Casting Director, Expertise Supervisor Was 88
Al Onorato, who dealt with casting for such TV exhibits as Bewitched, The Partridge Household, Police Story and Fantasy Island and represented Mark Harmon, Kristin Chenoweth and others as a expertise supervisor, has died. He was 88.
Onorato died April 21 in Los Angeles, his nephew Chris Onorato introduced.
Onorato based the Casting Society of America (then often called the American Society of Casting Administrators) with Mike Fenton and Joe Reich in 1982, and he acquired a lifetime achievement award from the group in 2019.
Onorato gained the CSA’s Artios Award for greatest casting for a comedy movie for Bagdad Café (1987), sharing it with Jerold Franks, his companion in Onorato/Franks Impartial Casting.
Alfred Louis Onorato was born in Jersey Metropolis, New Jersey, on Nov. 10, 1935. He graduated from Hackensack Excessive Faculty and Fairleigh Dickinson College, then labored as a web page at NBC Studios in New York Metropolis.
He was a vice chairman in control of expertise and casting at Columbia Photos Tv and labored at Common, CBS and MGM earlier than going off on his personal.
His résumé as a casting supervisor and/or casting director included the sequence Hawaii 5-O, The Wild Wild West, Bridget Loves Bernie, Police Girl, CHiPs, Fame, David Cassidy — Man Undercover, Mr. Merlin and Freddy’s Nightmares and the daytime soaps Normal Hospital, Days of Our Lives and The Younger and the Stressed.
As a expertise supervisor, he assisted Cheryl Ladd, Katie Holmes, David Hasselhoff, Sean Murray, Elijah Wooden, Gregory Harrison and others and was instrumental in rejuvenating the profession of Gwen Verdon. He taught appearing as nicely.
Survivors embrace his siblings, Edward, Ronald and Veronica; sisters-in-law Susan and Helen; and brother-in-law Jack. A celebration of life is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Could 18 at Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.
Donations in his reminiscence could be made to St. Jude Kids’s Analysis Hospital.
