Tony Lo Bianco: Broadway and Crime Film Star
Tony Lo Bianco (October 19, 1936 – June 11, 2024) was an American actor. He earned a Tony Award nomination for his 1983 role in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge and became known for his work in 1970s crime films including The French Connection and The Honeymoon Killers.
Early Life and Education
Anthony LoBianco was born October 19, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, the grandson of Sicilian immigrants. His mother was a housewife and his father was a taxi driver. He attended William E. Grady CTE High School, a vocational school in Brooklyn, where a teacher encouraged him to participate in school plays. After high school, he studied acting and theater production at the Dramatic Workshop.
Career and Achievements
Before his acting career took hold, Lo Bianco was a contending Golden Gloves boxer. In 1963, he founded the Triangle Theatre and served as its artistic director for six years, collaborating with lighting designer Jules Fisher, playwright Jason Miller, and actor Roy Scheider. He performed as an understudy in the 1964 Broadway production of Incident at Vichy, then took a supporting role in Tartuffe in 1965. From late 1965 through spring 1966, he starred on Broadway as Fray Marcos de Nizza in The Royal Hunt of the Sun.
Lo Bianco made his film debut in The Sex Perils of Paulette (1965). He appeared as a murderer in the semi-biographical crime film The Honeymoon Killers (1970), then played Salvatore Boca in William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971). He starred as a police officer in Larry Cohen’s horror film God Told Me To (1976) and appeared in the Italian crime comedy Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1973) alongside Lee Van Cleef. From 1974 to 1976, he played a lead role in six episodes of Joseph Wambaugh’s television series Police Story, four times appearing with former NFL quarterback Don Meredith.
In 1984, Lo Bianco had a supporting role in the action comedy City Heat. During the 1990s, he appeared in independent films: Tyson (1995) as Jimmy Jacobs, Sworn to Justice (1996) as Briggs, and Nixon, directed by Oliver Stone. He also appeared as a guest star on Franco Zeffirelli’s miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977) and the miniseries Marco Polo (1982).
Notable Events and Milestones
In 1975, Lo Bianco won an Obie Award for his off-Broadway performance as Duke Bronkowski in the baseball-themed play Yanks-3, Detroit-0, Top of the Seventh. In 1983, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor for his role as Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, and that same year won the Outer Critics Circle Award for the performance.
Lo Bianco first portrayed Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in the one-man show Hizzoner!, written by Paul Shyre in 1984. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for the WNET Public Television version filmed at the Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts in Albany. The play opened on Broadway in 1989 but ran for only 12 performances. Lo Bianco later revised and restaged the production as LaGuardia (2008) and The Little Flower (2012–2015). He purchased the rights to the play from Paul Shyre’s estate and rewrote it multiple times. He performed The Little Flower in Moscow in 1991 and was scheduled to perform it in Italy in 2015. The show was staged at LaGuardia Community College in May 2015.
Awards and Honors
Lo Bianco received the Obie Award in 1975 for Yanks-3, Detroit-0, Top of the Seventh. He won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1984 for the television version of Hizzoner! and the Outer Critics Circle Award in 1983 for A View from the Bridge. As national spokesperson for the Order Sons of Italy in America, he earned humanitarian recognition 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, the 1997 Golden Lion Award, and a Humanitarian Award from the Boys’ Town of Italy.
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