John Anthony Fetto, II (February 23, 1926 – January 22, 2010), known professionally as Johnny Seven, was an American

character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...

who appeared in 26 films and approximately 600 television shows during his career, which spanned more than 40 years. His credits included a recurring role as Lt. Carl Reese on the 1968–1975

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

television series '' Ironside'' and the 1960 film '' The Apartment''.

Early life

Seven was born in

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, Dyker Heights to the east, the Na ...

. His parents, who were Italian immigrants, also had five daughters. He began acting and singing as a teenager. He served with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and performed with the

United Service Organizations The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

(USO). Fetto earned his nickname "Johnny Seven" while serving in the Army and kept it as his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

following the end of the war.

Career

Seven began his acting career in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

theater. He portrayed Karl Matuschka, the brother in-law of

Shirley MacLaine Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty, April 24, 1934) is an American actress, author, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, strong-willed and eccentric women, MacLaine has received numerous accolades over her seven-dec ...

's character, in ''The Apartment''. In the film, he punches out the character played by

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadi ...

. His other film credits include '' The Last Mile'' (1959), ''

Guns of the Timberland ''Guns of the Timberland'' is a 1960 American Technicolor lumberjack Western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Alan Ladd, Jeanne Crain, Gilbert Roland and Frankie Avalon. Plot Logger Jim Hadley and his lumberjack crew are looking for n ...

'' (1960), ''

What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? ''What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?'' is a 1966 comedy DeLuxe Color film written by William Peter Blatty and directed by Blake Edwards for the Mirisch Company in Panavision. It stars James Coburn and Dick Shawn. Filming was at Lake Sherwoo ...

'' (1968) and ''

Murder at the World Series ''Murder at the World Series'' is a 1977 American TV movie starring Lynda Day George, Murray Hamilton, and Karen Valentine and directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Plot A psychopath, once rejected for membership of the Houston Astros, plans revenge ...

'' (1977). Seven co-wrote, produced, directed, and starred in '' Navajo Run'', his western

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

released in 1964. On television, in addition to ''Ironside'', he was cast in a spin-off series, '' Amy Prentiss''. His other television credits included roles on '' Rescue 8'', '' The Man from Blackhawk'', ''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on ...

'', ''

Hennesey ''Hennesey'' is an American military comedy-drama television series that aired on CBS from 1959 to 1962, starring Jackie Cooper and Abby Dalton. Cooper played a United States Navy physician, Lt. Charles W. "Chick" Hennesey, with Abby Dalt ...

'', '' The Everglades'', ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central chara ...

'', '' CHiPs'', '' Naked City'', '' Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer'', ''

The Phil Silvers Show ''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half-a ...

'', ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

'' (episodes 25 and 26), ''

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program ...

'', ''

Peter Gunn ''Peter Gunn'' is an American private eye television series, starring Craig Stevens as Peter Gunn with Lola Albright as his girlfriend, Edie Hart. The series aired on NBC from September 22, 1958, to 1960 and on ABC in 1960–1961. The seri ...

'', '' The Untouchables'', ''

The Rockford Files ''The Rockford Files'' is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network from September 13, 1974 to January 10, 1980, and remains in syndication. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investiga ...

'', ''

The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels ...

'','' The Rookies'' and ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by ...

''. In 1962, he was cast as farmer Carlo Farelli in the episode "The Last Shot" on the syndicated

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

, ''

,'' hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, Carlo eyes saloon singer Della (

Grace Lee Whitney Grace Lee Whitney (born Mary Ann Chase; April 1, 1930 – May 1, 2015) was an American actress and singer. She played Janice Rand on the original ''Star Trek'' television series and subsequent ''Star Trek'' films. Early life Whitney was born o ...

as a wife but soon encounters competition from another suitor. In addition to his acting career, Seven also owned a

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

business in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

Death

Seven died of complications from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...

at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, California, on January 22, 2010, at the age of 83. He was survived by his wife of sixty years, Edith. and his son, John Anthony Fetto, III, an attorney in Walnut Creek, California. His memorial service was held at St. John Baptist de La Salle Parish in Granada Hills, California, on February 6, 2010.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seven, Johnny 1926 births 2010 deaths Male actors from New York (state) American male film actors American male television actors American television directors Deaths from lung cancer in California American people of Italian descent People from Brooklyn United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of World War II Western (genre) television actors Catholics from New York (state)