Campanella appeared as a bartender in Mel Brooks' The Producers (1967), starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, and his many film credits included roles in What's So Bad About Feeling Good?

(1968); The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971); The Stone Killer (1973); Capone (1975, as Big Jim Colosimo); Chesty Anderson, USN (1976); Heaven Can Wait (1978); The North Avenue Irregulars (1979); High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane (1980); Death Wish II (1982); Young Doctors in Love (1982); The Flamingo Kid (1984); Nothing in Common (1986); Overboard (1987); Beaches (1988); Blood Red (1989); Pretty Woman (1990) and Dick Tracy (1990).

He helped Robert De Niro learn Sicilian for his role as young Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: Part II (1974).

Over his career, he appeared, often in police roles, in such well-known series as Ironside; Mannix; The Rockford Files; Quincy, M.E.

In 1969, Campanella appeared as Sheriff Quartermine on the TV Series The Virginian in the episode titled "Journey to Scathelock".