Tony Piazza's Blog, page 14
June 29, 2012
How I Experienced Terror! by Tony Piazza
How I Experienced Terror! by Tony Piazza MY FIRST “EXTRA” WORK, although unofficially, was on the film “Experiment in Terror” starring GLENN FORD and LEE REMICK. They allowed my mom and I (age 4) to sit with the crowd of background artist on location at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. It could have been uncomfortable work (readers who live [...]
June 28, 2012
I Worked for Mel Brooks!
I WORKED FOR MEL BROOKS! by Tony Piazza In the summer of 1977 I got a call from the casting agency. They were telling me to report to the Hyatt Regency on Market Street the next morning. It was for the film “High Anxiety” starring and directed by MEL BROOKS. It was a great [...]
June 27, 2012
Thanksgiving on the Set with Sidney Poitier by Tony Piazza
Thanksgiving on the Set with Sidney Poitier by Tony Piazza This movie memory goes back 43 years to 1969, when I was 15 years old! Where has the time gone? My Father was assigned to a SIDNEY POITIER movie, “They Call Me Mister Tibbs!” during the winter of 1969. It was a sequel [...]
June 26, 2012
An Evening Spent with Vincent Price
When I worked a couple of days on the film Sideways (2004) I had an occasion to talk to one of the assistant directors. I had mentioned Vincent Price, and she immediately asked, what films did he make? That’s surprising for a person you’d expect to have been a film student. What happened to film history? Or even the drive of [...]
June 25, 2012
Eastwood and Me by Tony Piazza
“EASTWOOD AND ME” by Tony Piazza “Good guy…that last one he shot was a good guy!” Eleven words… my claim to celebrity status; my fifteen minutes of fame which if you took a stop watch and measured would run well under that length of time. And although I would have many small screen [...]
Meeting One of a Kind, Peter Falk by Tony Piazza
Meeting One of a Kind, Peter Falk by Tony Piazza I’ve always liked PETER FALK. He was a brilliant actor playing usually less than intelligent characters- mainly sidekicks to mob bosses. His throw away lines were a riot. He had other roles, more serious and handled those with a deft hand. And who could forget “Columbo”- [...]
June 22, 2012
Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and Me by Tony Piazza
Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and Me by Tony Piazza Fess Parker as Davy Crockett When you hear the lyrics, “born on a mountaintop in Tennessee…” what do you think of? If you were around in 1954 the answer would be instantly evident. It was describing Davy Crockett, and the infant medium’s latest small screen hero. [...]
June 21, 2012
Original Hawaii Five-O Revisited by Tony Piazza
Original Hawaii Five-O Revisited by Tony Piazza Hawaii Five-O was a police drama that premiered in the late 1960s produced by CBS television and Leonard Freeman. The show centered on a fictional state police unit Five-O run by Detective Steve McGarrett, portrayed by actor Jack Lord. IoLani Palace. On TV, headquarters of Hawaii-Five-O (Piazza-photo) [...]
June 20, 2012
Encounter with Ricardo Montalban by Tony Piazza
Encounter with Ricardo Montalban- A Class Act by Tony Piazza We shared the same birthdate, but not the same year. He worked on radio, televsion, theatre, and film. So did I. His career spanned six decades, mine only one. He was a star, and I…a fan. His name, was RICARDO MONTALBAN and he was every inch [...]
June 19, 2012
Walter Matthau- A Man Who Never Cracks a Smile by Tony Piazza
Walter Matthau- A Man Who Never Cracks a Smile by Tony Piazza In 1973 actor WALTER MATTHAU was in San Francisco filming the police procedual drama “The Laughing Policeman.” The movie’s screenplay was by Thomas Rickman, and adapted loosely from a novel (of the same name) written by Sjowall and Wahloo. Walter Matthau starred as Sargent Jake Martin (Martin Beck in [...]
