Tony Anthony (actor)

{{other people||Tony Anthony (disambiguation)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}} {{Infobox person | name = Tony Anthony | image = Tony Anthony (actor).jpg | imagesize = | caption = Anthony as "The Stranger" during the production of ''[[A Stranger in Town (1967 film)|A Stranger in Town]]'' (1967) | birth_name = Tony Roger Petitto | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1937|10|16}} | birth_place = [[Clarksburg, West Virginia]], U.S. | other_names = Tony Petitto | alma_mater = [[Carnegie Mellon School of Drama]] | years_active = 1959–1998 | occupation = Film actor, producer, screenwriter, director | spouse = | partner = [[Luciana Paluzzi]] (1960s–1970s)<ref name=zpr/> | website = }}

'''Tony Anthony''' (born '''Tony Roger Petitto'''; October 16, 1937)<ref name=cowboys /><ref name=ugo>{{cite web |url=http://celebritywonder.ugo.com/celebrity-birthday/date_10_16.html |title=Celebrity Birthday: October 16 |publisher=[[UGO.com]] | access-date=September 18, 2012}}</ref> is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director best known for his starring roles in [[Spaghetti Western]]s, most of which were produced with the aid of his friends and associates [[Allen Klein]] and [[Saul Swimmer]]. These films consist of ''The Stranger'' series – ''[[A Stranger in Town (1967 film)|A Stranger in Town]]'' (1967), ''[[The Stranger Returns]]'' (1967), ''[[The Silent Stranger]]'' (1968) and ''[[Get Mean]]'' (1975) – and the ''[[Zatoichi]]''-inspired ''[[Blindman]]'' (1971).<ref name="Frayling2006">{{cite book|last=Frayling|first=Christopher|title=Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys And Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z9Tjh55dlDUC&pg=PA82|access-date=June 28, 2012|date=April 2, 2006|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9781845112073|pages=82–}}</ref> Anthony also wrote, produced and starred in ''[[Comin' at Ya!]]'' (1981) and ''[[Treasure of the Four Crowns]]'' (1983), the first film being largely credited with beginning the 1980s revival of [[3D film|3D]] films in Hollywood.<ref name=zpr/><ref name=cowboys/><ref name=austinchronicle/><ref name=fsr/>

==Early career== Anthony was born Tony Roger Petitto in [[Clarksburg, West Virginia]].<ref name=cowboys>{{cite web |url=http://www.cowboysindians.com/Blog/February-2012/Back-in-the-saddle-with-Comin-At-Ya/ |title=Back in the Saddle with 'Comin' At Ya!' |last=Leydon | first= Joe | author-link=Joe Leydon | date=February 23, 2012 |work=[[Cowboys & Indians (magazine)|Cowboys & Indians]] |access-date=September 18, 2012 | archive-date = September 20, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120920040000/http://www.cowboysindians.com/Blog/February-2012/Back-in-the-saddle-with-Comin-At-Ya/ | url-status=live}}</ref> With his friend [[Saul Swimmer]] directing, Anthony and Peter Gayle produced the half-hour children's short ''[[The Boy Who Owned a Melephant]]'' (1959), narrated by actress [[Tallulah Bankhead]].<ref>Oliver, Phillip, [http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/tbmelephant.htm Tallulah: A Passionate Life] (website) ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110515071543/http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/tbmelephant.htm WebCitation archive])</ref><ref>Carrier, Jeffrey L., ''Tallulah Bankhead: A Bio-Bibliography'' (Greenwood Press, 1991; {{ISBN|0-313-27452-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-313-27452-7}}, p. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0313274525?p=S00H&keywords=The+Boy+Who+Owned+a+Melephant 146]).</ref> The three men would become frequent collaborators.<ref>{{cite news|first=Dorothy| last = Kilgallen|author-link=Dorothy Kilgallen| title=Voice of Broadway|publisher= (Syndicated column) via the [[Schenectady Gazette]]|date=September 13, 1960 | page = [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19600913&id=OWgtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=44kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=572,1878053 16] |quote=The youngest film producers in the United States – 22-year-old Peter Gayle, Saul Swimmer and Tony Anthony – are negotiating for the film rights to [[Arthur Miller]]'s '[[A Memory of Two Mondays|[A] Memory of Two Mondays]]'.}}</ref> The film won a Gold Leaf award at the Venice International Children's Film Festival.<ref>Carrier, p. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0313274525?p=S00H&keywords=The+Boy+Who+Owned+a+Melephant 146]</ref> Following that short, Anthony and Swimmer co-wrote the Swimmer-directed [[independent film|independent features]] ''[[Force of Impulse]]'' (1961), a [[Romeo and Juliet]] story about a [[high school football]] player who turns to robbery, filmed in [[Miami Beach, Florida]], and ''[[Without Each Other]]'' (1962). Anthony then moved to Italy to film ''[[Wounds of Hunger]]'' and ''[[La ragazza in prestito]]''. Swimmer had moved to England, where he befriended [[Allen Klein]].<ref name=zpr/>

