1. Anthony George Franciosa was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career.
40 Facts About Anthony Franciosa
1. 2.
Anthony Franciosa began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of the drug addict in the play A Hatful of Rain, which earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
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Anthony Franciosa reprised his role in its subsequent film adaptation, for which he won the 1957 Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
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Anthony Franciosa was born in the Little Italy district of New York to an Italian-American family.
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Anthony Franciosa's grandparents emigrated from Melfi, Basilicata, in the center of the boot of Southern Italy, in 1890.
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Anthony Franciosa's parents separated when he was one and he was raised by his mother and aunt, adopting his mother's maiden name Franciosa.
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Anthony Franciosa got a four-year scholarship at the Dramatic Workshop which led to the New York Repertory Theatre.
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In 1948, Franciosa joined the Cherry Lane Theatre Group off Broadway.
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Anthony Franciosa worked in Theatre of the Sky on Lake Tahoe.
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Anthony Franciosa began guest starring on TV shows such as Studio One in Hollywood, Kraft Theatre, Ford Star Jubilee, and Goodyear Playhouse.
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Anthony Franciosa played Polo, the brother of the drug addicted Johnny.
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Shelley Winters played Johnny's wife and she would marry Anthony Franciosa the following year.
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Anthony Franciosa was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance.
14.
Anthony Franciosa made his film debut in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd alongside Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, and Lee Remick.
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Anthony Franciosa followed it in MGM's This Could Be the Night as the romantic interest for Jean Simmons, under the direction of Robert Wise.
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Anthony Franciosa reprised his role in A Hatful of Rain in the film version, directed by Fred Zinnemann at 20th Century Fox, with Don Murray and Eva Marie Saint playing the roles originated by Gazzara and Winters.
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Anthony Franciosa then appeared with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in The Long Hot Summer, playing Jody Varner, the son of Will Varner, directed by Martin Ritt at Fox.
18.
Anthony Franciosa played Francisco Goya in MGM's The Naked Maja with Ava Gardner, which earned Franciosa $250,000 in acting fees due to production delays.
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Anthony Franciosa made a second film for Wallis, Career with Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine, then The Story on Page One with Rita Hayworth for Clifford Odets at Fox.
20.
Anthony Franciosa was meant to star in Orpheus Descending with Anna Magnani, but the producers decided to cast Marlon Brando, and Franciosa was paid out $75,000.
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Anthony Franciosa was mentioned as a possibility for one of the roles in The Magnificent Seven and for the title role in a proposed Simon Bolivar biopic that Dino De Laurentiis was going to make.
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Anthony Franciosa returned to television to appear in Heaven Can Wait, an adaptation of Here Comes Mr Jordan, then in Cradle Song.
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Anthony Franciosa supported Gina Lollobrigida in MGM's Go Naked in the World, which lost money.
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Anthony Franciosa was top-billed in the Italian Careless with Claudia Cardinale and MGM's Period of Adjustment with Jane Fonda, Franciosa's first film for that studio which made a profit.
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Anthony Franciosa guest starred on The DuPont Show of the Week, Arrest and Trial, Breaking Point, The Greatest Show on Earth, and Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre.
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Anthony Franciosa had supporting parts in two films for Fox: Rio Conchos with Stuart Whitman and Richard Boone, and The Pleasure Seekers with Ann-Margret and Carol Lynley.
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Anthony Franciosa starred in a TV series Valentine's Day.
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Anthony Franciosa was leading man to Ann-Margret in The Swinger at Paramount and Raquel Welch in Fathom at Fox.
29.
Anthony Franciosa starred in a phenomenally highly rated TV movie, billed on countless lead-up commercials as the first movie made for television, Universal's Fame Is the Name of the Game, then a spaghetti Western at Universal, A Man Called Gannon, a drama with Jacqueline Bisset at Fox, The Sweet Ride, and a war film at Universal, In Enemy Country.
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Anthony Franciosa returned to regular series with The Name of the Game, as lead role of charismatic but doggedly determined star reporter Jeff Dillon, alternating the regular lead spot with Gene Barry and Robert Stack.
31.
Anthony Franciosa was fired from the show in 1970 because of his temper.
32.
Anthony Franciosa was in Web of the Spider, an Italian horror film, then a series of TV movies: The Deadly Hunt, Earth II, and The Catcher.
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Anthony Franciosa had a support part in the action film Across 110th Street.
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Anthony Franciosa had a further alternating lead role in a TV series, this time rotating with Hugh O'Brian and Doug McClure, as agent Nick Bianco in Search.
35.
Anthony Franciosa had his own series with Matt Helm, a television version of the spy-spoof theatrical films that starred Dean Martin, but it only lasted 14 episodes.
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Anthony Franciosa was in Curse of the Black Widow, Wheels, Firepower, The World Is Full of Married Men, The Cricket, Death Wish II, Tenebrae, and Julie Darling.
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Anthony Franciosa starred in the Aaron Spelling-produced series Finder of Lost Loves.
38.
Anthony Franciosa could be seen in Stagecoach and episodes of Hotel, The Love Boat, and Jake and the Fatman.
39.
Anthony Franciosa next wed the former Judith Balaban, daughter of Barney Balaban, and author of the book The Bridesmaids about her friend Princess Grace of Monaco, in whose wedding she served as a bridesmaid.
40.
Anthony Franciosa died on January 19,2006, five days after the death of his second wife Shelley Winters, at age 77 at nearby UCLA Medical Center after suffering a massive stroke.