{{Needs more citations|date=June 2023}} {{short description|American actor (1925–2003)}} {{Infobox person | name = Anthony Eisley | image = File:Anthony Eisley Hawaiian Eye 1961.jpg | imagesize = | alt = Anthony Eisley Hawaiian Eye 1961 | caption = Eisley as Tracy Steele in 1961 | birth_name = Frederick Glendinning Eisley | birth_date = {{Birth date |1925|01|19}} | birth_place = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|01|29|1925|01|19}} | death_place = [[Woodland Hills, Los Angeles]], California, U.S. | resting_place = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)]] | othername = | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1950–1991 | alma_mater = [[University of Miami]] | spouse = {{marriage|Judith Tubbs Eisley|1951|1994|end=died}} | children = 4, including [[David Glen Eisley]] | relatives = [[India Eisley]] (granddaughter) | website = }}
'''Anthony Eisley''' (January 19, 1925 – January 29, 2003) was an American actor best known as one of the detective leads, Tracy Steele, in the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]/[[Warner Bros. Television Studios|Warner Brothers television]] series ''[[Hawaiian Eye]]''. Early in his career, he was credited as '''Fred Eisley'''<ref name=IBDB>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/fred-eisley-103598 Fred Eisley, aka Anthony Eisley] at IBDB</ref> and later was sometimes billed as '''Tony Eisley'''.
==Biography== Born Frederick Glendinning Eisley in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], his father was a general sales manager for a large corporation.<ref name=weaver/>
Following service in the [[United States Navy]], he took drama classes at the [[University of Miami]] in [[Coral Gables, Florida|Coral Gables]], [[Florida]].
==Stage work== He landed his first acting job in a Pennsylvania stock company production of ''A Slight Case of Murder''. Eisley also acted in touring company productions of ''[[Mister Roberts (play)|Mister Roberts]]'', ''[[Picnic (play)|Picnic]]'', and ''[[The Desperate Hours (play)|The Desperate Hours]]''.
==Early career== His first on-screen role was as a military policeman in the 1952 movie ''[[Fearless Fagan]]''. In 1953, he made his first appearance on television. In 1958, he was cast in the episode "The Trial" of the [[American Civil War]] drama ''[[Gray Ghost (TV series)|Gray Ghost]]'' with [[Tod Andrews]]. In 1957, Eisley played [[Joe Foss]] in the episode "Jose Foss, Devilbird" of the military [[television series]] ''[[Navy Log]]''. Eisley was in the 1959 [[Roger Corman]] film ''[[The Wasp Woman]]'',<ref name=weaver/> which he described as "a hell of a lot of fun".
Eisley's big break was being discovered in a [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]] production of ''[[Who Was That Lady?#Production|Who Was That Lady?]]'', where he was signed to a contract with [[Warner Bros.]] In the days of [[Tab Hunter]], [[Ty Hardin]], and [[Rock Hudson]], Warner Bros. apparently did not want a [[leading man]] with the name of "Fred" so the studio changed his first name to "Anthony". In 1959, Eisley played Carter Henry (as Fred Eisley), ''[[The Young Philadelphians]]'' (1959).
===''Hawaiian Eye''===
Eisley won the starring role as detective Tracy Steele in the 1959–1963 television series ''[[Hawaiian Eye]]''. After scouts saw him in the 1959 play ''Who Was That Lady?'', Warner Bros. signed him to a contract.<ref name=montreal>{{cite news |title=Anthony Eisley Is Signed Up By Warners |newspaper=The Montreal Gazette |date=7 July 1959 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7r8tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vpwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4275,1119602&dq=anthony+eisley&hl=en}}</ref> Eisley changed his name from Fred to Anthony at the request of the studio.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news |title=Anthony Eisley, 78, of TV's Hawaiian Eye |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=5 February 2003 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/05/arts/anthony-eisley-78-of-tv-s-hawaiian-eye.html |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Eisley had thought he would play a comedian but [[Warner Brothers Television]] placed him in a suave private eye role in ''Hawaiian Eye''. Eisley left after the third season to be replaced by [[Troy Donahue]] as a hotel social director, Philip Barton.<ref name=weaver>{{cite book |title=Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup |last=Weaver |first=Tom |pages=129–142 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8PK4jszVDoC&q=eisley&pg=PP6 |year=1999 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-0755-2}}</ref> In the two previous seasons, Donahue had portrayed the detective Sandy Winfield II, on another ABC/WB series, ''[[Surfside 6]]'', set on a houseboat in [[Miami Beach, Florida|Miami Beach]]. Donahue was eleven years Eisley's junior.
