Dick Contino was an accordionist best known for his starring role in the 1958 rock ‘n’ roll film Daddy-O.
Contino played a singer and truck driver who is challenged to a drag race through Griffith Park. The film was scored by John Williams, in his feature debut.
He also had parts in the films The Beat Generation, Girls Town, The Big Night and I Was a Teenage Beatnik.
Additionally, Contino appeared dozens of times on The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as The Rosemary Clooney Show, The Tony Bennett Show, The Jack Paar Tonight Show, The Mike Douglas Show and The Joey Bishop Show.
He was also the subject of a novella by author James Ellroy, Dick Contino's Blues.
Contino died April 19, 2017, in Fresno, California. He was 87.