Volume III: Biographies

COSTA, Sebastiano *

Actor, studio employee (date?)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Sebastiano Costa played comedy roles for Thanhouser and at one time was a janitor at the studio.

Biographical Notes: The following obituary appeared in Variety, July 24, 1935: "Sebastiano Costa, 59, died in New Rochelle Hospital July 18 [1935], of a heart attack. He was a familiar figure as a comic cop in old Thanhouser film comedies 30 years ago. Costa, who weighed 300 pounds, was a janitor at the Thanhouser studios when selected for a comedy role. Since retirement 20 years ago he had been engaged in fruit vending...."

At the time of his death he lived at 43 Charles Street in New Rochelle. An obituary in The New York Times, July 19, 1935, datelined New Rochelle, gave further information: "Mr. Costa was a janitor weighing 300 pounds when the Thanhouser company first started making pictures here 30 years ago and was picked out of a crowd of extras one day and made a comic cop,' a role which he played in many pictures."

The New Rochelle Standard-Star, July 18, 1935, noted in part: "Sebastiano Costa, known to thousands in all parts of the world as a cop in the old Thanhouser moving pictures, died yesterday.... He collapsed on the sidewalk in front of 122 Union Avenue at 4 p.m. in front of the stationery store operated by his brothers, Paul and Christopher. He was pronounced dead upon arrival of a New Rochelle Hospital ambulance.... Mr. Costa had been suffering for some time from coronary thrombosis and chronic myocarditis, Dr. Drake's autopsy revealed.

"Mr. Costa entered his moving picture career through a fortuitous circumstance. He was employed as a janitor at the old Thanhouser studios on Main Street, when the makers of the flickies found they needed a man to fill the role of a policeman. Mr. Costa was the obvious choice. Weighing more than 300 pounds at that time, he was capable of substantial and gratifying portrayals of the typical village cop of olden days. Playing in that role in a number of comedies, he gained widespread fame. In recent years, Mr. Costa determined his weight was unsuitable for the fruit business in which he engaged, and by means of a vegetable diet and a limit of two meals a day he reduced to 250 pounds and maintained his weight at that level.

"Born in Italy, he was the son of the late Domenico and Antoinette Mercurio Costa. He came to this country with his parents at the age of 11, but returned to Italy after a brief period and served for four years in the Italian Navy as a gunner until he was 24. He weight was only normal in those days. Returning to this country in 1900, he lived in Mount Vernon for about three years, then came to New Rochelle.... His work at the studios was to him but an interlude in his chosen profession as a fruit dealer. For many years he was a familiar character to residents throughout this vicinity, peddling fruits and vegetables. Keeping abreast of the times, he changed about 1918 from a horse and wagon to a truck. About a year ago he turned the business over to his sons and retired."

Although Costa may have played in many pictures, he was not featured in Thanhouser publicity. New Rochelle city directories from 1913 to 1915 list his occupation as huckster and his residence as 153 Union Avenue. At his death, Sebastiano Costa was survived by his wife, Mary (Mormino) Costa; a daughter, Mrs. Anthony Mercurio; four sons: Domenick, Joseph, Paul, and Vincenzo; two sisters: Mrs. Peter Palmisano and Mrs. Anastasia Mormino; and three brothers: Paul, Christopher, and Michael.

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