When a ''Los Angeles Times'' television critic attacked ''Hawaiian Eye'', Eisley penned a reply that was printed in the critic's column on December 7, 1960: "I too would like to see more food for thought on television. I have children whose viewpoints will be largely affected in certain areas by their many hours gazing at the one-eyed monster. But our world is solemn enough as it is. I'd hate to limit them -- or myself -- to a leisure-time diet devoid of laughter, adventure and romance."<ref name=lat>{{cite news| title=Anthony Eisley, 78; Television Detective and B-Movie Actor| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-feb-03-me-eisley3-story.html|first=Myrna| last=Oliver| date=3 February 2003| newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]| access-date=17 March 2022}}</ref>
During his Warner Brothers period, Eisley appeared in one episode of Jack Webb's ''[[Pete Kelly's Blues (TV series)|Pete Kelly's Blues]]'' (1959) and in ''[[Portrait of a Mobster]]'' (1961).
===Support of mandatory school prayer=== In 1964, Eisley acted as master of ceremonies at a "Project Prayer" rally attended by 2,500 people at the [[Shrine Auditorium]] in [[Los Angeles]]. The gathering sought to flood the [[United States Congress]] with letters in support of mandatory [[school prayer]] following two decisions in 1962 and 1963 by the [[United States Supreme Court]], which struck down mandatory school prayer as conflicting with the [[Establishment Clause]] of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]].<ref name=pearson>{{cite web |url=http://dspace.wrlc.org/doc/bitstream/2041/50658/b18f14-0514zdisplay.pdf |title=The Washington Merry-Go-Round| first=Drew| last=Pearson| date=14 May 1964 |website=[[American University]] Library |accessdate=January 13, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116232324/http://dspace.wrlc.org/doc/bitstream/2041/50658/b18f14-0514zdisplay.pdf |archive-date=January 16, 2013 }}</ref>
Eisley declared at the Project Prayer rally that the United States was facing "an ideological crisis. Movie stars and the stars of the entertainment world will tell you what you can do about it. Everything will be from the heart." Eisley was joined at the event by [[Walter Brennan]], on whose series ''[[The Real McCoys]]'' he had once been a guest star, [[Rhonda Fleming]], [[Lloyd Nolan]], [[Dale Evans]], [[Pat Boone]], and [[Gloria Swanson]]. Eisley added that [[John Wayne]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Roy Rogers]], [[Mary Pickford]], [[Jane Russell]], [[Ginger Rogers]], and [[Pat Buttram]] would also have attended the rally if their schedules had not been in conflict.<ref name=pearson/>
Syndicated columnist [[Drew Pearson (journalist)|Drew Pearson]] claimed in his "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column that Project Prayer had "backstage ties" to the [[anti-Communist]] [[John Birch Society]]. Pearson noted that the principal author of the prayer decisions, [[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]] [[Earl Warren]], was a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] former [[Governor of California]] and that most mainline denominations had endorsed the Court's rulings.<ref name=pearson/>
===Political views=== Eisley supported [[Barry Goldwater]] in the [[1964 United States presidential election]].<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfHXAAAAQBAJ&q=Eisley| title=When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics| isbn=978-1-1076-5028-2| last1=Critchlow| first1=Donald T.| date=2013-10-21| publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>
==Later career== ===Non-Hollywood American films=== Eisley appeared as a Soviet agent in an Armed Forces training film ''Espionage Target: You'' made in 1964. In 1965, Eisley was cast as an attorney in an anti-pornography institutional film entitled "Printed Poison"; produced by the "Citizens For Decency" movement.