==Spaghetti westerns== Anthony was in Europe when [[Sergio Leone]]'s westerns were setting box office records, but had not yet been released in America. Anthony contacted Klein, then a major stockholder at [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]], about releasing a [[spaghetti western]], for which he had played the lead role, in the United States. Anthony had also served as an uncredited executive producer on the film, having raised $40,000 with another American, James Hagar.<ref name=zpr>{{cite web |url=http://zombie-popcorn.com/?p=6685 |title=The Tony Anthony Interview – Re-broadcast |author=Bayless, Jason |date=February 17, 2010 |publisher=Zombie Popcorn Radio |access-date=September 18, 2012 |archive-date=October 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017093257/http://zombie-popcorn.com/?p=6685 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The film Klein released was called ''[[A Stranger in Town (1967 film)|A Stranger in Town]]'', starring Anthony as the Stranger, a shotgun-wielding [[antihero]] who helps a group of Mexican bandits steal gold from the US Army and [[Federales]], and then steals it right back from them. Released by MGM to compete with [[United Artists]]' ''[[Dollars Trilogy]]'' starring [[Clint Eastwood]], it became a surprise success, and spawned three sequels in which Anthony reprised his role.<ref name=zpr/>

With these films, some felt Anthony's persona was not the typical tough spaghetti western hero; the Stranger was vulnerable and sneaky, with a sardonic sense of humor.<ref name=cowboys/> Anthony recalled that director [[Luigi Vanzi]] constantly described the character to him as "a bad guy but you do good in spite of yourself. You're not [[Gary Cooper]]. You're not [[John Wayne]]. You're not the [[Tall in the Saddle|'tall in the saddle']] cowboy. You're the [[average Joe|street guy]]. The audience can identify with you because you look like the guy that goes into movie theaters and says 'Well, I could be like him'."<ref name=zpr/> Anthony himself described the Stranger as "a dirty coal-mining cowboy".<ref name=zpr/> The second Stranger film, ''[[The Stranger Returns]]'' has a golden stagecoach as its [[MacGuffin]] and a [[Stelvio Cipriani]] score that had several [[cover version]]s by various orchestras. Anthony's willingness to experiment with the genre resulted in the third series entry, ''[[The Silent Stranger]]'' with another Cipriani score. Considered by some the first "East-meets-West Western", predating ''[[Red Sun]]'' by three years,<ref>{{cite book|last=Weisser | first= Thomas | title= Spaghetti Westerns: the Good, the Bad, and the Violent; A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography of 558 Eurowesterns and their Personnel, 1961–1977| location = [[Jefferson, North Carolina]] | publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] | year= 1992 | page = 301| isbn= 0899506887}}</ref> its release was delayed for seven years in the US due to a dispute between Klein and MGM, and never received a European release.<ref name=zpr/> Anthony later declared the film his best and lamented the cuts that MGM made to it.<ref name=zpr/>

