Tony Lo Bianco
| Tony Lo Bianco | |
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Lo Bianco (left) with Don Meredith in Police Story, 1975.
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| Born | October 19, 1936 Brooklyn, NY, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
Tony Lo Bianco (born October 19, 1936) is an American actor in films and television.
Contents
Life and career
Lo Bianco was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a housewife mother and a taxi driver father.[1][2] He is known for his tough guy roles in the cult films The Honeymoon Killers, God Told Me To, and The French Connection. Lo Bianco was a Golden Gloves boxer and also founded the Triangle Theatre in 1963, serving as its artistic director for six years and collaborating with lighting designer Jules Fisher, playwright Jason Miller and actor Roy Scheider.[3] Lo Bianco won an off-Broadway Obie award for "Yanks-3, Detroit-0, Top of the Seventh." Most notably, Lo Bianco was nominated for a Tony for his portrayal of Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge.[4] He also won the 1983 Outer Critics Circle Award for this performance.[5]
Lo Bianco first portrayed the larger-than-life 1934-1945 mayor of New York City Fiorello H. LaGuardia in a one-man show, Hizzoner!, written in 1984 by Paul Shyre. The play closed in 1989 after 12 Broadway performances.[6]
Lo Bianco continued his work on the life of LaGuardia in a revised [6] revival of the play in 2008, titled LaGuardia.[7] His third incantation of the mayor's life that had a limited run Off-Broadway in October 2012, titled The Little Flower.[8] Lo Bianco has been constantly rewriting the play, which he purchased from Shyre's estate, and he views it as “a vehicle to express my concerns for the public and the political mess that we’re in, which we continue to be in I think, and try to relate answers to failure.” He has performed it in Moscow shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union, and in 2015 was scheduled to perform it in Italy.[6]
Lo Bianco was a regular in Joseph Wambaugh's TV series Police Story in the mid 70's, opposite actors Don Meredith and Chuck Connors.
A New York Times profile in 2015 reported that Lo Bianco was at work on a one-man show playing himself, and a film script about his early life.[6]
Personal life
Lo Bianco, an Italian American,[9] was the National Spokesperson for the Order Sons of Italy in America.[10] His many humanitarian efforts have earned multiple awards, including Man of the Year for Outstanding Contributions to the Italian-American Community from the Police Society of New Jersey; a Man of the Year Award from the State of New Jersey Senate; a Lifetime Entertainment Award form the Columbus Day Parade Committee; the 1997 Golden Lion Award; Humanitarian Award of the Boys' Town of Italy.[11]
Lo Bianco tends to be politically conservative, though he distrusts political labeling as "too simplistic and it’s an escape. An escape from responsibility.”[6] In October 2014, he opposed the Metropolitan Opera's decision to stage the controversial play The Death of Klinghoffer, which he desdcribed as “outrageous” because it tries “to justify the killing of a helpless man in a wheelchair because he happens to be Jewish.”[12]
Lo Bianco was married from 1964 - 1999 to Dora Landey. They had 3 daughters. He was married to Elizabeth Fitzpatrick from 2000 - 2009. He married his current wife, Alyse Best Muldoon, in June, 2015.
Filmography
Film
- Star! (1968)
- A Fine Pair (1968)
- The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
- The French Connection (1971)
- The Seven-Ups (1973)
- Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1973)
- The Story of Jacob and Joseph (1974)
- God Told Me To (1976)
- Goldenrod (1976)
- Merciless Man (1976)
- Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
- F.I.S.T (1978)
- Bloodbrothers (1978)
- Separate Ways (1981)
- City Heat (1984)
- Blood Ties (1986)
- Body of Evidence (1988)
- City of Hope (1991)
- Boiling Point (1993)
- Nixon (1995)
- Tyson (1995)
- The Juror (1996)
- Mafia! (1998)
- Rocky Marciano (1999)
- Friends and Family (2001)
- Endangered Species (2002)
- The Cruelest Day (2003)
- Kill the Irishman (2011)
Television
- Get Smart (1966)
- Police Story (1974-1976)
- The Streets of San Francisco (1975) (Episode: "Solitaire")
- Today's F.B.I. (1981) (Pilot-episode: "The Bureau")
- Hizzoner! (1984)
- The Twilight Zone (1985) (Episode: "If She Dies")
- Palace Guard (1991)
- Murder, She Wrote (1991, 1994)
- Homicide: Life on the Street (1995)
- Making the Connection: Untold Stories of 'The French Connection' (2001)
- Law & Order (1992, 1997, 2002)
- The Engagement Ring (2005)
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2007)
References
- ↑ Search Results
- ↑ http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Interview-Tony-Lo-Bianco-Creating-Magic-with-THE-LITTLE-FLOWER-20130313?PageSpeed=noscript
- ↑ http://tonylobianco.com/biography
- ↑ http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=23993
- ↑ http://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0516215/bio
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://iaonevoice.blogspot.com/2008/11/tony-lo-bianco-is-laguardia.html
- ↑ http://tonylobianco.com/the-little-flower
- ↑ The Engagement Ring
- ↑ Prisoners Among Us - Italian-American Identity & World War II
- ↑ Program, White Barn Theatre production of THE CONFESSION OF MANY STRANGERS, 1997
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
