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John Aprea, whose acting career landed him roles on “Godfather Part II” and “Full House,” died on Aug. 5 of natural causes in Los Angeles. He was 83.

His death was confirmed by Will Levine, Aprea’s manager.

Born in 1941 to Italian immigrants in Englewood, N.J., Aprea spent part of his early years in Italy before his family resettled back in the States. In the early 1960s, he set out to pursue his passion, acting, enrolling in Joshua Shelley’s acting classes (who also taught Mia Farrow and Jon Voight) in New York. Eventually, he would land a role in the 1968 Steve McQueen classic film Bullitt, playing Killer.

After his splashy debut, Aprea found acting work on sets for the 1970s TV series “Mannix,” the 1970s film “The Grasshopper,” and Jonathan Demme’s 1974 feature, “Caged Heat.”

John’s career took off when he was cast as the young Tessio in Francis Ford Coppola...

Like Night of the Hunter, Tod Browning’s Freaks or Leonard Kastle’s The Honeymoon Killers, The Road to Yesterday can be ranked among the UFOs of cinema. It’s place in the heart of Cecil B. DeMille’s work proves to be in itself very distinctive. We know that, during his entire life, DeMille had virtually only one producer—Paramount (the former Famous Players Lasky)—just like Minnelli was MGM’s man and Corman American International’s. Sixty-three of his films (out of seventy) were produced at Paramount. And, oddly enough, it is among the seven outsiders, situated within a brief period from 1925 to 1931, that his best activity is to be found (I’m thinking of Madam Satan, The Godless Girl, and The Road to Yesterday)–his most audacious undertakings. To top it off, for this uncontested king of the box office, his best films were his biggest commercial failures.