===Feature films=== Eisley performed a memorable role in film as Griff in ''[[The Naked Kiss]]'' (1964), [[Sam Fuller]]'s controversial attack on alleged American small town hypocrisy.
Eisley co-starred as character Clint Braden, suitor to the [[Nancy Kovack]] character of Nellie Bly, in the 1966 film ''[[Frankie and Johnny (1966 film)|Frankie and Johnny]]''. He also played Ben Mitchell in the 1968 musical film ''[[Star! (film)|Star!]]''.
===Television===
Eisley guest-starred in an episode of the ABC religious drama series ''[[Going My Way (TV series)|Going My Way]]'' and in the title role of ''The Outer Limits'' episode ''[[The Brain of Colonel Barham]]''. He appeared three times on [[CBS]]'s ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'' during the final three seasons of that series. In his second guest appearance in 1964 he played murder victim Vince Rome in "The Case of the Missing Button." In the same year he appeared albeit briefly in a strong Series 3 episode of [[Combat!]], “The Gift Of Hope”.
He appeared six times in the 1967-1970 revival of ''[[Dragnet (series)|Dragnet]]''; in one segment he played a corrupt policeman and once he played an attempted murderer. During the eight-year run of ABC's ''[[The F.B.I. (TV series)|The F.B.I.]]'', Eisley made 17 appearances as Special Agent in Charge Chet Randolph.
Eisley was a guest as a villain in an episode of ''[[The Wild Wild West]]'', with his former ''Hawaiian Eye'' co-star [[Robert Conrad]] and reunited with Conrad for ''[[A Man Called Sloane]]''.
In 1970, he guest-starred in an episode of ''[[The Silent Force (TV series)|The Silent Force]]''. In 1973, he appeared as Ross Nelson, newscaster at Mary's Channel 8 competition, in the Season 4 episode "WJM Tries Harder" on ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]''. He had appeared with [[Mary Tyler Moore]] years before in "The Lady and the Tiger and the Lawyer," a 1964 episode of ''[[List of The Dick Van Dyke Show episodes|The Dick Van Dyke Show]]''.
===Schlock=== Eisley became known as a cult [[Kitsch|schlock]] star for his appearances in ''[[One Way Wahine]]'' (1965), [[Antonio Margheriti]]'s [[Eurospy]] film ''[[Lightning Bolt (film)|Lightning Bolt]]'' (1966) and ''[[The Navy vs. the Night Monsters]]'' (1966).
He starred in [[David L. Hewitt]]'s ''[[Journey to the Center of Time]]'' (1967), ''[[The Mighty Gorga]]'' (1969), and ''The Tormentors'' (1971) as well as [[Al Adamson]]'s ''[[Dracula vs. Frankenstein]]'' (1971) and [[Ted V. Mikels]]'s ''[[The Doll Squad]]'' (1975). He appeared in other dubious delights such as [[Oliver Drake (filmmaker)|Oliver Drake]]'s ''They Ran for Their Lives'' (1968) and ''[[The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals]]'' (1969), ''The Killers'' (1971) alongside [[Cameron Mitchell (actor)|Cameron Mitchell]], ''[[Monster (1980 film)|Monstroid]]'' (1980) and [[Fred Olen Ray]]'s ''[[Deep Space (film)|Deep Space]]'' (1988).
==Personal life== Eisley was married to Judith Rogers Tubbs from March 1, 1951 until her death on January 9, 1994. The couple had four children: musician [[David Glen Eisley]], the father of [[India Eisley]]; actor and stuntman Jonathan Erickson Eisley; Nan R. Eisley, an assistant to [[Lawrence Kasdan]]; and Amanda Eisley.
