Tony Piazza's Blog, page 20
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 [...]
June 15, 2012
Visiting on Location with Steve McQueen and Bullitt by Tony Piazza
Visiting on Location with Steve McQueen and Bullitt by Tony Piazza It was a sunny Saturday morning in the summer of 1968, on one of those rare weekends when my dad was not working. Whenever he was assigned to a movie detail, his schedule never allowed for Saturdays off, but on this rare [...]
June 13, 2012
Paul Newman: An Anecdote
Paul Newman: An Anecdote by Tony Piazza I thought I would get away from “The Streets of San Francisco” and re-print a story I once told Turner Classic Movie fans in answer to a question about Paul Newman: Regarding PAUL NEWMAN- he was just one of the guys, and I have a story that’ll demonstrate that. [...]
June 12, 2012
Karl Malden, My Friend by Tony Piazza
Mladen George Sekulovich by Tony Piazza If you haven’t guessed it already, that is KARL MALDEN’s real name. He was born March 22, 1912 and died July 1, 2009 at the age of 97. He told me once that longevity runs in his Serbian family, and I guess this is proof that those genes [...]
June 11, 2012
The McQueen’s Needs Your Help! by Tony Piazza
The McQueen’s Needs Your Help! NEILE ADAMS McQUEEN- Steve McQueen’s first wife spoke at the dinner the night before the “Steve McQueen Car Show.” She spoke of Steve with tears in his eyes, how he’d left the Boys Republic in 1944 with only the shirt on his back, a pair of jeans, and a tattered [...]
June 7, 2012
Open Channel D…On Assignment with U.N.C.L.E.
OPEN CHANNEL D…ON ASSIGNMENT WITH U.N.C.L.E. by agent Tony Piazza OPEN CHANNEL D…ON ASSIGNMENT WITH THE MEN FROM U.N.C.L.E* by agent Tony Piazza As most kids in the ’60s I got caught up in the spy craze, and one of my television favorites was “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” This sudden surge back then [...]
May 30, 2012
A View from a Fan: On Location with 007 by Tony Piazza
M.I.6 Briefing: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: From the desk of M to 007 fans everywhere. A couple of years ago (time goes by so quickly) I ran a six part series on the Turner Classic Movie Fan site detailing my adventures on the set of Bond movie number fourteen, and Roger Moore’s seventh [...]
