George DiCaprio | |
---|---|
Born |
George Paul DiCaprio November 30, 1943 |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Writer, editor, publisher, distributor |
Known for | underground comix |
Notable work |
Greaser Comics Forbidden Knowledge Cocaine Comix |
Spouse(s) | Irmelin Indenbirken (divorced) Peggy Ferrar (m. 1995) |
Children | Leonardo DiCaprio |
Parent(s) | George Leon DiCaprio (father) Olga Anne Jacobs (mother) |
George Paul DiCaprio (born November 30, 1943) is an American writer, editor, publisher, distributor, and former performance artist, known for his work in the realm of underground comix, where he collaborated with such notables as Timothy Leary and Laurie Anderson. He is the father of American actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
DiCaprio was born to George Leon DiCaprio (May 14, 1902 – November 18, 1965), the son of Italian immigrants, Salvatore Di Caprio and Rosina Cassella, and a German-born mother, Olga Anne Jacobs (December 23, 1904 – May 16, 1984).
DiCaprio was active in underground comix throughout the 1970s, as a writer, editor, publisher, and distributor. He is known for such titles as Greaser Comics (Half-Ass Press/Last Gasp), Forbidden Knowledge (Last Gasp), and Cocaine Comix (Last Gasp), collaborating with artists like Laurie Anderson, Pete von Sholly, and Rich Chidlaw.
He was also a performance artist. Comics writer Harvey Pekar details a DiCaprio performance in Los Angeles in February 1988 where DiCaprio did "a light show using brine shrimp and worms. I'd hit 'em with cold water and they'd move around and I'd project 'em on a wall magnified. It blew people's minds."
DiCaprio played an important role in his son's early career as an actor. He used to screen scripts for him, and was instrumental in getting Leo to play Rimbaud in the 1995 film Total Eclipse.
George Paul DiCaprio met Irmelin Indenbirken, a German immigrant, in college; the two later married and moved to Los Angeles. The couple had one son, Leonardo DiCaprio, and divorced shortly after. He married Peggy Ferrar in 1995, in a ceremony presided over by counterculture icon Timothy Leary (with whom DiCaprio also collaborated on the comic book Neuroscience). DiCaprio is step-father to Ferrar's son Adam Ferrar.