Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Nov 27, 2013 22:04:19 GMT -6
Tony Musante, who took down drug dealers in his portrayal of a real-life New Jersey detective in the 1970s ABC series Toma, died Tuesday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York following surgery. He was 77 years old.
Often playing a tough guy on either side of the law, Musante also sparkled as one of two menacing hoodlums (Martin Sheen was the other) who terrorize innocent folks on a New York subway train in the 1967 thriller The Incident. Musante had originated the role in a made-for-NBC drama four years earlier.
A dark-haired Italian-American born in Bridgeport, Conn., Musante starred in several films made in Italy. He played a Mexican revolutionary in the spaghetti Western A Professional Gun (1968), an American writer in Dario Argento's The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970) and a man with a terminal illness who reunites with the love of his life in The Anonymous Venetian (1971).
Musante played a vicious hit man in The Last Run (1971), a heel in Robert Aldrich's The Grissom Gang (1971), Eric Roberts' mob-connected uncle in The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) and a mobster on HBO's prison-set Oz for a season in 1997.
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his 1975 guest-starring role on an episode of NBC's Medical Story.
Musante starred opposite Susan Strasberg as Det. David Toma in Toma, which ran for a season in 1973-74. The real Toma worked out of crime-ridden Newark and was a master of disguise. Some criticized the series for being too violent.
Musante did not want to commit to the rigors of a TV drama and quit after Toma was renewed. The violence of the show was toned down, and the series was retooled as the much-friendlier Baretta, starring Robert Blake in the title role.
Musante started out on the stages of off-Broadway and on TV in the late 1950s. He made his Broadway debut in 1975 as a gay burglar in P.S. Your Cat Is Dead! and received a New York Drama Desk nomination.
In February, Musante donated his personal-papers collection to the archives of Oberlin College. He graduated from the school in 1958.
Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Jane.
Often playing a tough guy on either side of the law, Musante also sparkled as one of two menacing hoodlums (Martin Sheen was the other) who terrorize innocent folks on a New York subway train in the 1967 thriller The Incident. Musante had originated the role in a made-for-NBC drama four years earlier.
A dark-haired Italian-American born in Bridgeport, Conn., Musante starred in several films made in Italy. He played a Mexican revolutionary in the spaghetti Western A Professional Gun (1968), an American writer in Dario Argento's The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970) and a man with a terminal illness who reunites with the love of his life in The Anonymous Venetian (1971).
Musante played a vicious hit man in The Last Run (1971), a heel in Robert Aldrich's The Grissom Gang (1971), Eric Roberts' mob-connected uncle in The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) and a mobster on HBO's prison-set Oz for a season in 1997.
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his 1975 guest-starring role on an episode of NBC's Medical Story.
Musante starred opposite Susan Strasberg as Det. David Toma in Toma, which ran for a season in 1973-74. The real Toma worked out of crime-ridden Newark and was a master of disguise. Some criticized the series for being too violent.
Musante did not want to commit to the rigors of a TV drama and quit after Toma was renewed. The violence of the show was toned down, and the series was retooled as the much-friendlier Baretta, starring Robert Blake in the title role.
Musante started out on the stages of off-Broadway and on TV in the late 1950s. He made his Broadway debut in 1975 as a gay burglar in P.S. Your Cat Is Dead! and received a New York Drama Desk nomination.
In February, Musante donated his personal-papers collection to the archives of Oberlin College. He graduated from the school in 1958.
Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Jane.