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Tony Lo Bianco, the American actor, known for his performance in popular films like The Honeymoon Killers, The French Connection and The Seven-Up has passed away at the age of 87.
The star played the role of a mobster named Salvatore 'Sal' Boca in the 1971 Oscar-winning film The French Connection directed by William Friedkin. His character was a buyer in the narcotics underworld, who eventually dies in a shootout during the final arrest scene.
Lo Bianco died on Tuesday, June 11, at his home in Poolesville, Maryland. According to his wife, Alyse, the cause of death was prostate cancer. The actor has been a part of over 100 films in his decades-long career.
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French Connection star, Tony Lo Bianco's career explored
Tony Lo Bianco was born on October 19, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, United States to parents Carmelo LoBianco, a taxi driver, and Sally Blando. They were both first-generation Italian Americans.
He began his career by working on Broadway in 1964, where he played a small role in a wartime drama called Incident at Vichy. The actor passed on June 11, 2024, at the age of 87 due to prostate cancer.
One of Tony Lo Bianco's most famous roles was the portrayal of Sal Boca in the movie The French Connection. The viewers saw him and Arlene Farber playing his wife Angie Boca running a modest Brooklyn diner but dressed in sophisticated expensive clothes and driving a Lincoln with European plates, which they earned with international drug trading.
The movie is adapted from a 1969 nonfiction book of the same name written by Robin Moore. The book was based on a 1961 narcotics case. The story followed two NYPD detectives Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo as they tried to follow the wealthy international smuggler Alain Charnier.
Tony Lo Bianco's character gets linked with the two detectives and they wiretap him while trying to catch Charnier.
At the end of the movie, Tony's character Sal died and wife Angie Boca received a suspended sentence for an unspecified misdemeanor and Charnier was never caught. The actor has starred in several other movies including God Told Me To, Mean Frank and Crazy Tony, Tyson, City Heat, and more.
Tony Lo Bianco also worked as a director in many projects including Police Story, The Secret Empire, Kaz, and, Too Scared to Scream. In 1975, the star won an Obie Award for the Off-Broadway production of Yanks-3, Detroit-0, Top of the Seventh made by Jonathan Reynolds.
He has appeared in many episodes of the television series Shadow in the Streets, Origins of the Mafia, Jesus of Nazareth, and more.
The artist's most recent work was a comedy called Somewhere in Queens released in 2022, the film was directed by and starred Ray Romano.
He is survived by Alyse Best Muldoon, whom he married in 2015, and his children, Yummy and Nina, from his first marriage. However, Tony Lo Bianco's other daughter Ana, passed away in 2006. His family also includes his step-children, Tristan and Lanah, six grandchildren, and four step-grandchildren.
