The $30 million toe in the water

Anthony Guidera, a veteran actor known for his role as a bodyguard in The Godfather Part III, has passed away at 65 after his heart stopped for unknown reasons. Guidera made his movie debut in the third Godfather picture, playing a bodyguard amid a cast that included Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, and Sofia Coppola.

According to his widow, Valarie, Guidera's heartbeat halted on May 11, and he collapsed in the living room of their California residence. He was hospitalized and placed on life support for three weeks before being removed and allowed to die naturally.

The San Francisco-born actor lost his life on Saturday, and according to Valarie, the doctors have been unable to determine why his heart gave out.

A life of action and romance

Guidera made his movie debut in the third Godfather picture, playing a bodyguard amid a cast that included Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, and Sofia Coppola.. In 1995, he featured in the horror movie Species, which starred such names as Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen , Forest Whitaker, and Alfred Molina.

Born in 1961, he broke into Hollywood before the age of 30 with his role in Francis Ford Coppola's 1990 picture The Godfather Part III. He played the bodyguard of rising mafioso Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), who conducts an affair with his first cousin Mary Corleone (Sofia Coppola), the daughter of mob boss Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and his ex-wife Kay (Diane Keaton).

Guidera's lip-lock in that movie with his co-star Natasha Henstridge earned the pair of them the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss in 1996. They beat out such contenders as Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek for Desperado and Winona Ryder and Dermot Mulroney for How to Make an American Quilt.

TV and film credits

Guidera landed a role as the dashing Etienne on Cafe Americain, a short-lived 1990s sitcom starring Valerie Bertinelli as an American waitress in Paris . Over the course of his acting career, he also guest-starred on hit TV shows like ER, on which he is pictured with Goran Visnjic (left) and Maura Tierney (right).

In 1998 Guidera acted in Bay's hit Armageddon, among such names as Steve Buscemi, Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, and Owen Wilson. Over the course of his acting career, he also guest-starred on TV shows ranging from Baywatch and Nash Bridges to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Angel to ER.

Legacy and family

Guidera is survived by his longtime wife Valarie Anderson, who broke the news of his shocking death on her Facebook page, as well as by their son Nick. In 1998 Guidera acted in Bay's hit Armageddon, among such names as Steve Buscemi, Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, and Owen Wilson.

Over the course of his acting career, he also guest-starred on TV shows ranging from Baywatch and Nash Bridges to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Angel to ER. He landed a role as the dashing Etienne on Cafe Americain, a short-lived 1990s sitcom starring Valerie Bertinelli as an American waitress in Paris.