Orestes R (Rusty) D'Anna

Rusty2

• Death Notes
  • Memorial Article on Uncle Rusty
    Added by Richard Lindsay on 20 Mar 2007
    San Jose Mercury News (CA)
    February 20, 1998
    
    ORESTE OTTAVIO D'ANNA, WITTY, ENGAGING
    PRESENCE IN LITTLE THEATER AND LIFE
    
    Author: MACK LUNDSTROM, Mercury News Staff
    Writer
    Edition: Morning Final
    Section: Local
    Page: 5B
    
    Index Terms:
    OBITUARY LIST
    
    For Oreste Ottavio D'Anna, the role was
    indistinguishable from the real.
    
    Oft on stage, sometimes not, he was Robin
    Goodfellow,the shrewd and knavish elf of
    mixed-up magic potionsin William
    Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's
    Dream.''
    
    Mr. D'Anna played the part in the Santa
    Clara Valley many times in the 74 years
    before his death Friday.Almost always, his
    friends and family said, he delivered.
    ''O we have a desperate need of laughter,''
    the line goes. ''Give us laughter, Puck!''
    
    ''Rusty'' D'Anna could find fun in almost
    any circumstance and acted out his humor
    wherever he worked, mostly as a bartender,
    or in the roles he played in little
    theaters throughout the valley.
    
    But his sprite-like 5-foot-5 frame as Puck
    was his most fitting role, said Lila Lloyd,
    who appeared on stage with him many times.
    ''Even in older age, he was perky and
    agile,'' she said. ''The last time I went
    to see him, I couldn't get over how small
    he ! was; he looked too tiny. When I was on
    stage with him, he seemed like a giant.''
    
    The two played together in such productions
    as ''Guys and Dolls,'' ''Song of Norway''
    and ''The Fortune Teller.''
    
    Moreover, he was in demand in the area
    theatrical community for his versatility,
    she said. ''Almost invariably, he got the
    character roles,'' Lloyd said. ''He
    was able to do crazy things and get away
    with it.''
    
    Rusty D'Anna was born in San Jose, the last
    of the eight sons and two daughters of
    Biaggio and Giuseppina D'Anna, immigrants
    from Sicily and Tunisia. He went to
    Gardner Grammar School, then Woodrow Wilson
    Junior High, where he met Paul Corbisiero.
    ''He was quite a character, and we were
    friends for many years,'' said
    Corbisiero, who was a longtime Teamsters
    Union official in San Jose. ''He was an
    entertainer's entertainer -- played the
    piano, accompanied me when I auditioned. I
    would always use Rusty because he could
    follow anybody.''
    
    At San Jose High, Rusty appeared on stage,
    but also instigated the change of the
    school colors from purple and white to red
    and gray, Corbisiero said.
    
    Mr. D'Anna's acting interest found its way
    to the tutelage of Dorothea Johnston, whose
    Theater of the Glade helped such Hollywood
    stars as sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia
    de Havilland get their start.
    
    De Havilland first played Puck for Johnston
    in 1934, and then in 1940, Rusty D'Anna
    found his signature role in Puck for
    Johnston.
    
    Rusty D'Anna went to San Jose State College
    for a time and did some acting, but mostly
    he became a draw at several of his late
    brothers' bars in San Jose. He also
    worked at nightspots such as the Club
    Lanai, Original Joe's and Lou's Village,
    Corbisiero said, always pulling his
    customers wherever he went with one-line
    impersonations of characters like ''Gary
    Coopertino.''
    
    And he always wanted to write a book
    called, ''Once Upun a Time,'' said Lloyd.
    
    Over the years, Mr. D'Anna also directed
    productions for various theater groups and
    acted in San Jose Light Opera Company
    performances before it became the
    American Musical Theatre, as well as at
    Foothill College.
    
    He was more than an uncle to Melody
    D'Anna-Geary, daughter of his brother, Mel.
    
    ''He's just my second dad in many ways,''
    she said. ''I could talk to him; he was
    gentle and understanding -- somebody I
    could count on.''
    
    Mr. D'Anna had gone to Modesto to stay with
    his nephew, Jim D'Anna, and attend a
    wedding, when he died in his sleep,
    apparently of arteriosclerosis.
    
    ''He had been married,'' said D'Anna-Geary,
    who lives in Santa Cruz, ''but it never
    worked out, and he never had children. I
    think his concern was his family. I think
    of him as a guardian angel.''
    
    Memo:
    Born: Jan. 3, 1924, San Jose, Calif.
    Died: Feb. 14, 1998, Modesto, Calif.
    Survived by: Numerous nieces, nephews and
    cousins.
    Services: Visitation at noon, funeral at
    2:30 p.m. today
    at Oak Hill Funeral Home's Chapel of the
    Oaks, 300
    Curtner Ave., San Jose.
    
    
    Copyright (c) 1998 San Jose Mercury News
    Record Number: 9802230039