Tony Russel, born Antonio Pietro Russo on November 23, 1925, in Wisconsin, was the son of Italian immigrants. He developed an interest in acting at a young age and studied languages, speech, and drama at the University of Michigan.
After training at the Pasadena Playhouse, Tony began his career with uncredited ethnic roles in films such as Hiawatha, The Silver Chalice, Jump Into Hell, Anything Goes, King Creole, Don't Give Up the Ship, and Last Train from Gun Hill.
He also appeared in several popular TV shows, including "The Lone Wolf," "Highway Patrol," "Broken Arrow," "Peter Gunn," and "Zorro." His first prime movie role came with War Is Hell, a low-budget Korean War yarn.
Tony's big break came with the starring role of Fra Diavolo in the Italian-made action adventure The Last Charge, co-starring Haya Harareet. He then moved to Europe, where he found success as a dashing hero in standard adventures, swashbucklers, spy tales, and sci-fi thrillers.
Some of his notable films include Knights of Terror, The Secret Seven, Sword of Damascus, L'ultima carica, The Revolt of the Seven, Secret of the Sphinx, Behind the Mask of Zorro, The Wild, Wild Planet, and The War of the Planets.
Tony was fluent in Italian and worked as a voice dubber, founding the English Language Dubbers Association (ELDA) in Italy. He returned to Hollywood in 1967 but found limited work, often performing in dinner theaters.
He made some TV guest appearances in shows such as "Death Valley Days," "The High Chaparral," "Night Gallery," "Hec Ramsey," "Lou Grant," "CHiPS," and "Vega$." His old friend Burt Topper hired him for the films The Hard Ride and Soul Hustler.
Tony ended his career with featured roles in the TV movies The Mystic Warrior and The Vegas Strip War. He died on March 18, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the age of 91. His longtime second wife, Renee Iris Russo, passed away more than two years later in 2019.
