Biography for
Tony Musante More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

30 June 1936, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

Birth Name

Anthony Peter Musante Jr.

Height

5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Handsome, rugged and talented Italian-American actor Tony Musante was born on June 30, 1936 in Bridgeport, Connecticut to an accountant father and a school teacher mother. He attended both Northwestern University and Oberlin College. Tony worked as a school teacher prior to beginning his acting career in off-Broadway theater in 1960. In 1962 Musante married his writer wife Jane Sparkes. He made his film debut in 1965 in "Once a Thief." Musante gave a chillingly believable and electrifying portrayal of nasty punk hoodlum Joe Ferrone in the harsh and hard-hitting "The Incident," a role which he had previously played in the hour long made-for-TV drama "Ride With Terror." Tony won a best actor award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival for his outstanding performance in "The Incident." Musante went on to act in a handful of features made in Italy; he's especially memorable as brash Mexican revolutionary Paco Roman in the superior spaghetti Western "The Mercenary" and as imperiled American writer Sam Dalmas in Dario Argento's masterful giallo murder mystery thriller "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage." Moreover, Tony has played more than his fair share of Mafiosa types: he was genuinely frightening as vicious hit man Paul Rickard in "The Last Run," spot-on as smooth heel Eddie Hagan in Robert Aldrich's supremely gritty "The Grissom Gang," excellent as Eric Roberts' mob-connected Uncle Pete in "The Pope of Greenwich Village," and once again splendid as shrewd mob capo Nino Schibetta on the gritty cable TV prison drama "Oz." Musante had a starring role as real life chameleon-like New Jersey cop Dave Toma on the short-lived TV series "Toma." After Tony left the show due to creative differences with the producers, the program was changed to "Baretta" with Robert Blake in the lead. Among the TV shows Musante has done guest spots on are "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," "The Fugitive," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "The Rockford Files," "Medical Story" (Tony was nominated for an Emmy award for his performance in the episode "The Quality of Mercy"), "Police Story," "The Equalizer," "Night Heat," and "Nothing Sacred." More recently Tony had a recurring part on the popular daytime soap opera "As The World Turns." On stage Musante has appeared in the Broadway productions of "P.S., Your Cat Is Dead!" (Tony was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his acting in this particular play), "A Memory of Two Mondays/27 Wagons Full of Cotton," and "The Lady from Dubuque." Now in his early 70s, Tony Musante continues to act both in movies and TV shows alike with pleasing regularity.

IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders

Spouse

Jane Sparkes

(2 June 1962 - present)

Trivia

Attended Northwestern University School of Drama in Summer 1957, and graduated, a Baker Scholar in Psychology, Oberlin College 1958.

Studied with Herbert Berghof Studios in New York.

Began his career as an assistant stage manager.

Wrote episodes of his TV show "Toma" (1973) with his wife Jane Sparkes.

He studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City.

Personal Quotes

In the broad sense, I would consider myself a method actor. I don't have any particular allegiance to any school of acting. I've more or less developed my own approach to a role. Although I've studied with method people, and studied with classical people too. My approach to acting, whether it's on-stage or on film, has over the years developed into my own personal approach. I think most actors eventually develop a technique that works for them individually.