Joseph Pilato

Joseph Pilato was an American actor who was best known for playing Captain Rhodes in George A. Romero's 1985 cult zombie movie "Day of the Dead." Born and raised in an Italian-American family in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Pilato caught the acting bug in a rather unlikely way. As a young boy he was an altar boy for his Catholic Church in Massachusetts. It was while doing the services in front of a crowd of churchgoers that Pilato came to the realization that he enjoyed being up on stage. When he came of age he took some acting classes at Emerson College and Suffolk University, both of which were in his native Massachusetts, and soon started performing in plays throughout Boston. Feeling limited by the Boston theater scene, Pilato moved to Pittsburgh and quickly immersed himself in the Steel City's burgeoning theater scene. While living in Pittsburgh, Pilato met the director George A. Romero. Romero gave Pilato a cameo role in his 1978 zombie movie "Dawn of the Dead." Romero was so impressed by the hungry young actor that a number of years later he cast Pilato as U.S. Army Captain Rhodes in his cult zombie movie "Day of the Dead" (1985). The part proved to be a breakout role for Pilato and over the next few decades he would appear in a number of genre horror films, including "The Demolitionist" (1995), "The Ghouls" (2003), and "Shhhh" (2014). Pilato also had a small part in Quentin Tarantino's Oscar-winning crime drama "Pulp Fiction" (1994). In addition to his film acting work, Pilato also had a thriving career as a voice actor. He voiced roles in TV cartoons like "BeetleBorgs" (Fox Kids, 1996-98), "Digimon Digital Monster" (Fuji TV, 1999-2000) and "Digimon Adventure 2" (Fuji TV 2000-01). Pilato continued acting well into his late 60s, although none of his later roles would match the cult status he earned by playing Captain Rhodes in "Day of the Dead." In 2018 Pilato made his final screen performance in the low budget action movie "Attack in LA" (2018). Joseph Pilato died in his sleep on March 24, 2019, eight days after his 70th birthday.