Tony Musante

Tony Musante, born Anthony Peter Musante Jr. on June 30, 1936, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was an American actor whose career spanned film, television, and Broadway. The son of Natalie Anne Musante, a school teacher, and Anthony Peter Musante, an accountant, he grew up in an Italian-American household and went on to study at Oberlin College and Northwestern University. He died on November 26, 2013, in Manhattan, at the age of 77, following a hemorrhage that resulted from oral surgery.

Musante built a substantial film career in both the United States and Italy during the 1960s and early 1970s. His screen credits from that period include Once a Thief (1965), The Incident (1967), The Detective (1968), and The Last Run (1971). He also appeared in several Italian productions, among them The Mercenary (1968), Metti, una sera a cena (1969), and Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970).

On television, Musante became widely recognized for his role as Detective David Toma in the 1973 series Toma, which performed well in the ratings despite competitive scheduling. His contract permitted him to leave after one season, which he chose to do. The series was subsequently retooled as Baretta, with Robert Blake assuming the lead role. In 1975, Musante received an Emmy Award nomination for his performance in a Medical Center episode titled A Quality of Mercy. He later portrayed Nino Schibetta, an Italian gang leader and feared Mafia boss, during the first season of the HBO series Oz (1997), and played Joe D'Angelo on the soap opera As the World Turns from 2000 to 2003.

Musante's Broadway career ran from 1975 to 1980. He starred in P. S. Your Cat Is Dead!, a role that earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play in 1975. He also appeared on Broadway in The Lady from Dubuque and 27 Wagons Full of Cotton.