==Death== Anthony Eisley died of [[myocardial infarction|heart failure]] on January 29, 2003, in [[Woodland Hills, California]], at the age of 78.<ref name="Moose Roots">{{cite web| title=Frederick G. Eisley - Death Record Oak Park, California| website=Moose Roots| url=http://death-records.mooseroots.com/l/112882800/Frederick-G-Eisley| access-date=2015-06-25| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111012242/http://death-records.mooseroots.com/l/112882800/Frederick-G-Eisley| archive-date=2016-01-11| url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1952|| ''[[Fearless Fagan]]'' || MP || Uncredited |- |1952|| ''[[Operation Secret]]'' || Maquis || Uncredited |- |1957|| ''[[The Gray Ghost (TV series)|The Gray Ghost]]'' || || Episode: "The Trial" |- |1957|| ''[[Navy Log]]'' || Joe Foss || Season 3, Episode 13; "Joe Foss, Devilbird"; credited as "Fred Eisley" |- |1958|| ''[[Onionhead]]'' || Lt. Commander || Uncredited |- |1959–1963|| ''[[Hawaiian Eye]]'' || Tracy Steele || Leading role |- |1959|| ''[[Pete Kelly's Blues (TV series)|Pete Kelly's Blues]]'' || Johnny Cassiano || Supporting role |- |1959|| ''[[The Young Philadelphians]]'' || Carter Henry || |- |1959|| ''[[The Wasp Woman]]'' || Bill Lane || |- |1961|| ''[[Portrait of a Mobster]]'' || Legal Advisor || |- |1964|| ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]'' || Arthur Stanwyck || Season 3, Episode 16; "The Lady and the Tiger and the Lawyer" |- |1964|| ''[[3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt]]'' || Fred || Uncredited |- |1964|| ''[[The Naked Kiss]]'' || Griff || |- |1964|| ''Espionage Target: You'' || Nick Macrados|| Military training film |- |1965|| ''[[One Way Wahine]]'' || Chick Lindell || |- |1966|| ''[[Frankie and Johnny (1966 film)|Frankie and Johnny]]'' || Braden || |- |1966|| ''[[Lightning Bolt (film)|Lightning Bolt]]'' || Lt. Harry Sennet || |- |1966|| ''[[The Navy vs. the Night Monsters]]'' || Lt. Charles Brown || |- |1967|| ''[[Journey to the Center of Time]]'' || Mark Manning || |- |1968|| ''They Ran for Their Lives'' || Doc Wright || |- |1968|| ''[[Star! (film)|Star!]]'' || Ben Mitchell || |- |1969|| ''The Witchmaker'' || Victor Gordon || |- |1969|| ''[[The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals]]'' || David Barrie || |- |1969|| ''[[The Mighty Gorga]]'' || Mark Remington || |- |1969|| ''[[The Virginian (TV series)]]'' || Tom Kendrick || Season 8, Episode 15; "You Can Lead a Horse to Water" |- |1971|| ''[[Dracula vs. Frankenstein]]'' || Mike || |- |1971|| ''The Tormentors'' || Lt. Connors || |- |1971|| ''The Killers'' || Paul Ryan || |- |1973|| ''[[The Doll Squad]]'' || Victor Connelly || |- |1974|| ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]'' || Ross Nelson || Season 4, Episode 16; "WJM Tries Harder" |- |1975|| ''[[Half a House]]'' || Jordan Blake || |- |1980|| ''[[Monster (1980 film)|Monstroid]]'' || Pete || |- |1988|| ''[[Deep Space (film)|Deep Space]]'' || Dr. Rogers || |- |1990|| ''[[Evil Spirits (1990 film)|Evil Spirits]]'' || Detective || |- |1991|| ''Lolita al desnudo'' || Bryan Foster || (final film role) |}
{{Portal|Biography|Pennsylvania|Los Angeles|California|Theatre|Film|Television|Christianity}}
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== *[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-feb-03-me-eisley3-story.html "Anthony Eisley, 78; Television Detective and B-Movie Actor"] - ''Los Angeles Times'' obituary *{{IMDb name|id=0252111}} *{{IBDB name|103598}} (as Fred Eisley)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisley, Anthony}} [[Category:1925 births]] [[Category:2003 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American male actors]] [[Category:American Christians]] [[Category:American male film actors]] [[Category:American male television actors]] [[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)]] [[Category:Eisley family|Anthony]] [[Category:Male actors from Philadelphia]] [[Category:Male actors from Los Angeles]] [[Category:New Right (United States)]] [[Category:Pennsylvania Republicans]] [[Category:University of Miami alumni]] [[Category:Warner Bros. contract players]]