Irmelin Indenbirken
Quick Facts
Biography
George Paul DiCaprio (born October 2, 1943) is an American writer, editor, publisher, distributor, and former performance artist, known for his work in the realm of underground comix. He has collaborated with Timothy Leary and Laurie Anderson. He is the father of American actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
Biography
DiCaprio was born to George Leon DiCaprio (May 14, 1902 – November 18, 1965) and Olga Anne Jacobs (December 23, 1904 – May 16, 1984). His father was the son of Italian immigrants, Salvatore Di Caprio (1866-1966) and Rosina Cassella (1875-1941), and his mother was of German descent.
DiCaprio was active in underground comix throughout the 1970s, as a writer, editor, publisher, and distributor. He is known for such titles as Greaser Comics (Half-Ass Press/Last Gasp), Forbidden Knowledge (Last Gasp), and Cocaine Comix (Last Gasp), collaborating with artists such as Laurie Anderson, Pete von Sholly, and Rich Chidlaw.
He was also a performance artist. Comics writer Harvey Pekar details a DiCaprio performance in Los Angeles in February 1988 where DiCaprio did "a light show using brine shrimp and worms. I'd hit 'em with cold water and they'd move around and I'd project 'em on a wall magnified. It blew people's minds."
DiCaprio played an important role in his son's early career as an actor. He used to screen scripts for him, and was instrumental in getting Leo to play Rimbaud in the 1995 film Total Eclipse.
Personal life
George Paul DiCaprio met Irmelin Indenbirken (born 1945), a German immigrant, in college; the two later married and moved to Los Angeles. The couple had one son, Leonardo DiCaprio, and divorced shortly after, when the boy was a year old. While Leonardo lived mostly with his mother, his parents agreed to live next door so as not to deprive him of his father's presence in his life.
DiCaprio married Peggy Ferrar in 1995, in a ceremony presided over by counterculture icon Timothy Leary. (DiCaprio had collaborated with him on the comic book Neurocomics). DiCaprio is stepfather to Ferrar's son Adam Ferrar.