Tony Anthony (born Tony Roger Petitto; October 16, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director best known for his starring roles in

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

s, most of which were produced with the aid of his friends and associates

Allen Klein Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 – July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased pr ...

and

Saul Swimmer Saul Swimmer (April 25, 1936 – March 3, 2007)Saul Swimmer
at the

A Stranger in Town'' (1967), '' The Stranger Returns'' (1967), '' The Silent Stranger'' (1968) and '' Get Mean'' (1975) – and the ''

Zatoichi is a fictional character created by Japanese novelist Kan Shimozawa. He is an itinerant blind masseur and swordsman of Japan's late Edo period (1830s and 1840s). He first appeared in the 1948 essay ''Zatoichi Monogatari'', part of Shimozawa's '' ...

''-inspired '' Blindman'' (1971). Anthony also wrote, produced and starred in ''

Comin' at Ya! ''Comin' at Ya!'' is a Spanish-American 3D Western film, featuring Tony Anthony, Victoria Abril and Gene Quintano and directed by Ferdinando Baldi. It was produced as a co-production between American company Filmways and The Lupo-Anthony-Q ...

'' (1981) and '' Treasure of the Four Crowns'' (1983), the first film being largely credited with beginning the 1980s revival of 3D films in Hollywood.

Early career

Anthony was born Tony Roger Petitto in

Clarksburg, West Virginia Clarksburg is a city in Harrison County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 16,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in West Virginia, tenth-most populous city ...

. With his friend

Saul Swimmer Saul Swimmer (April 25, 1936 – March 3, 2007)Saul Swimmer
at the

The Boy Who Owned a Melephant ''The Boy Who Owned a Melephant'' is a 1959 American short film directed by Saul Swimmer and featuring Tallulah Bankhead as narrator. Plot After seeing his first circus, young Johnnie ( Brockman Seawell) asks for an elephant to keep as a pet. T ...

'' (1959), narrated by actress

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lifeboat (194 ...

. The three men would become his frequent collaborators. The film won a Gold Leaf award at the Venice International Children's Film Festival. Following that short, Anthony and Swimmer co-wrote the Swimmer-directed independent features '' Force of Impulse'' (1961), a

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

story about a

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

player who turns to robbery, filmed in

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, 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

Spaghetti westerns

Anthony was in Europe when

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone ( ; ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. Leone's film-making style ...

'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 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, about releasing a

spaghetti western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

, 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. The film Klein released was called '' A Stranger in Town'', starring Anthony as the Stranger, a shotgun-wielding

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...

who helps a group of Mexican bandits steal gold from the US Army and

Federales ''Federales'' is a slang term in English language, English and Spanish languages referring to security forces, particularly those of the federal government of Mexico. The term gained widespread usage by English speakers due to being popularized ...

, and then steals it right back from them. Released by MGM to compete with

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

' ''

Dollars Trilogy The ''Dollars Trilogy'' (), also known as the ''Man with No Name Trilogy'' (), is an Italian film series consisting of three spaghetti western films directed by Sergio Leone. The films are titled '' A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), '' For a Few ...

'' starring

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

, it became a surprise success, and spawned three sequels in which Anthony reprised his role. 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. Anthony recalled that director

Luigi Vanzi Luigi (; ) is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Part of Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, he is a kind-hearted, cowardly Italian plumber, and the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario. Like ...

constantly described the character to him as "a bad guy but you do good in spite of yourself. You're not

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, silent screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...

. You're not

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

. You're not the 'tall in the saddle' cowboy. You're the 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'." Anthony himself described the Stranger as "a dirty coal-mining cowboy". The second Stranger film, '' The Stranger Returns'' has a golden stagecoach as its

MacGuffin In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail fo ...

and a

Stelvio Cipriani Stelvio Cipriani (20 August 1937 – 1 October 2018), also known as Viostel, was an Italian composer, mostly of motion picture soundtracks, conductor and pianist. Biography Though not raised with a strong musical upbringing, as a child Cipriani ...

score that had several

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

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 ''Red Sun'' (, ) is a 1971 Spaghetti Western film directed by Terence Young and starring Charles Bronson, Toshirō Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress, and Capucine. The Franco-Italian international co-production was filmed in Spain by the ...

'' by three years, its release was delayed for seven years in the US due to a dispute between Klein and MGM, and never received a European release. Anthony later declared the film his best and lamented the cuts that MGM made to it. His next film was '' Blindman'', a spaghetti western variation on the ''

'' 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 Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

accepting a supporting role as one of the bandits. Starr would produce Anthony's next film, which Swimmer would direct: a

road movie A road movie is a film genre, genre of film in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the the ...

called ''

Come Together "Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on the band's 1969 studio album ''Abbey Road''. It was also a double A-side single in the U ...

''. 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. In 1975, long after the heyday of the genre, Anthony starred as the Stranger for a fourth time in '' Get Mean'' produced by Ron Schneider. A unique film often compared to

Sam Raimi Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the first three films in the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present) and the ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007). He also directed the super ...

's ''

Army of Darkness ''Army of Darkness'' is a 1992 American dark fantasy comedy film directed, co-written, and co-edited by Sam Raimi. The film is the third installment in the Evil Dead, ''Evil Dead'' film series and the sequel to ''Evil Dead II'' (1987). Starring ...

'', the film takes place in Spain, where the Stranger has to battle invading

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

and

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

after escorting a princess there. It failed to find a wide audience.

3D years

In 1981, Anthony returned to the spaghetti well for ''

'', a 3D

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

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. 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'', but with the 3D craze over, it could not find a financier and was never made.

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'' and the spaghetti-western throwback ''

Dollar for the Dead ''Dollar for the Dead'' is a 1998 American Western television film. The film was directed and written by Gene Quintano and stars Emilio Estevez. It is the third Western film in which Estevez stars. The film premiered on TNT on October 11, 1998. ...

'', 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 ''Jaws 3-D'' (titled ''Jaws III'' in its 2-D form) is a 1983 American horror film directed by Joe Alves and starring Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale and Louis Gossett Jr. As the second sequel to Steven Spielberg's '' Jaws' ...

'' in 1983. 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. Following an exhibition at

Fantastic Fest Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas, focused on fantasy, horror, sci-fi, action and cult films, the largest genre festival in the United States. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse. Lisa Dreyer ...

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

on September 25, 2011, the film was restored and digitalized for a 30th anniversary theatrical re-release and played in theaters throughout Texas starting on February 24, 2012.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Tony Anthony interviewed on ''Zombie Popcorn''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Tony American male film actors Film directors from West Virginia Film producers from West Virginia American male screenwriters American expatriates in Italy Male Spaghetti Western actors Actors from Clarksburg, West Virginia 1937 births Living people American expatriate male actors