Cuban-born Milian, whose real name was Tomás Quintín Rodríguez Milián, had been living in the US for some years but made his name in Italy where he worked with film greats such as Alberto Lattuada, Luchino Visconti and Citto Maselli.
Interestingly, it was his broader comic characters, including police inspector Nico Giraldi, which gained him a cult following.
The acclaimed actor was found on Wednesday in his home in Miami at 11:00 pm local time, where doctors said he died of a stroke.
"Last week, the last time I heard from him, he asked me to bring him back to Rome because he had decided he wanted to live the last few years of his life in Rome and die in the city which he had seen for the last time when he was honoured at the Rome Film Fest," his friend Monica Cattaneo said.
Milian, whose wife died in 2012, is survived by his son Tommaso who lives in New York.
With ANSA
