biography
Born on October 19, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, actor Tony Lo Bianco is the son of a taxi driver and grew up in the tough neighborhood of Bensonhurst. As an athletic
teenager, he fought in the Golden Gloves as a welterweight. His dream of playing professional baseball led to a failed tryout with the Dodgers in 1954, yet Lo Bianco had also taken
an interest in acting while enrolled in high school vocational classes in the 1950s. He founded the Weekend Theater in 1956 as a way of gaining acting experience, and in 1963 he
founded the Triangle Theater to help budding stage actors and directors. After spending many years in off-Broadway productions, he finally landed a supporting role in his first
Broadway play, Incident at Vichy, in 1964. While he was cast in several more Broadway plays in the late 1960s, none was a huge success, so he began to explore the
possibilities of film and television. In 1965, he landed his first film role, billed as Anthony Greco, in Doris Wishman's low-budget
sexploitation flick The Sex Perils of Paulette (1965; with Darlene Bennett). He went on to make appearances in the television series Get Smart, N.Y.P.D.,
and Hawk in the late 1960s before landing a breakthrough role as Raymond Fernandez in The Honeymoon Killers (1970; with Shirley Stoler and Doris Roberts), shot
for $150,000 in six weeks in 1969. The film was a critical if not a commercial success in the U.S. but found an enthusiastic audience in Europe and has since gone on to become a cult classic. 
RIGHT: Poster from Tony Lo Bianco's first starring role in the cult classic The Honeymoon Killers. Co-star Shirley Stoler is also pictured. LEFT: Early 1970s 20th Century Fox promotional photoThis film proved to be a springboard for Lo Bianco, who followed up with the blockbuster crime thriller The French Connection (1971; with Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider). In order to provide a steady paycheck, in 1971 he took the role of Dr. Joe Corelli on the CBS soap opera Love of Life, staying with the show until 1973, when he was cast in another well-received crime thriller The Seven-Ups (1973; with Roy Scheider and Richard Lynch). He also took roles in such drive-in flicks as the Italian comedy Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1973; with Lee Van Cleef), the horror thriller God Told Me To (1976; with Deborah Raffin and Richard Lynch), and Goldenrod (1976; with Donald Pleasence). |
the films of tony lo biancoThe Sex Perils of Paulette (1965)
Lo Bianco's first film appearance came in Doris Wishman's sexploitation drama The Sex Perils of Paulette portraying the 'nice guy' boyfriend of the doomed title characterThe Honeymoon Killers (1970) 
Lo Bianco portrays Raymond Fernandez in the cult crime drama The Honeymoon Killers, based on the true story of Fernandez and Martha Beck, The Lonely Hearts Killers who murdered women for their money in the late 1940s. LEFT: With Barbara Cason. RIGHT: With costar Shirley StolerMean Frank and Crazy Tony (1973)
Lo Bianco stars as title character thug Tony Breda in the crime comedy Mean Frank and Crazy Tony, an Italian exploitation flick shot in ItalyThe Seven-Ups (1973) 
With Roy Scheider in Philip D'Antoni's crime drama The Seven-UpsThe Story of Jacob and Joseph (1974)
From the ABC made-for-TV movie The Story of Jacob and JosephGoldenrod (1976)
With Donald Pleasence in the Canadian drama GoldenrodBloodbrothers (1978) 
From the blue-collar drama Bloodbrothers. LEFT: Tony Lo Bianco portrays Richard Gere's father. RIGHT: With Paul Sorvino and Richard GereWelcome Home, Bobby (1986)
Lo Bianco is the father of troubled teen Timothy Williams in the CBS made-for-TV drama Welcome Home, BobbyThe Ann Jillian Story (1988)
Tony Lo Bianco portrays Ann Jillian's husband, Andy Murcia, in the made-for-TV biopic The Ann Jillian StoryBody of Evidence (1988)
With Barry Bostwick in the CBS TV movie Body of EvidenceCity of Hope (1991)
With Joe Morton in the crime drama City of HopeThe Juror (1996)
From the Columbia thriller The Juror with Alec Baldwintony lo bianco todaySince the late 1970s, Lo Bianco's career has been largely focused on television, in made-for-television films and on a couple of short-lived television series. While he has directed several episodes of television series, he has directed only one film, the low-budget thriller Too Scared to Scream (1985; with Mike Connors and Anne Archer). Today, he is still enjoying success on stage in the role of the late New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia in a one-man show called The Little Flower, adapted from the Broadway production Hizzoner! in which Lo Bianco acted in the late 1980s. And he is still active in films with the comedy/drama Somewhere in Queens (2022; with Laurie Metcalf and Ray Romano).Lo Bianco is the father three daughters with first wife, Dora, a writer whom he married in 1964. The couple parted ways in 1984, and he married again in 2002 to second wife Elizabeth. He and his second wife divorced in 2009. |
filmographyFILM
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This page premiered February 27, 2013.
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