Anthony Guidera died Saturday at age 65 after being taken off life support in a Los Angeles-area hospital, his wife Valarie confirmed. He suffered a heart issue at the couple’s home on May 11, was hospitalized and later removed from life support.
Guidera worked as both an actor and a model. Born in San Francisco on Oct. 18, 1960, he began his on-screen career with a five-month stint as a bodyguard in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part III in 1990 and went on to appear in studio pictures including The Rock and Armageddon.
He is best remembered by many viewers for a 1995 scene in Species in which his character forced Natasha Henstridge’s Sil to kiss him; that moment was singled out at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards. His film credits also include Til There Was You and The Postman, both released in 1997, and a role as a gun seller in The Annihilation of Fish in 1999.
On television Guidera accumulated steady guest work across a range of series: Renegade, Baywatch, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Red Shoe Diaries, Hope & Gloria, Nash Bridges, Acapulco H.E.A.T., Angel, ER and L.A. Dicks. His final listed screen credit is a 2005 episode of L.A. Dicks.
Before his screen work, Guidera spent roughly a decade based in Paris as a model and commercial performer under the name James Guidera, acted in plays there and later studied with Robert Lewis at The Actors Studio in New York. Over the course of his career he worked on projects tied to directors ranging from Coppola to Michael Bay, Kevin Costner and Charles Burnett.
That record frames the friction in how Guidera will be remembered: he is being recalled now as a notable actor-model for moments and credits concentrated in the 1990s, yet his last on-screen credit dates to 2005. The gap between peak recognition and his final listed work is the clearest unresolved note in assessments of his public career.
What precipitated the collapse at his home on May 11 — the specific nature of the heart issue that led to hospitalization and life support — has not been disclosed publicly. Valarie confirmed Guidera’s death but has not announced additional medical details, obituary information or funeral arrangements.
No public memorial or further family statement has been announced. The immediate next development to watch is whether Valarie or representatives provide a medical explanation or plans for services; until then the precise cause behind the May 11 event remains the central unanswered fact of his passing.
