Philly filmmaker dies 'suddenly in his sleep' at age 45 on Thanksgiving; Frank Tartaglia had been in 'good health,' family says

 Frank Tartaric, a filmmaker and beloved fixture in the south Philadelphia arts scene, died suddenly last week, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

 Here's how writer, Mike New all, described Tartaglia's passing:

On Thanksgiving Day, just weeks after his first major film headlined the Philadelphia Festival to positive reviews, Frank Tartaglia died suddenly in his sleep at his family home in South Philadelphia. He was 45. The family said they did not yet know the cause of death. Family members said he had been in good health and was excited about the success of his film.

Who was Tartaglia?

  Tartaglia was described as a "writer, filmmaker, comedian, painter, singer, and arts enthusiast who first found show business success as a childhood performer," the Inquirer said, adding that he was "celebrated as much for his endless originality, sweet nature, and outgoing personality as for his openness about the struggles of living a creative life and his unflagging encouragement for those who chose the same path."

Tartaglia's brother Joseph died in 2013 at the age of 44 after a six-month bout with an aggressive form of brain cancer, the paper added.

 "That spirit, that energy, the color they brought to the entire neighborhood—it’s irreplaceable," Peter Pelullo, co-owner of Connie's Rich, Rico club with the Tartaglia brothers, told the Inquirer. "There is never going to be another Frankie—his whole spirit was creative."

 The Rich, Rico—a storefront near Ninth and Washington that the Tartaglia brothers' dad gave them in 2006—became a gathering spot for local artists but closed permanently during the pandemic in 2021, the paper said.

 "It really did become a sort of public living room on Ninth Street for artists," improve comedian PK Kelly recalled to the Inquirer. "If there was a crack in the door, I would pop in to find something special happening behind the doors."

By the age of 11, Frank Tartaglia had entered an HBO kids' comedian contest; at 15, he and a friend won the $10,000 grand prize on "America's Funniest People," and soon he was writing for the MTV comedy show "Squirt TV," according to the paper.

 He also fronted a rock band, the Discount Heroes, as the Inquirer noted. Here's a clip of Tartaglia (left) singing with cofounder of the group Robert Bogus in 2011: 

He was "endlessly fascinating, a Dickens character straight out of South Philly, full of droll self-awareness and a never-ending knack for helping to amplify the creative spark of hundreds of dreamers who wandered in and out of Connie's Rich, Rico over the years," said James Doolittle, a Philadelphia producer and longtime friend, to the paper.

Over the years, Tartaglia also worked on a number of film projects, and the Inquirer reported that his first significant film was the just-released crime drama "Not for Nothing," starring actor Mark Webber and Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Not for Nothing," with Tartaglia and others providing commentary. Pelullo told the newspaper that he was going to be huge for Nothing," with Tartaglia and Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Not for Nothing, with commentary from Tartaglia and others. "It hasn't happened yet, but it's going to be huge," Pelullo added to the paper.