Tony Lo Bianco, star of “French Connection”, dies at the age of 87

Get our free weekly email with the latest cinema news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey

Get our free The Life Cinematic email

Tony Lo Bianco, best known for his role as gangster Sal Boca in the film “The The French connectionhas died. He was 87 years old.

In a statement to FoxNewsLo Bianco’s representative confirmed that the actor died of prostate cancer on Tuesday evening (June 11) at his horse farm in Maryland.

“His beloved wife Alyse was by his side,” the spokesman added.

Lo Bianco was born on October 19, 1936 in New York to Sicilian immigrants.

In his youth, he was an amateur boxer in the Golden Gloves before turning to acting and founding the Triangle Theatre in 1963.

He made his film debut in 1965 as Allen in The sexual dangers of Paulette and continued playing a murderer in the 1970 crime film The Honeymoon Killers.

The following year, he appeared in William Friedkin’s critically acclaimed crime action film The French Connection, He plays the gangster and shop owner Salvatore “Sal” Boca alongside Gene Hackman as Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle and Roy Scheider as Detective Buddy “Cloudy” Russo.

From 1974 to 1976, Lo Bianco played a leading role in Joseph Wambaugh’s anthology television series Police history.

He was also an acclaimed theater actor, receiving a Tony Award nomination and the 1983 Outer Critics Circle Award for his portrayal of Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller’s A view from the bridge.

Lo Bianco portrayed the influential New York mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia several times. He first played him in the one-man show Hizzoner!Written by Paul Shyre in 1984 and later performed on Broadway in 1989.

He repeated the role in a revised version of the play entitled LaGuardia in 2008 and returned in 2012 for the off-Broadway play The little flower. Lo Bianco personally rewrote the piece after buying the rights from Shyre’s estate, commenting that he viewed LaGuardia’s story as “a means of expressing my concern about the public and political chaos we are in, and I believe we are still in, and of trying to find answers to the failure.”

He acted in film and television throughout his life and appeared in several episodes of law and order And Murder: Life on the Street. His last film appearance was in Ray Romano’s comedy Somewhere in Queens in 2022.

Lo Bianco was married to Dora Landey from 1964 to 1984 and they had three daughters. He was married to Elizabeth Fitzpatrick from 2002 to 2008 and then to Alyse Best Muldoon from June 2015 until his death.