All in the Family attempted to explain where Vincent Gardenia went

Frank and Irene Lorenzo loved each other, so why did Frank leave the show?

Sony Pictures Television

While the Bunker family was able to stir up some hefty misadventures all by themselves, there was no shortage of neighbors on All in the Family. Characters like The Jefferson family and Irene and Frank Lorenzo often served as a helping hand to characters like Gloria and Edith, and a hilarious foil to Archie's gruff nature.

But some neighbors didn't stay as long as others. While characters like the Jeffersons were mainstays of the series until they departed All in the Family to begin their own show, and Irene was a longtime friend to the Bunkers, her husband, Frank Lorenzo, left the show after only two seasons.

While the character's actor, Vincent Gardenia, left the series to pursue a career on stage, the show was a bit evasive about where Frank had run off to, especially considering his wife, Irene, was often still included in episodes.

According to the book Archie & Edith, Mike & Gloria: The Tumultuous History of All in the Family, written by Donna McCrohan, excuses were sometimes written to explain Frank's absence. "We never really got to explain too clearly where Frank had gone," said Betty Garrett. "There was very often a line in the show where Edith would ask about him, and I'd say 'Oh, he's fine. He'll be home from the road next week,' or something on that order. But during cutting, to make the time come out right, the line always managed to get cut because it wasn't necessary to the plot."

With no indication that Gardenia planned to return to the series, there was a bit of discussion over how to handle his absence, to no avail. "I think at one point there was even talk about dispensing with Frank in some more permanent way," said Garrett. "Of course, because Irene was such a good Catholic, we couldn't get a divorce, but maybe he could have died."

With her husband out of the way, Garrett's character would have had the opportunity to engage with a new love interest, which Lear and the crew briefly dabbled with the idea of "They were going to build a little romance with me and Stretch Cunningham, an interesting older woman/younger man thing," said Garrett. "Then another thing that came up was the possibility of my having a crush on a priest."

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18 Comments

Tanisha32 15 days ago
It doesn't seem like Frank was on for 2 seasons. It seemed like just a couple of episodes. Irene started out saying that she was going home to Frank then she stopped mentioning Frank altogether. Then at some point Irene disappeared too. No explanation for none of the above.
joeyjoejoe 27 days ago
They should have had another actor play frank . They use to do that in shows . There were 2 frau linkmeyers in hogans heroes
Wiseguy70005 joeyjoejoe 22 days ago
But that was just because the actress was temporarily unavailable. The original actress returned. Same with the Bernice Fish character on Barney Miller and the Igor character on M*A*S*H. The actor who played Darrin's father on Bewitched was unavailable so they changed actors. But in the character's final appearance the second actor was unavailable so they went back to the first so both of Darrin's fathers appeared with both Darrins.
joeyjoejoe Wiseguy70005 22 days ago
That was the nicest person gardinia played , he usually played mean guys .
joeyjoejoe Wiseguy70005 22 days ago
I wonder if they could have had a spinoff- “the lirenzos”.
FLETCH 28 days ago
Irene moved on from Frank Lorenzo and went on to marry another Frank. Laverne's pop Frank DeFazio.

She liked her Italian men 😘
cperrynaples FLETCH 27 days ago
Yep, and do you remember she outlasted both Franks? I remember the last season of L&S also had Squiggy without Lenny as well as Laverne without Shirley! They even reshot the Hosenphefer chant!
AnnieM cperrynaples 26 days ago
That was just sad. And for the last few episodes, didn't they just call it 'Laverne'? I remember Penny Marshall dancing alone in the credits, but I've forgotten if they actually did change the title.
top_cat_james_1 28 days ago
Yeah, yeah--But what happened to "wacky neighbor" Clara Weidermeyer---One dingbat too many?
JKMallaber 28 days ago
Irene and Stretch would have been awesome, and could have had their own spinoff together. Irene and the priest never would have been allowed.
Today, maybe. Back then, absolutely not. Even if it had been allowed, I don't think the audience would have bought it, and it wouldn't have lasted.
But with Irene being such a devout Catholic, would she have married Stretch Cunningham, who we learned only after they killed off the character had been Jewish all along?
Yeah, remember when they canceled Bridget Loves Bernie?
Runeshaper 28 days ago
Vincent Gardenia was a GREAT actor!

I like the options for Irene if Frank was "gone" in one way or another.
cperrynaples 28 days ago
Fun Fact: Gardenia played THREE roles on AITF! He was a bigoted neighbor and a wife swapper BEFORE Frank Lorenzo!
CoreyC cperrynaples 28 days ago
He was also the police detective in Death Wish 1 and 2.
cperrynaples CoreyC 27 days ago
Yep, he told Bronson to leave New York in 1 but was killed in 2!
cperrynaples CoreyC 27 days ago
Another Fun Fact: His wife in the second episode was Rue McClanahan BEFORE Maude!
And Bill Macy (Walter) and Marcia Rodd (Carol in the Maude pilot) also appeared in that same season.
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