A warm, familiar face to American TV and film audiences, Grifasi is known as much as for his supporting parts as for his frequent TV commercials. Trained at the prestigious Yale School of Drama, he was on the New York stage almost immediately upon receiving his MFA, although he continued to return to The Yale Rep to appear in stage productions well into the 1980s. He is perhaps best remembered for his supporting performance in Rupert Holmes' "The Mystery of Edwin Drood/Drood" (1985-86) in which he performed the rousing "Off to the Races" number.Grifasi broke into feature films as the
