Anthony M. Lanza was born in 1936 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where his early fascination with filmmaking began. As a kid, he made his own 16mm movies, setting the stage for a lifelong passion for the craft. Later, he would study film at the prestigious University of Southern California, laying the groundwork for a successful career in the industry.
After graduating from USC, Lanza landed his first motion picture gig as both co-editor and co-producer of Timothy Carey's groundbreaking exploitation film, The World's Greatest Sinner (1962). This marked the beginning of a long and illustrious career in low-budget filmmaking, during which he would go on to edit a string of offbeat and often bizarre movies, including Wild Guitar (1962),The Sadist (1963),What's Up Front! (1964),The Nasty Rabbit (1964),Deadwood '76 (1965),Dinah East (1970),and Doomsday Voyage (1972).
In addition to his work as an editor, Lanza also served as an assistant director on two films, The Skydivers (1963) and Bigfoot (1970),and handled post-production supervisor duties on several straight-to-video releases, including Body Count (1995) and The Dangerous (1995).
As a director, Lanza helmed three theatrical features: the gritty biker romp The Glory Stompers (1967),which starred Dennis Hopper in his first-ever biker flick; the talk show spoof The Irv Carlson Show; and the supremely schlocky sci-fi/horror camp classic The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971). He also directed three other films that, for various reasons, were either unfinished or failed to receive theatrical releases: Desert Gems, Freedom Riders, and Squeeze Play.
Anthony M. Lanza passed away on October 16, 2010, at the age of 74, at the Rosewood Nursing Home in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he had spent the final years of his life.
