Dan Tana — the professional soccer player turned restaurateur, whose Italian hot spot was beloved by Hollywood stars — has died at age 90. His namesake restaurant, Dan Tana’s, posted about his death on Facebook on Saturday, Aug. 16.
His daughter Gabrielle said that he died from cancer at a hospital in Belgrade, Serbia, the New York Times reported.
Tana is survived by his wife of 19 years, Biljana, and daughters Gabrielle and Katerina.
The Facebook tribute, attributed to the restaurant’s staff, described Tana’s career journey, playing soccer across Europe before moving to the U.S. and working his way up from a dishwasher to a waiter to a maître d’ at various Hollywood restaurants. All the while, he took English and drama classes, the tribute explained.
He worked for A-lister-frequented hot spots, including La Scala, The Villa Capri and Le Petit Jean before opening up his own restaurant. “He created a very magical place. Our beloved little yellow house will forever feel his presence,” the tribute read.
The obituary explained that Tana had “wonderful stories” about Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. “This man is a legend, and as you know a legend never dies,” the post read.
Tana was born as Dobrivoje Tanasijević on May 26, 1935, in a town near Belgrade, which was then Yugoslavia and now Serbia. As a teenager, he played soccer across Europe and Canada but moved to the U.S. to pursue acting after winning a poker game, per the New York Times.
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He had some acting roles while working in restaurants before opening Dan Tana’s Restaurant in 1964 in West Hollywood, according to Deadline. The intimate Italian spot became a popular restaurant to stars like Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Cameron Diaz and more.
“I came to Dan Tana’s when I was 16 years old. It was the first restaurant I ever ate in in Los Angeles,” Diaz told The Hollywood Reporter when celebrating the restaurant’s 50th anniversary.
Some celebs even earned their name on menu items, like “Veal Cutlet, Milanese, alla George Clooney” (Clooney held his 2006 Oscars party at the restaurant) or “Calamari, Fritti or Sautéed all Rick Hilton.”
Tana sold the restaurant to Sonja Perencevic in 2009. The restaurant’s obituary praised Perencevic for keeping the restaurant “exactly the same,” and Tana complimented her of the same thing in various interviews. Following the sale, Tana retired to Belgrade.
