Who did Tony Lo Bianco play on Law & Order? Character explored

Tony Lo Bianco was an American actor who played four different characters in Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He was a well-known actor who has played many roles in films and TV shows.

Lo Bianco played three different characters in Law & Order and one in Criminal Intent, another part of the franchise. He played Marc Menaker in Law & Order episode Cradle to Grave (1991), Sal DiMarco in Menace (1997) and Detective Mike Foster in True Crime (2017). He also played Joseph in Criminal Intent World's Fair (2007).

On June 11, 2024, Tony Lo Bianco succumbed to prostate cancer at the age of 87. He died at his horse farm in Poolesville, Maryland. He had a passion for acting since childhood, and beyond movies and TV shows, he also did theater.

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Law & Order: Tony Lo Bianco

Character traits and impact

Detective Mike Foster in Law & order is looking into the deaths of Shane Mallory and Patty Voytek, who were rock musicians from the band Crisis, which no longer exists. Foster discovered the gun ex-drummer, Travis Jones, used to commit the murders.

However, Foster has a past of using illegal methods like wiretapping to gather evidence. New evidence helped the prosecution win the case, and Jones was found guilty and sent to jail. The legal fate of Detective Foster was left hanging in Law & order.

Tony Lo Bianco has been a recurring part of the franchise Law & Order television series. His roles as Marc Menaker, Sal DiMarco and Joseph were brief in Law & order, allowing him to explore different characters and add to the plot with his talent and years of acting experience.

Tony Lo Bianco (Image via Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

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Who is Tony Lo Bianco?

Anthony Lo Bianco was born on October 19, 1936, and died on June 11, 2024. He was a well-known American actor and director. He married thrice and had three daughters.

He began acting in plays and was in many Broadway shows in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he started acting in movies and became famous for his roles in crime films like The Honeymoon Killers (1970), The French Connection (1971) and The Seven-Ups (1973).

In 1975, Lo Bianco received an Obie Award for his part in a play outside of Broadway named Yanks-3, Detroit-0, Top of the Seventh. He was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor for his role as Eddie in a Broadway re-staging of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge in 1983.

During the 1970s and 1980s, he acted in TV shows and was a guest star in series like Police Story and the miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977) directed by Franco Zeffirelli. He has also worked in several Italian movies including crime comedy Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1973).

Besides his work in movies and TV, Lo Bianco was famous for playing New York politician Fiorello H. La Guardia in the one-man play Hizzoner!, which won him a New York Emmy Award. This part led to other shows, like LaGuardia (2008) and The Little Flower (2012–2015).

After finishing school, he learned at the Dramatic Workshop. He was also a Golden Gloves boxer and started the Triangle Theatre. His early career had him acting on Broadway and his first movie, The Sex Perils of Paulette (1965).

Besides his job as an actor, Lo Bianco also did a lot of good things for his community and for charity. He got many awards for helping the Italian-American community.

He was the main speaker for a group called Order Sons of Italy in America and was given special awards like the Golden Lion Award and the Humanitarian Award from Boys' Town of Italy.

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Law & order is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.