In 1981, Gregg Paravati was standing next to Sylvester Stallone in the control room of the Roosevelt Island Tramway filming a scene for “Nighthawks” when the actor pointed at a pack of cigarettes and asked, “Can I have one of those?”
“I told him, ‘Well, they’re not mine, but you smoke, Rocky?’ ” recalled Paravati. “After that, he never lit up the whole time. I think I embarrassed him a little.”
The Roosevelt Island Tramway celebrated 40 years of service on Tuesday, as did Paravati. The 69-year-old is the only remaining operator who joined the cherry-red machine’s ranks when it first opened in 1976 — and since then he’s never missed a tune-up, maintenance check or celebrity run-in.
In addition to his three weeks with Stallone, the sexagenarian got to know Harrison Ford during the 1990s.
The “Star Wars” actor would show up at 7 a.m. during the week, decked out in shorts and aviator sunglasses to play tennis at the Roosevelt Island Racquet Club.
“He used to come over at least two, sometimes three times a week, and we talked about anything and everything,” he said, citing music and Ford’s time as a carpenter as two popular subjects.
“A few times he’d come in and I would give him a newspaper to cover his face, but the women always caught him and were all over the guy for the next four minutes,” Paravati said with a laugh.
He was referring to the duration of the tram ride, clocking in at exactly four minutes across the East River from the island to East 60th Street and Second Avenue.
Paravati, a Bronx native, also spent a day with R&B singer Faith Evans while she shot her music video for “Can’t Believe.”
“I remember one time between takes she brought up how she used to be married to Biggie Smalls. I said something like ‘Yeah, he was a big guy,’ and she said ‘That boy loved his sweets.’ We both just started cracking up.”
Paravati has also assisted with shoots for “Spider-Man” starring Tobey Maguire, “Law and Order” and “Fear Factor,” and helped with several weddings and proposals.
The tramway veteran was hired on a cold February afternoon in 1976 after becoming curious about the newly erected towers.
“I stopped by just to take a look and believe it or not a manager hired me on the spot,” he said.
The tram had just been built by Colorado-based manufacturers Leitner Poma as a temporary solution for the lack of a subway.
The married father of two has worked the 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift five days a week ever since — except for when the tram shut down for nine months in 2010.
After 69 people were trapped aboard the tram for seven hours in 2006, the whole machine was updated.
“They laid us off and we collected unemployment, but they called all 22 of us back as soon as they were done,” he said.
The new mechanism communicates using Wi-Fi, and each cabin — which can hold up to 110 people and 19,000 pounds — operates independently.
“The original system worked like a pulley, so if one [side] stopped the other stopped,” he said.
It’s the people and the breathtaking scenery that have kept him around over the decades.
“I love talking to people and making new friends. And I never get tired of these views,” he said, gazing out the window. “You should see the skyline when it’s all lit up at night. It’s breathtaking.”
This will likely be his last year.
“I haven’t even told my boss, but I think it’s time,” he said. “I’m sad to say it, but sometimes you have to move on.”