Actor Nicholas Colasanto was born on January 19, 1924 in Providence, Rhode Island. He joined the Navy during his high school years, and saw action during World War II. After the fighting, he was discharged and returned to Rhode Island to study, and later, graduated from Bryant College. He worked as a construction worker to earn money for his tuition, and upon graduation in 1949, worked as an accountant for an oil company.
After watching Henry Fonda perform on Broadway, he became very interested in acting. Deciding to pursue such a career, he joined a theater group in Phoenix, Arizona, and later moved back to New York to star in off-Broadway productions and television commercials. From the 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles and made his mark both as a dramatic actor and a director. Apart from working on television shows, both in front and behind the camera, he appeared in the films Fat City and Raging Bull.
Colasanto was best known, however, as the forgetful but caring bar regular, Ernie “Coach” Pantusso, in the sitcom Cheers. Brought into the program as a contrast to Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) and a complement to Sam Malone (Ted Danson), he earned three Emmy nominations for each year he appeared on the sitcom. However, on February 12, 1985, he suddenly died after suffering a heart attack. The show’s producers shuffled around the remaining episodes of the fourth season to make Colasanto’s absence less abrupt, but his character was killed off, and he was replaced by a similar character, Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson).