Palminteri Embarrassed About Swifty Lazar Blunder

The movie star was hired as security at a party Lazar threw at Beverly Hills' Twenty Twenty club - and failed to recognise the man of the night.

Palminteri says, "I didn't let Swifty Lazar into one of his own parties and 15 minutes later he said I was gonna be fired and he was right - 15 minutes later I was fired."

But the embarrassment of the blunder paid off for Palminteri - it inspired him to get out of security and write a play, A Bronx Tale, which has since become a beloved movie and a one-man show the actor is now touring North America with, to rave reviews.

He recalls, "When I went home I was so mad I said, 'I'll just write myself a great part,' because I was running out of money, and I wrote A Bronx Tale."