NEW YORK (AP) Danny Aiello, the blue-collar character actor whose long career playing tough guys included roles in Fort Apache, the Bronx, Moonstruck and Once Upon a Time in America and his Oscar-nominated performance as a pizza man in Spike Lees Do the Right Thing, has died. He was 86.

Aiello (pronounced eye-YEL-o) died Thursday night after a brief illness, said his publicist, Tracey Miller, who runs Tracey Miller & Associates. The family asks for privacy at this time, she said in a statement.

In a tweet, Cher mourned the man she called a genius comedic actor. The two had starred in Moonstruck and she called it one of the happiest times in my life. Actor Michael Rapaport tweeted that Aiello was a huge inspiration.

Recognizable, if not famous, for his burly build and husky voice, he was an ex-union president who broke into acting in his 30s and remained a dependable player for decades, whether vicious or cuddly or some of each.

His breakthrough, ironically, was as the hapless lover dumped by Cher in Norman Jewisons hit comedy Moonstruck. His disillusion contributed to the laughter, and although he wasnt nominated for a supporting-role Oscar (Cher and Olympia Dukakis won in their categories), Aiello was inundated with movie offers.

Living in New York City gave me training for any role, he said in a 1997 interview. Ive seen people killed, knifed. Ive got scars on my face. I have emotional recall when I work; the idea is simply to recreate it. Ive seen it and experienced it. Ive played gangsters, teachers but most of my work has been in the police area. And for that Im adored by the police in New York City.

The ebullient Aiello became a favorite of several directors, among them Woody Allen, who used him in the Broadway play The Floating Light Globe and the movies Broadway Danny Rose, The Purple Rose of Cairo and Radio Days.

Lee was another admirer and for Do the Right Thing cast Aiello as a pizzeria operator in a black neighborhood of Brooklyn, the movie climaxing with a riot that destroys his eatery. This is my pizzeria! he cried. Lee had first offered the role to Robert De Niro, but Aiellos performance brought him an Oscar nomination for supporting actor.