Rockets Redglare
| Rockets Redglare | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Michael Morra May 8, 1949 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 28, 2001 (aged 52) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Rockets Red Glare |
| Occupation | Actor, stand-up comedian |
Rockets Redglare (May 8, 1949 – May 28, 2001) was an American character actor and stand-up comedian. He appeared in over 30 films in the 1980s and 1990s, including a number of independent films, and mainstream films such as After Hours (1984) and Desperately Seeking Susan (1985).
He was born Michael Morra in New York City to a heroin-addicted 15-year-old mother named Agnes Tarulli Morra. While still in utero, he became addicted to heroin, so doctors added an opiate derivative into his baby formula so that he could withdraw from the drug. Morra's father and uncle were career criminals in the Italian-American criminal underworld in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. After his father was deported to his native Italy, Agnes began a relationship with a drug-addicted former boxer who assaulted both young Morra and the mother. Morra also spent time being raised by his Aunt, Faye Tarulli LaCapra, in Lindenhurst, New York along with his cousin Madeline LaCapra. After his mother was killed by her boyfriend, Morra took up the stage name Rockets Redglare, from the fifth line of the US national anthem The Star-Spangled Banner.
From 1970 to 1974, Morra spent time at Kinsman Hall, a drug rehab first located in Hauppauge, New York (early 1968) then moving to Hillsdale, New York (late 1968) and eventually went to its new facility located in Jackman, Maine (mid 1970). He entered the program as a resident and moved up the ranks to be employed as a staff member reaching the position of Assistant Residential Director before leaving to return home to New York. In the late 1970s, Morra spent most of his time in the East Village, where he "became a permanent fixture in the punk and porno film scenes." Morra worked as bouncer at the East Village "Red Bar," as a roadie for a band called The Hassles (with a young Billy Joel), and acted as a bodyguard and drug supplier to punk rock bassist Sid Vicious and artist-musician Jean-Michel Basquiat. The night Sid Vicious allegedly killed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, Morra had delivered forty capsules of Dilaudid to the couple's room at the Chelsea Hotel. In his book, Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk, Phil Strongman states that he believes Redglare was Nancy Spungen's killer.
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