasures -- playing with our dogs and riding his horse.

"When we first bought a house in Las Vegas, he said we had to get a horse because these were the wide-open spaces and that was the thing to do. It was something he loved about Las Vegas and something he could never have done in New York."

Bellomo did not talk much about how he wanted to be remembered as an entertainer because, his wife said: "Joe was a humble man, and was not into himself as a performer. He loved to sing. He loved to laugh. He was a giving soul."

In addition to his wife and mother, Bellomo is survived by a son, Scott Bellomo of Santa Monica, Calif.; a daughter, Lisa Bellomo, also of Santa Monica, and a brother, Dominic Bellomo of San Diego.

DONATIONS: In Bellomo's memory to the M. Marian Miller Alzheimer's Center, 2524 E. Hacienda Ave., Las Vegas NV 89120.

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