His next film was ''[[Blindman]]'', a spaghetti western variation on the ''[[Zatoichi]]'' series. Anthony plays a blind gunslinger hired to escort 50 mail-order brides to their husbands. By that time, Klein had been the manager of the Beatles, and Swimmer had directed many of their music videos and concert films. Both were producers on ''Blindman'', and their presence led to [[Ringo Starr]] accepting a supporting role as one of the bandits.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Fred |date=2015 |title=Allen Klein: The Man Who Bailed Out the Beatles, Made the Stones, and Transformed Rock & Roll |location=Boston, New York |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |page=203 |isbn=978-0-547-89686-1}}</ref> Starr would produce Anthony's next film, which Swimmer would direct: a [[road movie]] called ''[[Come Together (film)|Come Together]]''. In this film, Anthony plays an American stuntman working on spaghetti westerns in Rome. The film contains behind the scenes-footage of a Spaghetti Western being shot.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.somethingweird.com/product_info.php?products_id=22799|work=[[Something Weird Video]]|access-date=September 20, 2016|title=Come Together – DVD-R}}</ref>

In 1975, long after the heyday of the genre, Anthony starred as the Stranger for a fourth time in ''[[Get Mean]]'' produced by [[Ronnie Schneider|Ron Schneider]]. A unique film often compared to [[Sam Raimi]]'s ''[[Army of Darkness]]'', the film takes place in Spain, where the Stranger has to battle invading [[Vikings]] and [[Moors]] after escorting a princess there. It failed to find a wide audience.<ref name="Get">{{cite video | title = Get Mean | medium = DVD | publisher = [[Blue Underground]] | location = Los Angeles, California | date = 1975 }}</ref>

== 3D years == In 1981, Anthony returned to the spaghetti well for ''[[Comin' at Ya!]]'', a [[3D film|3D]] [[Western film|western]] he wrote, produced, and starred in. In order for the film to receive a wide release, Anthony designed a low-cost projection lens which was cheaper than conventional 3-D lenses.<ref name=zpr/>

Anthony would star in one more 3D film, ''[[Treasure of the Four Crowns]]''. Anthony next announced a 3D science-fiction movie called ''Seeing is Believing'',<ref>{{cite news |title=Debating The Rating For 'Raiders' |last=Boyer | first= Peter J. |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=June 18, 1981 | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tSMhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-mcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5314,1310749&dq=seeing-is-believing&hl=en | access-date=September 18, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=In new and old films, 3D is coming back |author=Hicks, Christopher |work=[[The Deseret News]] |date=February 11, 1982 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oVwzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=U4MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7089,3634476&dq=seeing-is-believing&hl=en | access-date=September 18, 2012}}</ref> but with the 3D craze over, it could not find a financier and was never made.<ref name=zpr/>

==Later career== Anthony's last acting role was in ''[[Treasure of the Four Crowns]]''. He went on to occasionally produce films, such as ''[[Wild Orchid (film)|Wild Orchid]]'' and the spaghetti-western throwback ''[[Dollar for the Dead]]'', and ran an optical equipment company that he said sold an estimated $1 million worth of lenses up to the release of ''[[Jaws 3-D]]'' in 1983.<ref name=zpr/>

