On permanent hiatus.

Saint Ann's Cemetery (Section 31, Lot 211), 73 Church Street, Cranston
(401) 942-3625

Nicholas Colasanto, who played Ernie "Coach" Pantusso on Cheers, died at his home in Los Angeles on February 12, 1985, of a heart attack. One of seven children, he grew up in Rhode Island and briefly attended Central High School in Providence before joining the Navy. Upon his discharge he returned to Rhode Island to finish his high school education, then went on to earn a degree from Bryant College. He worked his way through school doing construction work and upon graduation in 1949 he took a job as an accountant.

Then he happened to see Henry Fonda perform on Broadway. The experience caused him to completely alter his career plans.

Nicholas (or Nicky, as he was called on the set) went on to enjoy a long and distinguished career as an actor and director prior to landing his role on Cheers. Perhaps his most famous film role was as Mob boss Tommy Como in Raging Bull, but he also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot and directed over 100 episodes of television shows such as Columbo, Bonanza, and The Streets of San Francisco.

Colasanto played the befuddled but likable ex-baseball coach-turned-bartender on Cheers for only the first three seasons. Asked once why he was called Coach, he replied that he never flew first class.

The last Cheers episode in which he appeared was "Cheerio Cheers," which aired April 11, 1985. For the rest of the season after his death, scriptwriters sidestepped the issue of Coach's absence by having him "visiting relatives" or "getting his driver's license renewed."

Colasanto continued to have a presence, of a sort, on the set, right up through the very last episode of the show, which aired May 20, 1993. According to The Show Must Go On by Douglas Snauffer:

His Cheers family was determined to see that Colasanto would not be forgotten on the series. The actor had a little cubby hole in his dressing room where he'd displayed a photo of Geronimo, the famous black and white shot of the Apache leader down on one knee holding his rifle. When Colasanto died the cast went to his dressing room and removed the photo so it could become a permanent fixture on the Cheers bar set, hung on stage near the piano, "so it would always be there," says [Ted] Danson. "later, when we were shooting the very last episode, after Sam walks back and says we're closed, our director James Burrows blocked it so on my way back out of the bar I stop and straighten the photo, so that Nicky was represented right to the end."

Incidentally, Cheers has at least one other Rhode Island connection: the character of Carla Maria Victoria Angelina Teresa Apollonia Lozupone Tortelli LeBec, played by Rhea Perlman, once admitted that she grew up in Providence's Federal Hill neighborhood.

When you visit Nicholas at Saint Ann's Cemetery in Cranston, mind you don't feed the geese. Even if you don't mean to, you will be encouraging them to commit disrespectful acts.

Bryant College's Class of 1985 chose to honor Nicholas Colasanto by dedicating a common room on the second floor of Bryant Center, dubbed "Nick's Place," to the famous alumnus. The room, which contains a television surrounded by heavy institutional couches and benches, is decorated with sports posters and pennants. It also houses a small shrine to the man himself, located on the wall to the right of the entrance.

Along with a dedication plaque and a photo of Nick in a Bryant sweatshirt, there are two framed artifacts—a Bryant College tie and an apron—both apparently once worn by Colasanto in his Coach role. The apron is signed by Cheers co-stars Kirsty Alley, John Ratzenberger, Rhea Perlman, George Wendt, Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson, and Roger Rees, and dedicated "In memory of our dear Nicky. We miss you pal."

Colasanto's Inscriptions

Grave Inscription

JOSEPH COLASANTO
1917 - 1964
NICHOLAS COLASANTO
1924 - 1985

Dedication plaque text

NICK'S PLACE
Dedicated to the
BRYANT COMMUNITY
In Memory of
NICHOLAS COLASANTO '49
By The Class of 1985

Sweatshirt photo plaque text

NICK'S PLACE
DEDICATED TO
NICHOLAS COLASANTO
BRYANT COLLEGE CLASS OF 1949
CAST MEMBER OF THE COMEDY SERIES
"CHEERS"

This article last edited August 21, 2015