Ralph Wesley Foody (November 13, 1928 – November 21, 1999) was an American character actor, known to film audiences for his roles in various Chicago-shot productions during the 1980s and 1990s. He was best known for playing the 1930s gangster Johnny in Home Alone (1990) and its first sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).
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Early life and education
Ralph Wesley Foody was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 13, 1928. He graduated with a journalism degree from Marquette University and studied acting at the Goodman Theatre.
Career
Foody appeared had a prolific stage career, appearing in various regional, touring, and repertory productions throughout Illinois and the Midwest. During the 1960s, he was a member of the Peninsula Players in Door County, Wisconsin.
One of his more prominent film parts was as the alcoholic and negligent Detective Cragie in the Chuck Norris action movie Code of Silence. Foody also played a police dispatcher in The Blues Brothers and a police captain in the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Raw Deal. He appeared in three films directed by Andrew Davis, and two by Costa-Gavras.
He played 1930s mobster Johnny in the 1990 film Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York in 1992. As Johnny, Foody appears in two black-and-white gangster films-within-the-films Angels with Filthy Souls and its sequel Angels with Even Filthier Souls (both are a parody of the 1938 film Angels with Dirty Faces by Warner Bros.). His appearances are notable for the famous catchphrases 'Keep the change ya filthy animal' and 'Merry Christmas ya filthy animal – and a Happy New Year'. His appearance in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was also his final acting role. Originally, he was intended to play Snakes, the character whom Johnny kills in the first Angels with Filthy Souls and Michael Guido was intended to play Johnny. However, having just undergone a knee replacement surgery, he was unable to do the death scene where Snakes drops to his knees, leading to the roles being reversed.
Personal life and death
Foody married his wife Jan in 1956, the couple had two children.
After 1991, Foody retired from show business and moved with his wife to Lexington, Kentucky, where the two helped found the Ballet Theatre.
Foody died of cancer in Lexington, on November 21, 1999, at the age of 71.