In late August 2009, Anthony announced he had taken the "over and under 3-D" format of ''Comin' At Ya!'' and converted it to "digital 3-D" as a part of the film's reissue.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cominatyanoir3d.com/ |title=CominAtYaNoir3D.com |access-date=September 20, 2012 |archive-date=January 11, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130111133315/http://www.cominatyanoir3d.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Following an exhibition at [[Fantastic Fest]] in [[Austin, Texas]] on September 25, 2011,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv3g945UMT8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/dv3g945UMT8 |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live|title=Interview with Tony Anthony, Pioneer of Modern 3-D |author=Ary, John |date=September 25, 2011 |work=[[Ain't It Cool News|Ain't It Cool TV]] | access-date=September 18, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> the film was restored and digitalized for a 30th anniversary theatrical re-release and played in [[Alamo Drafthouse Cinema|theaters throughout Texas]] starting on February 24, 2012.<ref name=cowboys/><ref name=austinchronicle>{{cite news |title=Comin' Back at Ya! Tony Anthony resurrects his 3D Western for Drafthouse Films |author=Whittaker, Richard |url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/screens/2012-03-04/comin-back-at-ya/ |newspaper=[[Austin Chronicle]] |date=March 4, 2012 |access-date=September 18, 2012}}</ref><ref name=fsr>{{cite web |url=http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/austin-cinematic-limits-comin-at-ya-texas.php |title=Austin Cinematic Limits: Comin' At Ya! ... Texas! |author=Simpson, Don |date=February 28, 2012 |work=Austin Cinematic Limits |publisher=FilmSchoolRejects.com |access-date=September 18, 2012 |archive-date=April 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407235325/http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/austin-cinematic-limits-comin-at-ya-texas.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Filmography== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1959 | ''[[The Boy Who Owned a Melephant]]'' | {{n/a}} | Producer and co-screenwriter |- | 1961 | ''[[Force of Impulse]]'' | Toby Marino | Also producer and story |- | 1962 | ''[[Without Each Other]]'' (also known as ''Pity Me Not'') (never distributed) | Sam Lux | Also executive producer (uncredited) and co-story, co-screenwriter |- | 1964 | ''[[Engagement Italiano]]'' | Franco | Also executive producer (uncredited) |- | 1964 | ''[[Beautiful Families]]'' | Luigi | Segment: "La cernia" Also executive producer (uncredited) |- |rowspan=2 | 1965 | ''[[Let's Talk About Men]]'' | {{n/a}} | Executive producer (uncredited)<ref name=zpr/> |- | ''[[The Wounds of Hunger]]'' (theatrical release: 1967) | Luis Ortega | Also executive producer (uncredited) |- |rowspan=2 | 1967 | ''[[A Stranger in Town (1967 film)|A Stranger in Town]]'' (also known as ''For a Dollar in the Teeth'') | The Stranger | Also executive producer (uncredited)<ref name=zpr/> |- | ''[[The Stranger Returns]]'' (also known as ''A Man, a Horse, a Gun'', ''Shoot First... Laugh Last!'') | The Stranger | Also executive producer (uncredited) and story |- | 1968 | ''[[The Silent Stranger]]'' (also known as ''The Horseman and the Samurai'', ''The Stranger in Japan'') (theatrical release: 1975) | The Stranger | Also producer and story |- |rowspan=2 | 1971 | ''[[Come Together (film)|Come Together]]'' | Tony | Also co-director (uncredited), producer, and screenwriter |- | ''[[Blindman]]'' | Blindman | Also producer, screenwriter and story |- | 1973 | ''[[Pete, Pearl & the Pole]]'' (also known as ''1931: Once Upon a Time in New York'') | Pete Di Benedetto | Also producer and story |- | 1975 | ''[[Get Mean]]'' (also known as ''Beat a Dead Horse'', ''Vengeance of the Barbarians'', ''The Stranger Gets Mean'') | The Stranger | Also producer and story |- | 1981 | ''[[Comin' at Ya!]]'' | H.H. Hart | Also producer and story (as Tony Pettito) |- | 1983 | ''[[Treasure of the Four Crowns]]'' | J.T. Striker | Also producer and story (as Tony Pettito) |- |1989 |''[[Wild Orchid (film)|Wild Orchid]]'' | {{n/a}} | Producer |- |1989 |''[[Honeymoon Academy]]'' | {{n/a}} | Producer |- |1998 |''[[Dollar for the Dead]]'' | {{n/a}} | Producer |}

==References== {{reflist | 2}}

== External links == * {{IMDb name|0031026|Tony Anthony}} *[http://zombie-popcorn.com/the-tony-anthony-interview-re-broadcast/ Tony Anthony interviewed on ''Zombie Popcorn''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208035121/http://zombie-popcorn.com/the-tony-anthony-interview-re-broadcast/ |date=February 8, 2017 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Tony}} [[Category:American male film actors]] [[Category:Film directors from West Virginia]] [[Category:Film producers from West Virginia]] [[Category:American male screenwriters]] [[Category:American expatriates in Italy]] [[Category:Male Spaghetti Western actors]] [[Category:Actors from Clarksburg, West Virginia]] [[Category:1937 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:American expatriate male actors]]